The Meaning of 'Fitness'

“What is Fitness”?

Greg Glassman asks this excellent question in a recent CrossFit journal. He highlights triathlete Mark Allen as one of the many endurance athletes bestowed with the title ‘fittest man on earth’; despite the fact that Mark would be “crushed” by countless athletes on any measure of strength.

So is strength not an attribute of ‘fitness’. Is a strength athlete less ‘fit’ than a weak endurance athlete? I believe the answer is simpler than that.

‘Fit’ is a synonym for ‘suitable’. If your car is “fit to drive” it means that it should be able to get you to your destination. It should be ‘suitable’ for achieving its basest utility.

And that is what ‘fit’ means in the human context. It means your body should be capable of fulfilling its basest utility, without breaking down.

‘General fitness’ is the human equivalent of a 30 year old car with 200,000km on the clock. It might look like garbage, it might sound like garbage, it might move like garbage, but it should be able to get the job done, so long as ‘the job’ isn’t too strenuous. Its certainly nothing to be proud of and its definitely not something to aspire to!

And that is why ‘Fitness Trainers’ prescribe rehabilitation exercises to able-bodied people. Treadmills, swiss balls, therabands, sit-ups, step-ups, calisthenics etc help people maintain 'the minimum physical capacity to avoid injury'. ie Fitness!

So, just as a pair of jeans that 'fit' don't necessarily make you look very good, ‘Fitness’ training won’t give you a good body. It won’t make you ‘lean’ or ‘muscular’. It won’t even make you any sort of athlete.

‘Fitness’ is training to be the least you can be!