F
iTizens of FiT
B
y Max Evans
Dedication This book is dedicated to Frank, Kevin, Scott, and Jeff for putting up with my crap.
Acknowledgements My mother, who forced me to go to FiT in the first place. My father, who didn’t really do much, except for that one time he treated me to bagels, which were pretty delicious. My brother, who introduced me to Freestyle. Mr. Florendo, Mr. Greco, and Ms. Parkinson, who this would be a fun project, but were horribly mistaken. And myself, who was able to push through all odds and turn in about 1/4 of his assignments on time.
Table of Contents Foreword............................................................ 7 Introduction...................................................... 8 Chapter One........................................................ 11 Chapter Two...................................................... 16 Chapter Three................................................... 23 Conclusion........................................................ 28 Works Cited....................................................... 31
A
Foreword
fter sitting down and reflecting upon this project, I decided that it was extremely awful. Actually, that’s rather harsh - but I will say that it was a pain in my buttox. When I was assigned this project, I had absolutely no idea on what to base my location on. The assignment was, after all, to find a place with an untold story. I, someone who never goes outside, had no idea on what places have strange and interesting stories. In the end, I chose the only place I ever go to that isn’t school: FiT. FiT, which stands for ‘Focused Individualized Training’, is a gym that I thought was different enough from other gyms to base my paper, book, and website on. Luckily, I knew the place and the people inside rather well, so I knew it would be a good fit for me (HAHA! Pun!). Because I didn’t actually know if there was a hidden story there or not, I was just hoping that when I asked that question they would give me a good enough answer to please my
teachers. As luck would have it, they actually gave me rather good answers as to what the hidden story was, and it was enough to both please my teachers and to write a book about. The purpose of writing this book was to do two important things: 1. Show the readers the cool aspects of FiT, while also teaching the reader the value of health, fitness, and working out, and 2. Passing my Freestyle classes, which forced me to write the book in the first place. When writing my many (three) chapters, I focused my research on websites, because I felt they were the easiest and the most plentiful. The beauty of websites, as opposed to researching other materials like books or articles, is that they give me a wide variety of other people perspectives, and how I can further my own research similar to how they did their research. However, I should note that one of the main problems with researching online is that sometimes the facts
get covered up by people’s opinions. I faced quite a few challenges while making my book, like I mentioned in the first sentence. The many challenges I faced, include, but are not limited to, not turning in most of my assignments on time, writing an ungodly amount of words, and awkwardly interviewing people with poorly-crafted questions. Even though I faced many hardships and struggled along the way, I did indeed learn a lot throughout the process. My research taught me many different things about fitness and health as a whole, as well as teaching me the benefits of good health in both a physical and spiritual sense. I have grown as a documentary writer with my paper, an interviewer, a photographer, and a web designer with my Web/Audio website. But, most importantly, I learned the value of turning in projects on time in order to not fail my classes. 7
T
Introduction
here is nothing better than, in my honest and unbiased opinion, the smell of sweaty, beefy men working out in the afternoon. The gym known as FiT, which stands for Focused Individualized Training, gives me just that, and more. Before even walking into the gym, the brick walls are immediately noticed, which give the place its nice, rustic feel. However, once inside the building, the machinery says it is anything but rustic. Ranging from rowers to bikes to prowlers to pull-up helpers to med-balls to any size of weights, anyone can find pretty much anything the need to
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meet their fitness requirement. Inside, the sight of people of all ages and genders can be seen working out, either by doing lunges, running laps outside the door, climbing a rope attached to the ceiling, or whatever their trainers’ tell the trainees to do. Trainers, those who work at FiT, work with their trainees to help them achieve the goals they want to accomplish by coming to the gym in the first place. FiT is a gym that stands above the rest, using a scientific method to help clients achieve goals, having a friendly environment, and focusing on health as a whole as opposed to the
maximum amount of gains a person can achieve. FiT is a gym that stands above the rest. Unlike normal gyms with trainers, this place focuses on the needs of the trainee to give them the work out they want. The motto of Fit is, “Your results are our business”, which goes to show that FiT focuses on the individual to make sure they get the right experience, and the right end-result. The gym that is FiT takes a much more scientific approach to working out. As Scott Kolasinski, a personal trainer at FiT, says, “Basically, if there isn’t science to back up why a client is doing something, they shouldn’t be doing it”. Rather than believing the only important thing is getting beefed up by using huge weights, the trainers, like Scott, believe in using scientific theories and philosophies so their client’s work outs having a reason. Even though the scientific approach isn’t seen until a first work out, something much more apparent can be seen all around the gym.
