Gyms and Profit

If you read any bodybuilding or fitness magazine, you'll see countless pages of worthless supplement ads.  Many people have figured out that these supplement makers are mostly concerned with profit first, and providing a useful product second.  But there is less attention paid to the profit motive and how it is related to gyms and gym equipment.

Is all the equipment in gyms really necessary to achieve health and/or a good physique?  I don't think so.  I bet gym members could obtain the same results with a variety of free weights or even more primitive weighted objects. 

For example, for the last couple of weeks I have skipped the gym and lifted at home.  I have a barbell and an Olympic weight set, and can do a ton of different exercises if I desire.  How much did this set cost me?  Not too much, I bought it at a department store a few years ago for under $200.  I've gotten years of use out of it already, and the weights are virtually indestructible.  I'll probably get 20 years out of this one-time investment.

Now compare this to a typical health club.  The club spends thousands of dollars on a variety of machines and weights, and then charges members a hefty price.  (And what's with these bizarre 2 or 3 year contracts they want people to sign??!!)

The point is that the health club creates a perception of value by having a lot of fancy equipment - regardless of whether the equipment is necessary to achieve health or not.  In this way, they can tie consumption with health: if I buy a gym membership, I will become healthy.  What's forgotten is that it's the exercise that makes a person healthy, and proper exercise can be done at a health club or not, and with fancy equipment or not.

Hunter-gatherers didn't use any special equipment to stay strong and healthy.  They lifted rocks, carcasses, and who knows what else on a regular basis.  None of this was done in a special way or at a special place or at a special time.  What they lifted varied over time, and there were no concepts such as sets or reps.  The lifted when they had to and that was that. 

Resistance training can be as complex or simple as you make it.

Comments

[Andy Trenchard]

I think you are right... I am amazed how little exercise people do while they are in the gym.... I keep my gym membership up because of the pool and the sports hall.... to be honest the gym supplements my fitness and gets used more as winter sets in. I try to get outside as much as possible. Like you I have a set of weights at home (cheap from ebay ). .