The Joyful Gym Rat

Healthcare has improved by leaps and bounds in the past 200 years…so why are we still using a flawed equation created by a mathematician (read: not a doctor) 200 years ago to assess fitness?

I always felt slimy using it to assess clients during my early days working as a personal trainer in big box gyms.  My bosses liked it because it sold more personal training.  Numbers hit people where it hurts.  And boy does this equation hurt.

BMI was originally created to quickly and easily measure the degree of obesity in the general population.  It was never meant to be used to gauge individual health, but rather to help the government skillfully distribute resources.  Moreover, it completely neglects things like waist size and physiological make up.  In fact, people who have a very high muscle to fat ratio often come out in the overweight or even obese range (think football players and really buff movie stars).  Yes, having good bone mass and an extremely lean body can actually be detrimental to ones BMI score.

Even though I have been aware of its flaws for some time now, selfishly I kind of liked getting mine taken because it labels me as “ideal” (a girl can dream, can’t she?)  Regardless of the fact that I am in fairly decent shape, I can’t take all the credit for my good BMI score.  I do better because I am short.

The BMI equation exaggerates thinness in short people and fatness in tall people.  The equations divides weight by too much in short people and too little in tall people.  Never being personally offended by BMI, I was able to keep my distaste for it under the radar.  Flash forward T’s recent yearly physical when things became personal.

T is tall for his age and solid as a rock.  On his most recent appointment, was put in the obese category.  In children, BMI is adjusted for age.  Big-for-their-age children often measure obese, even if they appear to have little to no excess body fat.  In other words, a 3 year old who scores obese could be the exact same size as a 5 year old who measures as normal.  If all children grew at the exact same rate this might make more sense.  But they don’t.

I do not mean to fat shame here.  Contrary to every message society tells us about body size, being “overweight” is not wrong or bad .  Smaller body size does not necessarily coordinate with better health.  I do believe that randomly comparing children, especially using an equation that is only somewhat accurate for only about two thirds of the population, is wrong.

BMI was created with a sedentary population in mind.  Thus, low muscle mass and a relatively high fat mass is expected.  Fit people tend to be dense (sometimes meathead dense, but in this case solid as a rock dense…) and dense people have higher BMI scores.  Additionally, it was never intended for use on women.

It pains me to see my son labeled, albeit incorrectly, at such an early age.  I was a chunky kid, but at least I got to remain blissfully unaware of what was “wrong” with my body until age 8.  Between taunts from my peers to comments from a well meaning dance teacher, I got the picture even without the numbers.

So now, in addition to the cruelty kids can inflict upon each other,  we have an inaccurate equation to make them feel crummy about themselves even if their body is healthy.  And the shame can begin at age 2.

If BMI is so flawed, why has it become the gold standard in health assessments?  One word: convenience.  It is much easier and cheaper for doctors and insurance companies to run some numbers through a faulty equation than it is to test for body composition.  In the case of insurance, they also get to charge healthy people who get labeled incorrectly higher rates.  If it ain’t broke….

But it is.  BMI is calculated by dividing ones weight by the square of their height.  It presumes that we get wider as we get taller, but does not account for thickness back to front.  It is a two dimensional equation being used to measure 3 dimensional people.  Geez, I guess I should have given birth to a cardboard cutout?

Going a step further, people are meant to be different shapes and sizes.  Though true obesity (extremely high fat mass) may put one at greater risk for chronic disease, it is simply not true that those with objectively larger bodies are less healthy than those with objectively smaller ones.  True health is extremely individual.

At the age of 12 I realized that eating little to nothing made me skinnier.  It was the age of diet “food”, so naturally I eschewed nutrients for chemicals with little to no calories.  Did it make me any healthier?  Not by a long shot.  My digestion was a mess.  I passed out in school.  I felt anxious and depressed.  Worse yet, I didn’t get the accolades I hoped for.  Instead of praising me for my progress, teachers gave me worried looks.  The kids I hoped to impress simply changed their taunts from “fat refrigerator” to “anorexic bitch”. (I shuddered as I wrote that, kids can be so mean!  Don’t worry, I am a grown woman now and have recovered…mostly….).  It seemed I couldn’t win.

Becoming a parent has once again made me like Goldilocks, still searching for the perfect middle ground.   Due to my previous pregnancy outcome, T was taken out two weeks early.  Each time we took him to the doctor during that first year he measured too small.  At one point they labeled him “failure to thrive” (if only I could have met whoever came up with that gem of a phrase in a dark alley, hormonal and ready to rumble….).  It seemed odd because he was, in every other way aside from his small stature, positively thriving.  I couldn’t help but wonder if part of the problem was measuring T against babies who went full term (i.e. not taken out two weeks early against their will…)  Couldn’t we at least give the kid a little time to adjust?

