January 7, 2022

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False advertisements about working out are scattered everywhere. Not only do they give false information, but they also give the connotation that there is only one reason to be working out: to change the appearance of your body. Yes, as you continue to workout more you will see your body change, and you’ll probably even like the feeling of being and looking stronger. That is not a bad feeling. Being proud of your progress and working out for the intentions of getting stronger, mentally or physically, is definitely not something to be ashamed of. However, no one should start working out because they feel a pressure from society to look a certain way; everyone has insecurities. These insecurities, and wanting to change them, should not be the reason to start working out.

Chloe H. is the head coach at Solid Core in Ann Arbor. She has been a coach for Solid Core since August, and before that she has been a yoga instructor since 2019. I had the opportunity to ask her a few questions about her path to becoming a workout instructor, how she balances working out into her life, and her opinions on the current pressures of working out. 

Chloe was an athlete in high school - she played soccer and volleyball and continued to workout on her own through the seasons. Although, she admits that she was not taking care of herself as she was doing crazy cardio workouts to drop weight and not eating enough: “I didn’t like how my body looked and didn't like how I felt in it”. It wasn’t until she started doing yoga her sophomore year of college when she actually began enjoying working out; she could feel herself getting stronger, more flexible, and she left the workouts feeling mentally reset. Working out became more than a superficial goal of looking skinnier: “working out is now a mental break for me. It’s an amount of time that I can set aside for myself”.

It’s easy to get obsessed with working out and crave the feeling of getting slimmer. If you have this feeling, know that you’re not alone. A lot of people find guilt in skipping a workout. A lot of people hate dragging themselves to the gym, dreading the next hour of looking at themselves in the mirror and tearing apart the qualities they don’t like about themselves. As common as it is, it should not be normal. You should feel confident going into your workout; proud of yourself and your progress. If your goal of working out is something meaningless like changing a feature of your body, you’re never going to find the joy in working out. Chloe explained it perfectly, “There’s no reason you should feel pressure to do anything unless it’s going to serve you and your intentions too”. Don’t workout for others, workout for yourself.

If working out feels like something you “should” do, you shouldn’t be doing it. Moving your body should be a celebration, not a punishment. It should be a celebration of how strong your body and mind are. Chloe said, “I think that seeing all of this crazy stuff online kind of pissed me off, and so I decided to teach yoga and make [working out] about meditation, and strength, and what it should be about”. Workout for yourself and to get stronger, not to fit into somebody else’s version of “perfection”.