Gisel Feliz- Leap 2 Assignment
Script
The topic that I find interesting to me is working out and fitness in general. I like to workout and have been on my fitness journey for about two years. Working out is a positive habit that you can get into and at the end of the day it’s a lifestyle that you should continue. I’ve been working at The Edge Fitness Clubs for about a year now and it’s been amazing seeing how far my members have gone in their fitness journey. Working out is not only beneficial for your physical but it also helps your mental health. There is a propaganda that states that working out is fatphobic and this propaganda is harmful. It’s harmful because it makes fun of people who consider themselves fat and it seems to encourage fatphobia. According to an article published by Naked Nutrition, there are 8 mental health benefits of exercise. The first one is reducing anxiety. Studies have shown that by working out it can create a biological and physiological shift that can reduce symptoms pf anxiety. Since it can also reduce your anxiety, it improves your mood. Low impact exercises like walking can boost your mood and cardiovascular health. Not only can it boost your mood but it can also combat depression. The journal of sport and health science reported that people who exercise several hours a week are less likely to experience episodes of depression. The next benefit is a boost in confidence and self esteem which improves physical perceptions and body satisfaction. When you train hard you sleep better. By simply working out, it can help treat insomnia. It also can reduce chronic diseases such as prevent Alzeheimers by stimulating neuroplasticity in the brain. When you work out and go to the gym you can also create long lasting friendships. I see this happen at The Edge Fitness Clubs all the time. The more consistent you are, you’ll start seeing the same people who also want to achieve similar results and therefore grow your social life. Last but not least, exercise can also improve your sex drive. With all of this being said, this propaganda is harmful to the idea of exercise. This propaganda states that working out is deeply fatphobic. This is harmful and untrue. Working out is not fatphobic. There can be different reasons as to why people exercise. As mentioned before, exercising can help your mental as well as your physical well being. There has been a lot of members that have signed up to our gym just because they wanted to improve their mental health and help cure their depression. This propaganda also makes fun of fatphobia because it creates a joke that it’s okay to be fatphobic. People come in all different shapes and sizes. Just because someone works out doesn’t mean that they necessarily don’t want to be fat. They probably are working out just because they want to improve their mental health because not only can exercise improve your physical well being but your mental as well which is just as important.
Essay
The propaganda that I chose to analyze states that working out is fatphobic. It claims that people who work out hate fat people and don’t want to look like them and that’s the reason why they work out. It also includes a picture of a male running and says that he is on his way to be fatphobic which creates a joke that being fatphobic is okay when it is not. I have been working out for awhile now so this propaganda stood out to me. I didn’t begin my fitness journey because I was afraid of being “fat.” I actually started my fitness journey because I wasn’t in the right headspace and I read that working out helps me with that. My cousin encouraged me to get out of the house and join her at the gym and ever since then I never looked back. I continued going because I felt better mentally and I wanted to continue feeling that way. I’m sure others can agree with me on this one and I wanted to debunk this propaganda.
This propaganda is harmful because it spreads disinformation and it gaslights people who go to the gym. The goal of this propaganda is to make others feel bad about exercising while also creating a joke about embracing fatphobia. Neither of this is okay. No one should feel bad about exercising just because they’re afraid of being perceived as fatphobic. Neither is it okay to encourage fatphobia and make a joke about exercising just to be fatphobic.
People exercise because they want to look and feel good. When it comes to exercising there are different goals that people want to achieve. Some people want to become body builders, others want to tone up, others like to do caliestheics and work on strength training with just their body weight. Something that all of these people have in common, no matter what their goal is, is their mental health. At the end of the day we are all working for the common goal of improving our mental health.
As mentioned in my video, there is a study made by Naked Nutrition that states that there are eight different mental health benefits when it comes to exercising. These benefits include reducing anxiety, improving your mood, combats depression, boost of confidence, improves your sleep, reduces chronic diseases, grows your social life, and improves your sex drive. Some of the benefits that I have experienced from this list is the reduction of my anxiety, the boost in my confidence and mood, and I no longer feel depressed. When you workout it take discipline to continue and seeing all of the improvements I’ve made so far regarding my mental health is what keeps me going. No one should feel bad about working out because they don’t want to be perceived as fatphobic and no one should put others down for doing so. It also isn’t okay to joke about being fatphobic just because they’re going to the gym because it encourages this false narrative. People come in all different shapes and sizes and exercising is simply just a hobby. I have gotten into a routine of working out and fell in love with it because of the way it makes me feel mentally and it is a hobby that I will continue doing because I simply enjoy it.
Works Cited
Francis, Charles A. “8 Mental Health Benefits of Exercise [Infographic].” The Mindfulness Meditation Institute, 25 Aug. 2020, https://mindfulnessmeditationinstitute.org/2020/08/25/8-mental-health-benefits-of-exercise-infographic/.