Flash forward to present day where he holds steady at the top of both the height and weight charts.  To the naked eye, my boy is lean and strong.  According to BMI, his size is a problem.

As we left the doctors office, J and I had a good chuckle.  Seems we just can’t get this kid to be the right size!   After laughing, I started questioning (and ruminating, but if you have read my Mindfulness Monday posts you know I’m working on that….).

How much better would life be for us and our children if we stopped worrying about where we fit in on a chart?  How would society improve if we focused less on becoming like everyone else and more on being the best version of ourselves, whatever that looks like?

True health is far from two dimensional.  I hope to teach T to love his body along with his ABCs and 123s.  He is active, enjoys copious amounts of fruits and veggies, and, more importantly, is happy.   Biased as I may be, I do believe he is perfect as he is and refuse to let a bunk equation tell either of us any differently.

Mama bear out…….

 

Just a typical morning of rock throwing, powered by plants….

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In last week’s post I mentioned the Blue Zones and how lifestyle corresponds with longevity.  If you don’t happen to be born into a Blue Zone, you may have to be a bit more conscientious in creating the circumstances that allow you to thrive.  This is especially true when it comes to exercise.

For something so seemingly straightforward, exercise has become very complex.  As someone who creates workouts for a living, I am about to state something of a sacrilege among personal trainers: it’s not about the workout.  Before you close out this window and head for the couch, let me explain.

In the Blue Zones people tend to be active.  Not “bust out an hour in the gym then sit for eight at a desk” active.  They move about most of the day.  Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (acronym N.E.A.T.) is the energy expended for everything that we do that is not sleeping.  And it has a greater impact on overall health than any one workout could.

So why then should we potentially shell out x amount of dollars for a gym membership?  Athletes train to move with more ease and grace in their sport.  Dancers train to move with more ease and grace on the stage.  Gym-goers can train to move with more ease and grace in their lives.

All that strengthening and stretching in the gym can make locomotion outside of the gym more enjoyable.  Taking an hour or so to bring awareness to the body and hone skills like alignment, balance, and agility can serve to inspire more activity overall.

When one has the confidence of moving skillfully, more movement happens naturally.  And it keeps on happening, all the way into old age.  At least that’s how it seems to work for those in the Blue Zones.  And with its plethora of benefits and virtually no downside (aside from maybe tired legs….) why not move more?

What N.E.A.T. consists of will be different for everyone.  The beauty of this way of thinking about exercise is that it is available to everyone, regardless of skill set or limitations.  No kipping pull ups required.

So next time you are in the gym struggling with a single leg deadlift and wondering if it’s all for naught, remember your workout is only a practice.  It’s the rest of life that counts.

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True health cannot be achieved in a vacuum.   It takes a village.  Literally.  In the Blue Zones (the areas of the world where people not only live past 100 but also remain in good health past 100) community is key.  True health is more than just what we put in out mouthes or do in the gym.  It’s about how we view ourselves and each other and, more importantly, how we treat ourselves and each other.

The sanskrit word metta loosely translates into “lovingkindness” or “goodwill”.  The practice of metta meditation is done to cultivate a warm heart, both towards one’s self and others.  I am no expert in metta meditation, but I am a personal trainer with a penchant for Buddhist philosophy.  Sometimes I like to combine the two….we all know that a good workout can positively impact mood, why not layer on a little positive psychology while we are at it?

The following is one way to weave philosophical heart training into your physical heart training (see what I did there?).  Next time you are at the gym and feeling a little existential, try the following:

Metta Metabolic Training Program:

For each set, pick two full body exercises that you can perform back to back for 45 seconds a piece.  Once you’ve got those down, shift focus to the mind and see if you can implement the following:

Set # 1 Kindness Towards Self: Recognize and then release any negative self talk regarding your performance and your body.  Wish yourself happiness in the moment and in this body, not looking towards some future time or future body.  Repeat 2x

Set # 2 Kindness Towards a Loved One: Acknowledge how taking care of your body in this moment positively effects your loved ones.  Dedicate this workout to them and wish them happiness.  Repeat 2x.

Set # 3 Kindness Towards an Acquaintance: Smile at that person you see all the time at the gym but haven’t caught their name.  Instead of comparing yourself to them, wish them happiness in their health pursuits.  Repeat 2x.

Set # 4 Kindness Towards Strangers: During this last set, wish all people everywhere health and happiness in their bodies and health pursuits.  Repeat 2x.

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