What is Fitness (Again)? Time, Training, Tenacity

“Fitness is being able to do what the body can do, when it needs to, for things we imagine, for the age we are and the needs of our lives at the moment.” This is a marvelously broad and affirming definition of fitness, though not one I seem able to believe. Tough to cite one’s own words and realize an impotent center to them. (see A New Question Begins, 12-16-12). Much more regular in my thoughts are the monolithic tropes of the overculture, particularly with respect to feminine form. “Being fit” in my head usually means

• wearing size 10 or smaller clothing
• having slim to no hips, thin thighs, absolutely flat stomach
• running a marathon or being a tri-athlete
• never eating sweets, pizza, or fatty foods

 Then I got interested in Crossfit, though not enough to actually pursue their “plan” or “product” myself. Yet. For now, I’m living vicariously through my trainer, who discovered this elite fitness community about 6 months ago. (See www.crossfit.com). The site offers an introductory article to introduce their mission in the world, entitled “What is Fitness?” which informs this entire post.

There, Crossfit suggests three basic standards to fitness. The first includes ten recognized, general physical skills: cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy. “You are as fit as you are competent in each of these ten skills,” they write. They also observe that some training improves competence through organic changes in the body (endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility) while others improve through practice, changes in the nervous system (coordination, agility, balance, accuracy). “Power and speed are adaptations of both training and practice.” The symmetrical balance of body and ‘mind’ here pleases my sense of proportion. Makes sense that fitness should have a good balance of both physical and mental acuity.

The second fitness standard marks a high bar: performing well at any and every task imaginable. Instead of the ever-increasing achievements of weight or distance, this standard shows a pragmatic turn. Does your level of fitness allow you to perform what you need to perform, in any given setting? This kind of standard is particularly appropriate for firemen (women), policemen (women), and any who face physical challenges in their profession/job. Crossfit is particularly aimed—or at least well-suited—to these populations, as a matter of fact.

The third fitness standard governs (and assesses) performance in all three pathways of energy for human action—phosphagen pathway, glycolytic pathway and the oxidative pathway. The first dominates the highest-powered activities, those that last 10 seconds or less; the second (glycolytic) dominates moderate-powered activities, those that last up to several minutes; and the third (oxidative) dominates low-powered activities, those that last in excess of several minutes. The task is to develop and attend to all three pathways of energy for human action. Just learning about them, I can already confess that I’m really comfortable with the third, oxidative, pathway, as seen by my love of long-distance running. I’m less comfortable with—but can tolerate—those things that last less than 10 seconds. It’s that middle ground, the glycolytic pathway, that brings fear for me. Why? I have no idea.

Another schema in which Crossfit defines fitness lies in a continuum between Sickness, Wellness, and Fitness. In this frame, “fitness is and should be ‘super-wellness.’” I find this schema quite useful, particularly as our rather polemical culture can create “fitness junkies” whose obsession with their bodies, physical fitness, and presentation of form offers little to them (or others) in terms of health or wellness. Particularly for women, the media-saturated ideal of “feminine fitness” poses images and behaviors decidedly sick: anorexic, boyish-boney, even starved softness with shadowed make-up. In the CrossFit world, wellness integrates medical science without being enslaved by it. Wellness is based on measurements of blood pressure, body fat, bone density, triglycerides, good/bad cholesterol, flexibility, muscle mass, etc.  Sickness can address everything from excessive bodyfat to low bone density to mental illness (depression, etc.), with actions to be taken toward wellness before “super-wellness” or “fitness.” Fitness simply becomes wellness magnified, deepened, intensified.

Implementation of this “definition” of fitness attends to metabolic conditioning or “cardio” work, interval training, gymnastics, weightlifting, throwing, nutrition, and sport.  The hierarchy begins with nutrition, however, only ending with sport, or “a fantastic atmosphere of competition and mastery.”

When I return to the notions of ‘fitness’ that usually float like pixies in my head,

• wearing size 10 or smaller clothing
• having slim to no hips, thin thighs, absolutely flat stomach
• running a marathon or being a tri-athlete
• never eating sweets, pizza, or fatty foods

I smile with relief at the Crossfit mission and wisdom, even if it feels a bit like Everest from where most in the American scene live. A notion of fitness rooted in pragmatic performance, particularly one connected to one’s life/profession, how one needs to spend time in any given day, is quite satisfying. Honorable, somehow. I’m beginning to pay attention to how my profession naturally predisposes me to certain kinds of body experiences, which continue to be necessary, for now, but can become a choice too.

Mostly, this intensely articulate definition and implementation of fitness frees me from some of the overculture’s obsessions I’ve been internalizing for a long time. Size of clothing matters little. Wearing slightly baggier jeans has loosened and strengthened awareness in my belly, my womb, which I have needed for a long while. Having hip strength, even a repository of abdominal fat that stores energy for core-strength use, is a good thing for performing many tasks I might previously have thought impossible. Running long distances offers one kind of performance, but fitness can express itself in multiple ways. This makes the path to fitness so much more interesting and exploratory, which is marvelous too. For good or ill, I’ve also gotten a little less self-incriminating about food. I’ve noted my weight is up since I’ve focused on strength-training and development of upper-body musculature.  I also know, for a season, that the weight-gain may actually be necessary for what I’m trying to learn, to do. For once, my weight is a pragmatic portion of a larger picture about what my goals are, what I might want to explore, to learn. It does not define or condemn, but instead, contributes its part alongside other factors.

Come to think of it, I feel a bit more like a sculptor of form and less an impotent lump of clay shaped only by my impulses or outer culture. Not only does it feel good to have some agency in this morass we call feminine fitness, it’s incredibly empowering to name a goal (even if it still feels impossible to me!) and find relationships and a fitness community in which such things are mountains needing to be climbed, desiring to be climbed,…and simply a matter of time, training, and tenacity.

“Fitness is being able to do what the body can do, when it needs to, for things we imagine, for the age we are and the needs of our lives at the moment.” For now, I want to companion my body, with other wisdom-folks, into this exploration of upper-body strength, without an obsession or all-costs force-of-will, but with an impish smile and intention to be free—to act, to play, to grow.