Good morning,
Earlier this year I had the privilege to teach a spring semester course at Kean University called “Sports and Fitness Management in Exercise Science”. I wanted to share with you what I’ve observed in regards to the evolution of humankind’s relationship with health and fitness.
Exercise wasn’t always about looking good and feeling better. In fact, human’s first reason to exercise and stay fit was to “not die”. 1000s of years ago, when there was no technology or electricity, mankind was just trying to survive. They needed their fitness in to survive the elements and to not get eaten by other animals. This is the period that I described as “Human vs Nature”. If you are currently running and fighting against real animals that are trying to eat you, this is your stage. If that’s the case, why are you reading this message? Run!
A few hundred years later, when technology started to evolve and humans became more intelligent we no longer had to worry about surviving the elements and the animals around us. From there, humankind’s goal was to express physical dominance over another human, aka Human vs Human. Physical training was reserved for professional athletes and soldiers. You can see this in sports (Olympic Games), battles, and ultimately increasing the longevity of a person or group of people. If you are currently training for a competitive sport and are looking for a coach to help you perform better, reply to this message with “competition”. A coach will reach out to you and figure out what training plan will be best.
Over the last 100 years humankind, exercise became more accessible to everyone. Governing bodies grew to implement physical education into schools and into privatized organizations. In fact, some organizations started to implement exercise and fitness as a way to improve their physical appearance, aka “Human vs aesthetics”. If you are looking to get ready for a special event or just want to look better in general, reply with “aesthetics” and a coach will contact you to discuss a plan to help you make that happen.
However, as the technology improved and physical labor reduced (less physical battles), chronic disease prevalence started to increase. There has been a rise in hypertension (high blood pressure), diabetes, cancer, etc. as the demands for physical activity and health have reduced. As a result, humankind’s most recent battle is with diseases. If you are tired of being sick and tired because you’ve neglected your health over the past few years and have no idea where to start, reply “need help”. This is the hardest battle of all, because the factors stopping you are invisible. Those factors include time and stress.
We are here to help you at any one of these stages.
What health and fitness battles are you fighting?
Don’t want to reply and just want to talk with a coach? Book a no sweat intro with us today.
Talk soon,
Professor Mak
