I lead a pretty active lifestyle.  I workout at least once almost every day, either running, spinning, cycling, strength training, cross training, or swimming (no, climbing my six flights of stairs everyday does not count).  Checking out different gym memberships, though, made me consider, why exactly do I, or you, bother?

Yes, yes, of course I want to feel great and look great, but that is pretty broad.  More specifically, what are my goals and why.  For some people, it is purely for aesthetics, at least that is what it seems like.  You will have guys at the gym pumping iron to “get bigger.”  There is nothing wrong with that. 

There are people who want to “get leaner,” again, nothing wrong with that.  I hear so many people talking about striving for an 8 pack (it’s the new 6 pack), or a V-shaped back, or toned arms, and that is what motivates them.    

Looking good makes you feel good.  Let’s face it; you have a better chance of scoring some hottie if you look the part.  Fact.

There is the challenge aspect.  Some people compete in endurance events such as triathlons or marathons, and need to push themselves.  They might weight train less, but they still have goals and work more on functional training, including core and cross training.  Aesthetics are secondary here; they sort of just fall into place.  Other people really want to push themselves in the gym, to get stronger, which is different from getting bigger.  I think I fall into this group of active people who do it for the challenge; after all, there is nothing better than being able to go harder, longer, faster, and stronger. 

Very active people tend not to set weight loss as a primary goal, at least among guys (unless they are trying to make a weight class), and generally, if they do, they shouldn’t.  One of the obvious reasons is that muscle weighs more than fat, and thus, recomposing your body in favor of a better muscle/fat ratio will probably increase your weight while making you look trimmer.  So, focusing on weight loss will not be beneficial in this case. 

Less active people mostly do set weight loss as their goal, and this is where they run into problems.  They place all the focus on food, and place very little emphasis on exercise.  To be blunt, often times, laziness leads to being overweight (I know, I know, also factors are genetics, society, someone was mean to you once, etc).  Motivation to “diet” for someone who is too lazy to exercise is usually short lived, and they gain the weight back (hello yo-yo diet).  On the other hand, incorporating activity, at a moderate pace, of course, will increase the metabolism, and make it more difficult to pack the pounds back on, not mention, it gets at the root cause, laziness. 

All of this said, the fact that people are motivated and set goals, whether for the aesthetics, the challenge, or simple health, is still a testament that some people in our fast food society are fighting back.  Do people go too far?  Sometimes.  Is it a bad thing to strive to be better?  Never. As long as you are not starving yourself or using substances, though, you should keep up the good work!