Is The Gym A Cult?

This 2002 article compares the exercise craze to religion:
http://www.economist.com/node/1487649

 

This is funny as hell. Zizek, that Slovenian marxist and and stalinist and The Economist, mouthpiece of the neoliberal ruling class, are actually making the same argument.

Anyway, gyms are not suited for most people. Most people should do sports.

 

The music they generally play in gyms is used to kill livestock in other parts of the world. That's what I believe anyway.

 

The gyms themselves foster a cult-like attitude - I think working out is terrific. I can picture the parody video now. The health-oriented freaks, who like to talk about paleo and cardio and carbohydrate restriction, and the image-oriented goons, concerned with striations, sodium levels and body fat content. I once belonged to the latter. Throw in the handful of AAS users whom you always find at every gym, whom all seem to attend at the same time after work, and it becomes little more than a venue for unconscious d***-measuring and ego-stroking. This is my experience anyway. That's why I have a cage, a bar, mats and accessories in my garage so I can lift to my heart's content with no mirrors and no one else around.

I kinda' agree with Hugh. Performance-oriented exercise tends to indirectly produce the desired physical appearance and physiology that one desires for good health. Pursuing health goals in themselves, or a particular body image, calls forth a perfectionist focus which leads to obsession and neuroticism. I've seen it so many times.

 

Sports are MUCH more of a cult than the gym. I find it ridiculous and even comical how peoples' moods fluctuate based on whether their team wins or not. As if it has even a fraction of a meaning. All of the deep people I knew never understood why people "cheer for laundry".

But I think sports are good. Why? Without them, people would feel those feelings of pride and shame toward their country in general. Wars and international conflicts may be even more common. Imo, watching and playing sports is a method of discharging aggression.

 

I personally feel like a lot of men need to find a way to feel masculine (the same way women need to feel feminine). And sometimes there are shortcuts, that are not real ways to feel this energy.

Gym has become one of them.

 

The art of being a sports fan is definitely a cult. I think the suggestion to play a sport does not fit well into this passive sport watching category (unless you are talking about parents experiences with putting their kid through a sport, in which case, cult like behavior may become present.)

And cheering for laundry misses the point, unless you're talking about a washing machine tournament. It's not what people cheer for, it's the experience to do this in communion with others, like many religious acts.

The best form of activeness is moving through trails. You can make them as tough as you want, all your senses get a good workout, and you don't have to invest any emotion into the outcome.

 

Is raypeatforum a cult?

There are cultish aspects of all groups by their nature. Going to the gym is generally a positive aspect of a person's life. Cult on gym bros.

 

I think anything can become "cultish" if the person partakes without an open mind and critical thinking skills. i.e following without questioning.

For me the Gym experience is a mostly positive one. It has helped to teach me to be humble but appreciate my own abilities. It has shown me that there is a wide variety of what people consider "health" or "fitness" whether I agree with their choices or not.

 

This. x2

 

I don't know about the gym, but bodybuilding is definitely a cult and one that I am proud to be a part of imo.

Most bodybuilders look down on gym goers that don't body-build, for example curl bros and cardio freaks

 

Certainly that kind of thing is what appeals to me. Or maybe something like Orienteering, where you have to use some specialist knowledge that you have to learn or acquire if you don't already have it.

And these things can be done relatively cheaply with fairly simple equipment.

 

It's just good old American body-punishing for when you've been bad and eaten enough food.

Seriously, that's what gyms seem to be for these days.

 

God, I drove past some women yesterday, jogging for dear life. The strain on her face was horrible. As I drove past, relaxing, I thought to myself, 'another few miles, and you can burn off a slice of bread' (or whatever that effort might be comparable to).

I suppose exercise is something that people cling onto, in the hope that it will make their health better. When the guidelines for food are nothing short of hopeless, what else do people have to help them?

We must spread the church of Peat!

 

I think a lot of people, especially Americans, have cultish tendencies. You can see it even on this forum regularly, people think in dichotomous, all-or-nothing paradigms.