September 19, 2018 Damon Hayhow

More Fitness F#$kery

The Fitness Show is promoting sports that promote becoming clinically unfit (overweight and obese) while risking catastrophic injury, in complete contradiction to the goals of health and fitness.

Powerlifting at a fitness show is like putting an assault weapon demonstration at a peace exhibition. Or a Krispy Kreme donut eating challenge at a diabetes exhibition. It is ludicrously inappropriate. This is not my opinion. It is a categorical fact!

Fitness is only the ABSENCE of physical illness and injury. Any person who is not clinically sick, inactive or injured, is already fit. Fit people and athletes are not in the market for fitness any more than cancer survivors are in the market for more chemotherapy. Like Oncology, Fitness is a HEALTH service. Its about curing sick people. No sick person is cured with a national sports competitions; least of all Powerlifting.

Fitness exercise is literally defined as ANY activity involving physical effort, with no risk of injury. Fitness exercise is basically rehabilitation. In application, Fitness exercise is literally training to suck at any physical activity. Sports training is too intense and too greater risk of injury for the unfit people that fitness exercise is intended to treat.

The fact that fitness does not mean athleticism is underscored by the fact that fitness professionals – Personal Trainers – are not allowed to coach any sport, including Powerlifting. They are not qualified and sport is specifically excluded from the Fitness scope of practice. Sport is dangerous. Sport training is the OPPOSITE of training for fitness.

Athletes who apply fitness remedies are literally training to be WORSE athletes. It is exactly like giving surgical procedures or potent medical drugs to people who are not sick: the treatment will HARM them! Athlete training is not designed to treat an illness. In fact, athletes routinely risk getting sick and injured for better sports performance. Their goals are the complete OPPOSITE of fitness. So Powerlifting at a Fitness Show is like a home radiation kit at a Cancer Survivors Conference. It is THAT stupid and offensive.

The key metric for fitness is a BMI below 25. But the Powerlifting at the Fitness Show is promoting people with BMI’s beyond 40! It is literally glorifying the attainment of clinical morbid obesity.
 
You might argue that a Powerlifter’s BMI does not count because they are athletes. But that only underscores the entire point. National Powerlifting competitions are not an activity for sick, unfit, sedentary people for whom a fitness show is relevant. Elite sporting competition has nothing to do with fitness.
Why does the fitness industry keep lying and misleading the public to believe that fitness means athleticism? Simple. Because fitness is shitness! If they told you that their clinical fitness standards were to make you a skinny-fat, non-athlete, exceptional only for your gross mediocrity, nobody would want any part of it. So they lie!
 
Fitness promoters know that people want to look and be like athletes. So they deceive and mislead everybody about their fitness-shitness product by putting sports and bodybuilding at Fitness shows.
 
If you want to be an athlete, or look like an athlete, avoid all Fitness activities and products. Whatever is sold for fitness is designed to make you fail to become like the athletes you see at Fitness shows and on Fitness magazine covers.

Damon Hayhow

Damon Hayhow has been in the body recomposition (Recomp) and bodybuilding industry for 30 years as a coach, competitor, gym owner, teacher, sponsor, show promoter, judge and MC. He has won National competitions in both powerlifting and bodybuilding, set world records, and coached others to the same success in strength sport and physique competition.

Body recomposition diet and training concepts based on logic and reason; not scientism