Introduction & Lit Review

That was AWESOME! So many think that exercise is a stress, they hate the gym, don’t want to think about losing weight, and feel awkward even going to the gym. Well those days are over. Exercise is a destressor, meaning exercise is something that will be a way to relieve and simplify stress. I will tell you why. Once individuals stop stressing over the fact of why they are working out and find there outlet of exercise that fits them and motivates them to work out, fitness takes on a totally different aspect. For me I love to work out, it makes me feel good and pushes me to new lengths with myself. This past summer running became not only a thing I loved but became a way for me to really deal with stress anytime something bothered me all I wanted to do was run. Which was not always my attitude but once you find your niche and do something not just for weight control or because one feels they must work out, fitness takes on a whole new meaning. Fitness can be something that is inspiring, each time that goal is hit, it’s one more thing that just became accomplished and the feeling of knowing you did that, is amazing. Take athletes for an example “…exercise activities have found that the presumed mental benefits of sport participation tend not to be experienced by individuals who are motivated to exercise for weight control or appearance-related reasons.” (Bruin ,Woertman, Bakker and Oudejans, 2008) This perspective of working out is similar to mine, yes I work out for physical reasons that concern my body image but now that is not the only thing that drives me. I have always been an active person and loved doing physical activity but I went through a time that I felt like, “I HAD to work out.” Feeling like you have to something in itself is defeating because then that activity is not looked at as a positive aspect but a requirement. I went through a time where I never let myself eat certain things, like things that, are “bad for you.” I was constantly focusing on my weight and feeling like I couldn’t accomplish my goal and stressing about this issue instead of having confidence that I what I was doing was helping. I still would get my work out highs and feel great after working out but I didn’t feel like I was see results so I would become very stressed about this. Then one year I actually gained weight I was going through a tough time and just had finished my first year of college and then was now in my second and there it happened what I did not want. The feeling of knowing somehow I had been gradually gaining was so frustrating, but because I did I almost stopped stressing so much over it. It just wasn’t worth it. I had turned something that I enjoyed so much into something that was not a passion and outlet for myself. I started to realize this and decided, I wasn’t going to deprive myself from foods I wanted yes, obviously I’m not going to eat French fries everyday but I can eat them more than once a year. It was almost as if I deprived myself of these things I would binge on them when I allowed myself to eat them but I realized there is no need to do that and it was okay to treat myself. After the stress of this went away and I was able to relax I immediately started losing weight. I was making exercise and my body image a stress along with the other stresses I was dealing with, it had stressed my body so much it caused me to gain weight. I finally was allowing myself to get the feeling back of knowing exercise is a good thing and not a requirement but something I love to do and I could accomplish anything. It is something that benefits me, and everyone else. Once you find the exercise or activity for you that makes your body tick everything else comes after it, because then it’s not about body image and insecurities but it is something to be enjoyed. Also, once this activity that has become so enjoyable to you, helps obtain a physical goal whether it be what the scale says or how many baskets you made during a basketball game it motivates and encourages yourself where you do it because it’s something you love and develop a passion for doing it and all the other benefits just come along with it.

Melody Osborn

Eng 202

Lit Review

Goal Statement: My literature review will provide a guide for me as I write my paper and reflect back to the research I have already started.  For the reader my lit review will help them to understand my angle of my topic and will also forecast what my paper will be discussing.  It will differ from other sections of my paper because it will be, just the general knowledge summarized from my sources that will later be broken down and discussed.  By the end of this paper I want my reader to have a positive feeling about the word and action of physical activity/fitness.  This paper is targeted toward young adults.  I want to provide a laid back yet motivational tone about physical fitness for my readers.  I personally view fitness in a positive way and hope to persuade them to feel the same way.

Review:

Fitness is not only good for your health but for your self esteem, attitude and goals.  Many people stress over going to the gym.  They want nothing to do with it, I have even had people say, “I need to lose weight before I join a gym.”  How in the world is that motivating to even go?  Feeling like that not only pushes people farther from the gym but also from what they really want.  People want to lose weight so they want to go to the gym but, when it comes down to it, won’t go.  An article mentioned, that body image is such a large focus of society.  Especially for young adults, this focus can be a set back on their self- esteem.  The idea of having the perfect body like so many celebrities or being super skinny is an overwhelming thought especially if the person is overweight.  There are such extreme measures and the challenge or goal can be overwhelming and discouraging to say the least.  Not only though do our minds keep us away from the gym, but also crowds do, and the fact that not everyone knows what they are doing, says American Council on Exercise.

That is why my topic is so important because yes, fitness is a good way to achieve and sculpt your body but there is more to it than that.  We all can go to the gym and kill ourselves trying to accomplish our goals but making it fun and to the point you forget your working out is what I am going for.  It is easy to feel the stresses of what I just discussed but there is no need to stress of the idea of working out in any shape or form.

In an article titled, Weight-Related Sport Motives and Girls’ Body Image, Weight Control Behaviors, and Self-Esteem, they conducted, The Contour Drawing Rating Scale and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. The reason for these scales to be completed was to compare girls that were categorized as sport-participants with or without weight-related motives or as non-sport-participants.  The results were, “Weight-related sport participations were significantly associated with body dissatisfaction, more weight control and lower self-esteem,” (Bruin^, Liesbeth, Bakker and Oudejans^, 2008).   Concluding, when fitness is looked at as an activity that is participated in rather than about weight control method the participant’s self esteem is higher.

Another point that caught my eye, in this article, was how people that often work out for weight control who are older adolescents or adults that go to fitness centers are often associated with eating disorders.

I believe a person’s attitude of fitness changes when they become involved in activity that interests and provides a way to let out their stress.  An article suggests this by interviewing a woman that participates in dance.  They described her motive as a way of, “seeking a form of mental renewal more than improved muscle tone or reduced low-density cholesterol” (Lawson, 2009).  Lawson’s article looks at the motives and attitudes of the dancers and how a group of dancers did not have the perfect body type or skill but still dances and pushed to succeed.  Her article is important with my thoughts of fitness because it looks past the demands of society.  I want people to use fitness as a way to let out stress for different external factors and this article examines a similar aspect.  By the dancers not having the exact body type of skills they still did this activity and reaped all the benefits of it.  Lawson’s research provides a valid example of how others’ pressing restrictions did not discourage the dancers’ efforts of being a successful dancer.

This leads me to my last thought on the benefits of fitness, which is goal setting.  By these dancers beating the odds of typical dancers and letting their passion be their motivation it allowed them to feel a sense of accomplishment.  This is what I want my readers to accomplish after reading my article.  I want my readers to have a sense of feeling they can find an activity that provides them with an out let of stress and enjoyment rather than torturing themselves with the idea that body image control is the only aspect of physical activity.  The point is to achieve a goal while doing something that is enjoyable, and appreciating the efforts that are put in to it rather than allowing external stresses to discourage those efforts.

My angle of my topic was forecasted by discussing how individual sources looked at how fitness improves self esteem, attitude and how goal setting is associated with it.  IT gave a general over view of the direction my paper will taking by breaking down these three factors of benefits of fitness.  These factors are all was that major contributors to stress and I showing how fitness decreases the amount of stress an individual feels from these factors by participating in physical fitness.  Young adults are targeted in my paper because only am I a young female adult but the scales that were examined were taken from adolescent woman or young adults.