That would be the tightly-knit, have a guide, but they have some- focuses more on the entire health ranging from trainer to trainer, cli- one they don’t want to disappoint. aspect of a human body, not simply ent to client, and the ever-important The trainers at FiT help their clients muscle gain. It’s more important to trainer to client. The beauty of FiT by teaching them how to work out, be in good health than it is to be a is that everyone knows each other, what to eat, and what to do to live huge muscle mass. and it doesn’t take long for any new- long, healthy lives. Fit, or Focused Individualcomer to join in on the fun. The The average personal-trainer ized Training, is much more than environment is warm and friendly, gym seems to focuses on the client your run-of-the-mill gym. It is a with all age groups and different g e t t i n g community of trainers and trainees, I kinds of people, so its easy to feel at where the trainers use a scientific apstayed at FiT home even only a few days into it. proach to help the trainees achieve When I asked Sunny whatever health goals they may because I liked the Geers, a long-term client environment. I like the trainers. have. The issue, however, is of FiT, why she chooses it I like the gym itself and how its that the common public over other gyms, she said, focused on personal training rather does not fully understand “I stayed at FiT because I just what fitness is, and than people just coming in and working liked the environment. I what true benefits it has out, but people specifically work out like the trainers. I like the on the human body. The gym itself and how its fo- with their trainer. I like that kind of issue can be solved with cused on personal training gyms such as FiT, because feeling. as opposed to just going in to it helps client work out in an work out, but people specificalup-to-date fashion and teach~Sunny Geers ly work out with their trainer. I like es them how to take care of their that kind of feeling”. Sunny states body along the way. By the end of the reason she likes FiT is because it t h e biggest this book, I hope to teach you, the separates itself from the other gyms muscles, so that they keep spending reader, why working out is helpful, by approaching fitness with a more their money. It makes sense, right? what good alternatives there are, individualized focus, with trainers Big muscles means results, which how working out can cause happito help clients along the way. Train- means it’s good to spend more time ness, and the reason why FiT is a ers are definitely a big help to cli- working out with a trainer at the place to find all the answers to these ents trying to get more fit more ef- gym. However, big muscles do not questions. ficiently, as not only does the client necessarily mean good health. FiT 9
Chapter One: The In’s and Out’s of Fitness and Health
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ow, before we get into all the riffraff about alternative diets and happiness and all those thing you don’t care about, I feel that it is important to discuss the terms we will be talking about. Without a proper definition of fitness, health, working out, etc., it’s hard to spend a whole book talking about it. The whole point of the paper/book is to educated the reader the best on can on fitness, health, working out, and all that crap. Now, Google defines ‘fitness’ as “the condition of being physically fit and healthy”. I personally think that is a pretty good definition, but I’m going to delve a little more deeper than that. To
be ‘physically fit’ is to have the stamina, strength, and endurance to perform everyday activities with relative ease. If every day is a chore, than it is safe to say that you are not physically fit. The term ‘fitness’ however, is a much more broad term that simply defines how much stamina, strength, and endurance a person really has. For example, a rather unhealthy person can still use fitness to describe themselves, because it doesn’t necessarily have to talk only about those with large muscles.
To ‘work out’ is to try extremely hard on a specific set of body and muscles movements in order to make the body more ‘physically fit’. For instance, doing a lot of push-ups will make the body much more fit in the upper-chest region, so that future push-ups won’t be as hard. The same goes for all kinds of tasks and stretches. A work out will usually consist of several different body movements, so it makes the whole body move around and get a good amount of action. Work outs can also just focus on certain aspects of the body. Doesn’t sound too bad, right? The issue I’m trying to get across is that I feel, from all the research I’ve done and questions I’ve asked, that most people don’t really
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of thing, because it is a definite problem. However, rather than spending time worrying, it is more important to focus on tackling the problem. The point of defining these terms is to get you, the reader, to see that when explained, they don’t seem to bad. It’s easy to be ‘physically fit’, because all you have to do is ‘work out’ often enough to gain stamina, understand all that. While I could spend a whole chapter just defining terms like that, it wouldn’t really matter besides for helping the vocabulary in the next few chapters. What’s more important is teaching the reader these terms and uses to show that ‘working out’ and being ‘physically fit’ isn’t as hard as it might seem, and it’s actually a lot easier to have a higher ‘fitness’ ranking than before. One of the issues a lot of people talk about is the rising amounts of obesity and health problems in the major countries around the world. It’s very understandable to be worried about this kind 12
strength, and endurance. The next few chapters ahead use the terms to help get the points of alternative workouts and diets, as well as happiness affecting the body because of working out. The many issues that countries are facing nowadays, with skyrocketing obesity rates and health problems, should indeed be a concern. It’s important to tell people just what they need to do to prevent any health problems by easily defining terms to them. It doesn’t sound very scary when I simply state what it is, right? It is important to educate the masses on how they can be fit and live long, healthy lives.
