The Gift Of Fitness

One of my favorite holiday movies was on television the other day. It’s the movie with the boy who somehow keeps getting left home.

The challenge, of course, with movies on TV are the commercials. This time of year, there are holiday commercials galore. From cars to perfume to snacks and more, there is no lack of holiday music and colors coming from our televisions.

One commercial that seems to be making a lot of news is one for Peloton. You may have seen the commercial already, and you may have an opinion on it. Whatever that opinion is, that’s totally fine. Personally, I think the acting and story could have been better. But I digress. What happens in the commercial? A woman has been gifted a Peloton exercise bike (a really nice exercise bike) and she is sharing her last year of using this bike with her husband through videos she’s recorded.

Now, the commercial has gotten a bit of flack. Lots of different opinions have been expressed, such as, “her eyebrows are too expressive,” “she doesn’t need the bike because she is already thin,” and even likening the notion of buying your spouse an exercise bike is to buying them a vacuum cleaner.

Again, all interesting observations. The one that interests me the most is about fitness always being about being thin or losing weight.

Sure, weight loss is a primary motive to start an exercise program. Every New Year, many people embark on a new or repurposed fitness journey with their weight in mind. And that is perfectly fine.

What is interesting is how often we overlook fitness as an adder, as in it can add to us, making us better and improved rather than just smaller and less.

We shared this quote from Dr. Mark Hyman with our members just the other day: “Health isn’t all about losing a few pounds or about the absence of chronic disease; it’s about feeling good, showing up, and giving your highest gifts to the world.”

Isn’t that just about the best gift any of us can receive?

Imagine an artist who can live longer to produce a few more beautiful pieces to share with the world. Being healthy and pursuing health can help that.

Imagine an uncle or grandma who we get to spend several more years with and get many more hugs from. Prioritizing fitness can allow that to happen.

Imagine a dear friend who can manage their blood sugar better or drop their cholesterol 100 points, and because of that, we can share many more laughs and good times together. That is one of the greatest gifts.

So, if you look at fitness and health only in terms of weight loss, you might be missing a much larger piece of the puzzle. When we become more active, when we prioritize fitness and exercise, we add. But more than strength and more than life expectancy, we add other things too. We add laughter, we add memories, we add love, and we add life.

That’s really what fitness is all about.

So go ahead and give yourself this gift this year. You and your loved ones won’t regret it.