Body image is a prevalent topic in American society as it has been for a long time. Fitness and eating trends are more popular than ever, and the vision of the perfect body is constantly changing. For decades, women have romanticized the idea of being skinny. They would go to the gym for hours on end with the ultimate goal of losing weight and having a flat tummy. Recently though, the ideal body of American women has transformed from skinny to strong.
The whole workout routine of women at the gym has changed in many ways. Women are no longer doing as many long cardio workouts in order to shed weight. Instead they are picking up the weights with the goal of “toning” their bodies. Workouts like crossfit and high intensity interval training are being chosen over old regimens like Zumba, spin, and aerobics.
Cecily Clark, a senior at Pleasant Valley High School, said, “I used to only focus on cardio and running long distances, because I thought that was the only way to get skinny, but now I concentrate more on lifting weights and circuits in order to tone my body up.”
This strength versus skinny debate has been researched by many fitness experts, thus resulting in more findings about which workout gives the best benefits to the body and reaches what goals. Women’s Health Magazine reported that Wayne Westcott, Ph.D., director of research at the South Shore YMCA in Quincy, Massachusetts, said, “Calorie for calorie, cardio has a slight advantage”. This means things like running and biking burn more calories to the minute, than that of lifting weights.
In contrast, Wescott also found that weight lifting creates a metabolic spike in which the body continues to burn 25 percent more calories even after the exercise is done. Other benefits of strength training include boosted energy levels and moods along with overall body mechanics; it improves everyday activities that are involved with being in shape and strength.
This new ideal body type is not only contributing to physical strength, but also emotional. Studies have shown that doing long amounts of cardio is sometimes linked to an obsession with being skinny… an obsession which leads to eating disorders and a distorted body image. The strong body is contributing to not only our country’s physical health, but the emotional well being.
