Professional Documents
Culture Documents
David Ulloa
Professor Bamert
UWP 1
Introduction:
Fitness has, in essence, been around forever. Since it was just the way of life, it wasnt
necessarily seen as what it is now. Although people outside of the fitness community consider
someone to be fit only if they lift weights and are physically perfect, people inside of the
community believe someone to be fit when the individual considers themselves to be both
physically and mentally healthy. With the creation of gyms, YouTube, and nutrition shops, came
to exist these fitness communities in which there is a reconsideration of who is really a fit person
and it isnt just closed to people who only lift weights and are physically perfect.
In the fitness discourse community, being fit is seen as being both physically and
mentally healthy. One can reach this level of healthiness in whichever form they want whether it
be by lifting, running, yoga, calisthenics, CrossFit and also by just living their everyday lives.
The main goal within the fitness community is to have everyone just embrace themselves with
how they look physically and how they feel mentally. The fitness community welcomes
everybody and it thrives on new members joining since the more experienced members seek to
New members are a crucial aspect to the fitness community by way of them being hungry
for more knowledge and being the ones who keep the community growing. These new members
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of the community often start off joining because they just want to look good. New members
later learned that being fit is more than just looking good, as it is a way in which you embrace
who you are both physically and mentally. The age of new members varies from young teens to
older people. More experienced members serve the role of sharing all their knowledge with the
new members and sometimes even with experienced members who just seek more knowledge.
When a new member walks into a gym, an experienced member instantly greets them with a
smile and interacts with them so they feel right at home. The fitness community does a great job
of making everyone in it feel like they are where they should be. As said by Donna Hutchinson
(2012), shes feeling very motivated to lose the 30 pounds she has gained over the past 7
years. This is a perfect example of the reason behind why one would want to join the gym, as a
way to improve their physical appearance. Before this process starts, the perfect way an
experienced member of the community can get someone to join the gym is by welcoming them
to the gym and not pressuring them into joining, as they should make that decision based on what
Physical health and appearance is the main object for most new members of the
community. Ones first reason to why they would like to join the community is more often than
not just to improve their physical appearance to impress someone else or simply to just feel right
about themselves. The main cause for this is the fact that most people are quick to judge
someone based on their appearance so joining a gym and bettering ones physical appearance is
the way to go. As stated by Ty Kiisel, Like it or not, you are being judged by how you
look...how you carry yourself. The takeaway from this is because one knows others just judge
them by their appearance, they feel as if it is crucial for them to go out and better their
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appearance. The other point here was the last part of how one carries themselves. Being part of
the fitness community makes one have more confidence in themselves and thus results in them
carrying themselves with higher regard. This directly correlates with one reaching a good state of
mental health by way of them accepting who they are. As said in the Journal of Adolescent
Health, Self-reported physical activity was shown to be positively associated with four
dimensions including friendship, gender identity, spirituality and exercise. Reaching both
physical and mental health is not just a result from lifting weights and being physically perfect
so members of the community find their own ways to reach this health. Going to the gym and
working out directly correlates with one reaching the point of mental well being and being in
acceptance of their physical body. According to the journal The Lancet, physical fitness has a
vital part to play in promoting a healthy mind and human happiness. This supports one of the
goals within the fitness community which is to have its members be both healthy mentally and be
in acceptance with their physical body. This aspect of improved mental health is evidenced by
the fact that those who exercise show improvements in other parts of life such as in the
classroom for those who attend school. According to Kristen Hotting, numerous studies
sedentary individuals have been published.. This serves to be a great reward for those who are
involved in the community as they improve both their mental health and are in acceptance of
Fitness Language:
Experience members of the community pass on their knowledge of fitness to the new
members, and this includes certain terminologies that only members of this community
understand. Some examples of these terms include circuit, HIIT, reps, AMRAP, super set, and
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split. AMRAP stands for as many reps as possible, super set is when you combine two
