September 15, 2021
by April Brillantes
Fitness and health have been on the rise for the past 10 years according to the IHRSA (International Health, Racquet & Sports Club Association), even more so in an evolving modernizing country like the Philippines, which according to an article made in BusinessWorld was seeing annual growth of 7% and was looking forward to an 11% increase in 5 years. Since last year when the world was attacked by a global pandemic – COVID-19 that looks like won’t be going away anytime soon, the gyms, parks, and fitness centers are still being closed with the implementation of social distancing. The idea of “fitness and health” was put at a standstill, but it did not end it. In fact “fitness” had a mini-boom as people try to use the open time they have to steal time for fitness or just completely ignore it.
But first, we have to know what “Fitness” is in the modern era. “Fitness” is defined by the Merriam Webster’s Dictionary and scientifically as the ability to be able to transmit genes and being healthy – true but not the exact answer to what is “fitness” in modern society. Fitness in the modern era is the state of one’s wellbeing, psychological balance, and physical components. So by improving both of these can be considered “Fit”.
Attaining fitness now has evolved its priority into one’s mental wellness as surging downloads in meditation apps, fitness apps, and dieting apps. Tiktok and social media influence are also one of many ways people have attained fitness, dancing along with the person (basically online Zumba), and learning fitness shorts from fitness influencers. These combined have improved many of the people’s wellbeing and satiate the lack of social interaction, overcoming their psychological issues and fitness concerns brought by the new normal.
A more costly approach to this fitness problem is people buying fitness equipment to make their own home gym. An article in BusinessWire says that fitness equipment sales grew to an astonishing 170% since lockdown. Most of these were bikes, treadmills, rowing machines, and free weights. Along the social-distancing guidelines lessening, the people are slowly coming out in a small controlled group to do activities like dancing, biking, and jogs/walks. Some but very few gyms have even opened as well. But people would still rather commit to the less contact approach and having most of the gyms closed leaves most trainers and coaches jobless. To counter their problem, they began doing home training services, and online training demand for personal coaches saw a rise during the lockdown.
During this time, most students would stick to hassle-free and less costly ways to achieve their personal fitness. The best approach to this would be home workouts with proper information about it while following the correct procedures and postures to ensure safety and improve one’s life quality.
To put it all together, everyone may be disturbed by the pandemic Covid-19, but, people are always people. They improve and strive to be better, especially their body and well-being. And in order to achieve our goals with fitness, perseverance and knowing reliable information on how to take care and improve our body is the key.