IS FITNESS CONTAGIOUS? OBESITY IS.
By
Christina making fast friends with Fran!
In a recent CNN article I came across the following quote with regards to our social networks and the effects that they have on us.
“If a mutual friend becomes obese, it nearly triples a person’s risk of becoming obese,” the book said. Even geography doesn’t matter; you’re still at risk for gaining weight if a friend 1,000 miles away gets bigger. Why is that? Obesity seems to spread in networks because of behavioral imitation — you copy what people close to you are doing — and shared expectations called “norms,” the authors said. When you see people close to you gaining weight, that makes you readjust your own idea of what is an acceptable body size.”
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/10/08/social.networks.connected/index.html
Nearly triples the risk of becoming obese! Wow, that’s pretty heavy. I wonder what effect we as CrossFitters have on the community around us then? I know that I have a few friends that have taken the plunge and joined CF gyms and now their lives are just as action packed as ours are. Have you found that your friends are getting in better shape or eating in a more healthy fashion since you’ve become a CrossFitter? Do tell.
Today’s Workout:
”Badger”
3 Rounds for Time of:
30 Squat Cleans (135#/95#)
30 Pull ups
800 M Run
7 Comments
October 14th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Fascinating question Boehm! I wouldn’t say all fitness is contagious, but Crossfit most certainly is. I think it’s the excitement it generates in all of us, the sparkle in our eyes when we talk about our WODs…it attracts attention and people want to know what the heck we’re doing?!
It all started when you brought me into a CFLA workout early one morning so many years ago, I was hooked. Then my girlfriend Kristie got curious and I brought her, she was hooked. Now I’m CF level 1 certified and training a group of people from my school, they’re hooked too!!!
October 14th, 2009 at 10:33 am
So far I’ve gotten one of my friends to take the plunge and join Crossfit. So far no one else has expressed any interest in joining but they’re certainly curious, especially from the stories I tell and the pictures I post. My friends all think I’m crazy anyways so it’s not surprising that if I like it, they might be a little hesitant.
At the end of the day though, it’s easier to imitate a persons behavior when all they do is eat poorly and often, it’s the easy path. It’s a greater challenge to eat right and kill yourself at every workout for no other reason than because we can. I would love it for everyone of my friends to take the plunge and swell our ranks but I don’t know that most Americans, perhaps people in general, have what it takes to commit the way we have.
It requires a shift in consciousness.
October 14th, 2009 at 10:42 am
I totally buy it. We do what our friends do, good or bad. Keep in mind that visualization is often the first step in accomplishing something. (It never dawned on me I could do 100 pullups in a workout, until I realized that’s not really an unusual Crossfit expectation. Now I see a WOD with 100 pullups and worry primarily about taping my hands properly.) So, if our peer group gets fat and lazy, starts smoking, starts drugs, and we see it, we have now visualized and normatized it, and we’re on our way to accomplishing it.
I think Crossfit is contagious in a (good) viral kind of way. Word gets out in a number of different ways. When people hear about it from three or four independent sources, it becomes a real alternative.
For example, at my annual CELA conference two weeks ago, I found a fellow Crossfitter from Invictus in San Diego, and we’ve been posting stuff about it on our listserve, and since then three separate people have contacted me about it, one has joined Karma Crossfit on the Westside, one — I’m hoping — will join Crossfit Ventura, and the third is likely to join too.
Crossfit used be associated with serious military special forces bad asses, which probably scared away the yuppies like me. But now as more and more “regular” folks sign up, we bring our friends, and so on, and Bingo! We’re viral and mainstream; or, in the words of ZZ Top, “We’re bad/We’re nationwide!”
The Claw
October 14th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
Wow… great picture choice guys.
YES I completely agree that Cross Fit is contagious. Whenever anyone hears me talk about it they always want to know more and inevitably end up hearing “Man, I wish there was a cross fit in my area.” or “I want to come try it.” One of my friends actually found a cross fit in Hawaii and is going to start going.
October 14th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
I agree with it being contagious- to a degree. But I have found that there are just some people who do not and will not push themselves as hard as they can… they are comfortable going to the gym and doing their “routine” which is easy and they don’t have to work too hard.
I joined b/c my co-worker joined and I would get so jealous hearing about her WOD’s. So 2 months later, I joined. Then, 2 months after I joined, my boyfriend joined, and a month later another friend of mine from out of town joined one near her home in Roseville, also one of Donnie’s friends may be joining now.
October 14th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
no my friends give me all their bad habits…
October 19th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
I’m working on a mobile phone/social networking application to help overweight diabetics – I love the sense of discipline, perseverance, and triumph that often manifests in gyms and I’m trying to visualize how to spread that sort of optimism to others.
Hypothetically, what would it take for one of you to answer one call per week to spend an hour – let’s say – going for a walk and a healthy meal with someone who has weight & dietary problems?