exercises and do them back to back and split is how you break up what parts of your body you
work out throughout the week. These terms are more commonly used in the gym but they can
also be seen used in YouTube videos and in nutrition shops. The purpose of these terminologies
is both to describe the type of workout youre doing but they also serve to establish a sense of
belonging in this unique community for all members as these terms are known only within the
community. The fact that members of this community know that they have these unique terms
The methods of communication that members of the fitness discourse community use to
interact include gyms, nutrition shops and YouTube. These places serve as a place that brings the
community together and is used to spread ones knowledge about the community to other. From
my own experience of how I got to join this community, it was the gym where I truly felt like
this community is where I belonged. Walking into the gym for the first time and being greeted by
smiles made it seem like if I was welcomed there. My first reason for joining was, like many
others, to improve my physical appearance. As time passed and I interacted more and more with
experienced members, I realized that being a fit person was more than just lifting weights and
getting that perfect body image. Being fit was reaching physical and mental health by way of
using whichever method I wanted, whether it was by simply just going on the treadmill, to taking
Zumba classes or lifting weights. The gym also serves to be a place where one goes to meet their
goal of physical activity, as stated by Amanda MacMillan Overall, the researchers calculated, a
gym membership was related to 14 times higher odds of meeting weekly physical activity
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guidelines. From being in the gym, I was recommended to go to nutrition shops to learn more.
The purpose of a nutrition shop is for experienced members to recommend certain supplements
that will help a new member reach their goals. From my experience with nutrition shops, I
sometimes go just to get more knowledge about fitness with no intention to buy anything.
YouTube is seen as the easiest way for one to go and obtain knowledge about the fitness
community. It is accessible from home and literally one click away. YouTubers have the impact
of inspiring many who are wanting to join the community by way of them usually showing their
journey in the community and what it takes to get to the point you want to be. These genres of
YouTube videos served to be a breaking point for me and proved to be what I needed to reach
physical and mental health. All these genres are a key clog of the fitness community as they are
what makes this a discourse community, the fact that everyone participating is helping each other
to reach all of their goals. Hence, the fitness community is in fact a discourse community as Erik
community actively share goals and communicate with other members to pursue those goals.
Interview:
From interviewing my friend Angel, who is a member of the fitness community, I asked
him why he decided to join the community. His response was that he joined because he felt
pressured to lose weight while gaining muscle because people judged him for his appearance and
wanted to be considered a fit person. This directly correlates with the view that most people have
on fitness which is that one should lift weights and have a perfect body image to be considered
a fit person. Along with the fact that people judge one by their appearance. As a follow up
question, I asked Angel what his considerations are when labeling someone as a fit person and
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his response was that it was someone who is overall a well-rounded person with regards to
cardiovascular endurance and strength. With this said, Angel later stated that his view changed as
Conclusion:
The people outside of the fitness discourse community consider one to be fit if they lift
weights and are physically perfect. However, members of the community view one being fit if
the individual considers themselves to be both physically and mentally healthy. That is what
keeps the community thriving, the fact that they are all working together to all reach a state in
which they are satisfied with both their physical appearance and their mental health. The genres
that have led to the consideration of who is fit within the community are gyms, nutrition shops
and YouTube.
Works Cited
Borg, Erik. Borg Discourse Community - Documents - The Best Way to Share & Discover
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763413001012?via%3Dihub.
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Kiisel, Ty. You Are Judged by Your Appearance. Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 20 Mar. 2013,
www.forbes.com/sites/tykiisel/2013/03/20/you-are-judged-by-your-appearance/#664e77226d50.
MacMillan, Amanda. Why You Really Need to Join a Gym, By the Numbers. Time, Time, 25
Jan. 2017, time.com/4646135/why-you-really-need-to-join-the-gym/.
Rachele, Jerome N., et al. The Association Between Adolescent Self-Reported Physical
Activity and Wellness: The Missing Piece for Youth Wellness Programs. Journal of Adolescent
Health, vol. 55, no. 2, 2014, pp. 281286., doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2014.01.021.
Fitness. The Lancet, vol. 229, no. 5920, 1937, pp. 400401., doi:10.1016/s0140-
6736(00)77363-6.