In the actions of all men, and especially of princes, where there is no court to appeal to, one looks to the end. – Machiavelli, the Prince.
That is as close as Machiavelli gets to actually writing “the ends justify the means” and that is the concept for which he is best known. In part I and part II we looked at two ideas that I think fit well with the concept of fitness. In this last part we are going to look at one that I believe does not.
Generally speaking, in our culture we tend to reject the idea that the ends justify the means. What about the fitness culture? I have observed a large degree of subscribing to such an approach. There tends to be a good deal of ignoring the negative impacts associated with the relentless pursuit of certain body images.
I had a very interesting debate with a colleague of mine about the 6 pack that is an interesting examle. I made the statement that I feel the 6 pack is a useless, and possibly even harmful goal for most people. I contended that for most people it says nothing about physical health and the methods required to get there are most likely more detrimental than beneficial. This little debate ended in a competition – he bet that he could get to a 6 pack without having to resort to extreme methods that might compromise fitness, and I bet he could not.
To his credit, he dropped almost ten pounds in just over a month via improvements in his diet and diligence with his workouts. However, the 6 pack has yet to appear. It now seems clear to him that in order to get there, he would probably need to even further reduce caloric intake and possibly go into a dehydration phase to get that last little push into washboard territory. Both of those methods would make him weaker, less active, and surely quite grumpy. Wisely, he isn’t willing to go there.
Unfortuately, that is what is behind a lot of the physiques that we idolize in print, on television, and in movies. Unsustainable practices that lead to less health and wellness. What we viewers don’t see is that it’s only a short amount of time around a photo shoot, movie or television shoot, or bodybuilding competition. Do these ends justify the means? I don’t think so. I’d rather feel good and be healthy than push too hard for an impractical goal.
We should all pay more attention to the total package of results from our workouts. Do we have nagging joint pain, tendonitis, back aches, knee aches, headaches, etc.? Are we actually more tired and stressed? Do we end up visiting the physical therapist a little more often than we’d like to? Do we need a cortisone shot a little too often? These are all things that I see on a regular basis where I work and I have to say, I don’t think those means are justified.