Gym fitness display

Various fitness display behaviors in the gym are essentially comprehensive behaviors that combine training feedback, self-identity reinforcement, and social attributes. They are by no means a simple "show off" in the popular stereotype. The rationality and controversy of their existence are based on real reality.

It's interesting to say that I have been in the gym for three years and I have seen more fitness demonstrations than I have practiced action groups. When many people first enter the gym and see someone holding up their mobile phones in front of the mirror to take photos for a long time, their first reaction is to roll their eyes: Another person checking in and posing for photos, and they haven't practiced hard at all. But if you go over and ask a few questions, you will find that at least half of the people taking pictures in the mirror are not intending to post on Moments at all.

Akai, a bodybuilding competitor I know at the provincial competition, can take three 10-second videos after one minute of rest between sets. He either takes a picture of the side trajectory of the chest press to see if there is any shoulder compensation, or takes a picture of the muscle contraction pattern of the bent arm compared to the dimensions of the last preparation. Don't think that only those who practice bodybuilding love to shoot. People with different training systems show completely different ways. Powerlifting guys rarely take close-ups of their muscles. Their “shows” are usually deadlifting a PR (personal best), clicking a barbell plate against the barbell stacked high, or taking a short video of themselves throwing away their belts and squatting on the ground, panting, throwing it into the training group and everyone saying "Awesome", and turning around to add 2.5 kilograms of plates. The display at the CrossFit gym is more casual. A group of people have just finished a high-intensity WOD (daily training plan). They are slumped on the mat covered in sweat, with their hair stuck to their faces. They also want to get together to compete and take a group photo. The main focus is on the refreshing feeling of "I've made it through today again."

Of course, the objections are not without reason. I also met a girl who came to the gym with full make-up and sky-high clothes. She occupied the only floor-length mirror in the free strength area and took pictures for forty minutes. She looked down upon others who tried to use the mirror to adjust their movements. In the end, she just left with her bag without even doing a warm-up. The text in her circle of friends even wrote, "I'm almost exhausted from my leg workout today." This kind of false posing that occupies public resources does not belong to the normal category of fitness display. The public's aversion to "fitness display" is most likely caused by this kind of behavior.

Don't tell me, when I first started practicing, I felt embarrassed to take photos in front of the mirror. Until later on, I couldn't find the feeling of exerting force in the rear delts. The coach asked me to take a side view video every time I did face pulls. After watching it, I found that every time I exerted force, I shrugged my trapezius muscles first, which was equivalent to not training half a dime of the posterior delts, and only training the shoulders and neck. After adjusting the video for three weeks, I finally found the right feeling of exertion. That day, I took a full two-minute video of the rear delt contraction in front of the mirror. I didn’t send it to anyone, and it was stored in the photo album of my phone. I still feel happy when I look it up now. There have long been relevant studies in sports psychology. Visual training progress records can increase training persistence by about 30%. To put it bluntly, the display is for yourself first. The video of unlocking the standard pull-up for the first time, the photo of practicing the oblique muscles for the first time, is essentially the same as when you were in school and put the test paper with full marks in the textbook. They are all positive feedback for yourself.

Last time I was in the locker room and heard two aunties complaining, saying that young people nowadays only take pictures after practicing for two times, and they don’t know what to take pictures of. They turned around and took a group photo of themselves who had just finished dancing and posted it to the square dance group.

Yesterday, I met a high school student in school uniform in the gym. He had just finished practicing his biceps. He secretly bent his arms in front of the mirror for a long time. He quickly clicked a photo and stuffed his phone back into his school uniform pocket. His face turned red, and he turned around to get the dumbbells to practice the next set.

In fact, fitness is something that makes you happy. If you want to record it, record it. If you want to show it, show it. As long as you don’t take up other people’s training positions, don’t create false personas and cut leeks, and have fun taking pictures, there are so many right and wrong things.