Are You a Fitness Snob?

My book and I went to the LA Book Festival last weekend.

I was offered a spot at a friend’s booth, Red Phoenix Books, to be a featured author on Saturday afternoon.

Within the first half hour I sold four books and was on a roll. I was gratified to see that my cover and title commanded attention and even many who didn’t buy a book, came over to find out what a Wine and Chocolate Workout was all about.

There were only two people in the entire three hours that had a negative reaction, and I could have predicted it as soon as I set eyes on them.

They were both men, they came by with their cute, skinny girlfriends, and they were built.

There is a whole class of people that you meet in college courses on Kinesiology, or in personal training certification workshops, who think they know all there is to know about fitness because they are fit. They live very disciplined lives, monitor everything they put in their mouths, workout at least an hour and a half a day, and God forbid they ever eat wine or chocolate!

Unfortunately, many of these people are fitness professionals.

When I was personal training, I would frequently get a new client who had been the victim of a fitness snob. On their first appointment, they would brace themselves for the bad news. What pleasures would I take away and how many painful hours would they have to spend in the gym? They were delighted and relieved when I opted to work with them to find balance and compromise in their diet and exercise program.

If you have struggled with weight loss or fitness, please beware of fitness snobs.

They will leave you feeling condemned, confused, and frustrated. They are good people for you to avoid. They treat you as if you are a lazy slacker. If you weren’t you would look as good, well… maybe, almost as good, as they do.

The truth is they enjoy denying themselves things. It makes them feel superior. They are fitness snobs. Let me say right here, if you enjoy denying yourself things, you’re not really being all that disciplined. If the feeling of superiority you get gives you a bigger high than a glass of wine, it’s not that much of a sacrifice to ditch the wine, is it?

Really, the path to a leaner, healthier self is through finding pleasure not denying it.

I went to a Zumba fund raiser for the Relay for Life recently and the joy and exuberance in the room was contagious. Men and women of all shapes, sizes, and ages were grinding and shaking it for hours. No snobs there.

One reason I love running events is that you see people of all ability levels high fiving each other at the starting line and bonding at the outhouses before the gun goes off. The camaraderie is a wonderful thing. They have found joy in this experience and are anxious to share it with it each other. Afterwards they have a beer or a bagel (yes, I know they’re high carb) and relive their triumphs and tragedies.

It is a pleasure to be fit and healthy. It is a delight to share a beautifully cooked meal made with fresh, healthy ingredients. It’s a joy to hike a mountain with your dog and see the panorama laid out before you when you reach the top. It’s wonderful to crawl in your bed at night and know that you’re going to sleep well because your body is tired from the day’s adventures.

And, there is nothing better than clinking a glass of wine with someone you love right before you bite into a piece of dark chocolate.