Link to Nerd Fitness

[resolute]

The fitness website, Nerd Fitness, has a post up today on the various types you'll see at the gym. I found it amusing.

Nerd Fitness is, by the way, a very friendly and supportive place as long as you are doing the work. Every level of fitness, ability, etc., is welcome -- as long as you don't whine, don't make excuses, and are doing the work. (The site has a vocal paleo/primal membership, but that's not everyone's approach.) ETA: <=== This paragraph represents my perception of the views of Nerd Fitness, not my personal views. I find the site very funny, but I stopped participating in the forums of the community for these reasons. Your personal mileage may vary.

ETA: Nerd Fitness is prescriptive, and thinks there are right and wrong ways to eat and exercise, and to think about and approach eating and exercise.

Basically, like ALL fitness and health information on the internet, approach with caution.

ETA 2: You know, I realized I didn't apologize. I'm sorry. I thought my OP remarks were clear enough warning of the kind of humor in the post, and they weren't. That's my error. I apologize.

Comments

[recessional]

I am surprised zie's seen any Crossfitters at a commercial gym - all of the ones I've known have nothing good to say about them, and are holed up in their own "boxes" with people who speak their language. Or are running around outside playing with stuff.

As someone who's fitness work is highly contingent on how much her mental illness allows her to do without extremely detrimental side-effects, though, I'd like to gently say that "don't whine, don't make excuses and are doing the work" is really off-putting, and for my money guarantees I won't be using the site - as is the assumption in the first item of the list that the writer has any idea what "kind of body" the users of the various stationary machines are going for and the idea that exercise is automatically body-sculpting that's behind that.

But "don't whine and don't make excuses" is the kind of stuff that's been repeatedly hurled at me when the issue is "no, I can't go swimming today because [insert one of three potential mental illnesses acting up here]", and has actually made me that much less likely to want to - as clearly I am too much of a whiner and too mentally weak to do it, so why bother?

(I entirely realize this was probably not your intent.)

[dorothean]

Ditto your second paragraph.

Re: FWIW

[resolute]

That is *EXACTLY* why I mentioned the prevailing attitude. It is NOT for everyone, though it is very welcoming for some. I was a site member for a while, then stopped. I still read the posts, but now I stay out of the forums and comments.

Re: FWIW

[recessional]

Thank you for your general response and editing of the post. :)

Re: FWIW

[resolute]

Pshaw. Not a problem. :)

[vass]

This. To be honest, just reading that in this post rubbed me the wrong way, since I've been out of workouts for an entire week for mental health reasons, and am feeling really fucking guilty and miserable about that.

Also, could the OP please put up a warning about the prescriptive body image and eating stuff in that link?

[resolute]

Wilco!

[chaobell]

Yeah, that whole article really bugs me.

How does the person who wrote this article know what the stationary machine users are eating when they leave the gym? And what's with the implication that there's only one body type worth being proud of, and that's the kind you get from one certain kind of exercise?

Also, and I say this from experience-- one reason why "Nofreaking Clueicuses" are afraid to ask for help is because they're afraid they're going to get made fun of for doing so. You know, like the author spends an entire section doing.

I'll be staying far away from this site too, if that's the kind of attitude I can expect there.

[lyorn]

I feel that the genre of "why we are cooler than everyone else" is generally addressed to in-group, not out-group, so the perception of it widely differs depending on where you stand.

I have my personal list of people who annoy me at the gym... strangely, the women on the ellipticals, while they annoy me least (we never cross paths) bother me most because they provide an easy stand-in for everything that I feel is wrong in society's perception (and prescrition) of female health and fitness. I try to remind myself that their motivations might be very different than the ones given in the magazines.