Basically, if there isn’t science to back up why a client is doing something, they shouldn’t be doing it. ~Scott Kolasinski
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Chapter Two: Alternatives and Diets
ow that we have discussed what exactly fitness, health, and working out are, how about we move on to something more… alternative? Maybe that’s not the right word. Either way, the topic of this chapter is other alternatives than working out in a gym, as well as different kinds of diets. Not everyone can afford the costs of a personal trainer or a gym membership, and sometimes people can’t find gyms that are close enough. There are many reasons as
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to why someone may not want to work out in a gym. Another point to look at as dieting, and whether or not certain kinds of diets are effect. Are vegan diets better than vegetarian? What is the Pascapaleon diet, and how does it work? What alternative diets are their to the commonly known ones? In this chapter, let us discuss the alternatives to working out, as well as discuss diets. One of the main excuses as to why people can’t work out is because of
problems with gyms. Whether they are too far away, too crowded, or too expensive, there have always been reasons as to not go to a gym. What’s is often overlooked is that you don’t necessarily have to go to gym in order to be healthy. While the environment of a gym can definitely help a person train, it’s not needed to get a workout. When I asked Scott if there are any good alternatives than coming to a place, he had this to say: “Absolutely, that is one of the most overlooked
things… If you can do some sort of play, whatever that means to you, can be a sort of exercise. Whether from dancing at the club, playing with your kids, or just playing tag with them. If you golf, put the bag on your back. Don’t take a cart. If you can find a way of being active, shape or form, depending on your goals, you can definitely make it happen without being at a gym”. Scott makes a very good point that fitness is not only about lifting
barbells or doing pushups. What he states is that people can be fit just by not taking the lazy route in life, but instead doing some active things in your daily life. Sometimes taking the easy path isn’t always the best option in the long run. If you take that path every day for every activity, of course you will eventually fall out of shape. I agree with Scott, in that you don’t have to go to a specific building in order to become a healthy indi-
vidual. The key idea is that being active, along with a proper diet of sorts, can be enough to stay at a status quo of healthiness. Whatever those activities are, whether they are playing tag with your kids like Scott suggested, going for a walk with your loved one, or going on a Sunday bike ride, they do help the body a lot. Even the cofounder of FiT, Thom Downing, believe that you don’t need to go to a gym like FiT 17
doing it in the gym. Things that are fun and social, also I think are important, a zumba class, a dance class, or other things that are outside the realms of just working out in a gym with weights.” Even Thom, who owns a gym with paying clients, believes that you don’t need to spend money on a gym to be fit. There are many other things a person can be doing that fits the criteria of their daily needs that help them become active, like Thom suggests. However, Thom also goes on to state that, “I think long term optimal health does rely on something that’s called the overload principle, which means that at some point we are going to have to lift some heavy things. Eventually in order to become fit. Was that a you do have to get into a gym and pun? I hope so. In my interview maintain your lean muscle mass. with Thom, he stated that “What All those other things are fun and you’re doing in the gym should socially stimulating, but nothing relate to what your daily needs are can really take the place of strength - biking, running, walking, hiking, training.” Being active with friends and if what I’m doing in the gym is and children can definitely get your related to that then I shouldn’t be stamina and strength going up, but 18
to really reach goals, it is important to do some sort of strength training. Strength training is when you give it your all in one particular work out, where you really try your hardest for a specific amount of time, as opposed to just playing tag with your kids. This strength training allows for much more growth than just playing games. So while dancing and running around can still help the body, to really do the body good is to go all out and try and head for a gym. As you know, fellow reader, simply being active in a your daily life probably isn’t enough to keep a person from becoming obese or generally healthy. Yes indeed, it is just as important to have a great eating life, as well as an active life. At the time of me writing this, there are many different myths as to which diet is the best, which common diets are actually unhealthy, or whether or not actually following a diet is a good idea. One of the biggest controversial diets in the vegan and vegetarian diets, and whether or not they are actually beneficial. Now, I’m not about to get into a very large argu-
ment about whether or not they are, but I still feel it’s important to scratch the surface of different kinds of diets. Almost everyone has different opinions on whether or not these kinds of diets are healthy or not. For instance, when I asked Scott of FiT what he thinks about the vegan and vegetarian diets, he said the following: “Vegetarian and vegan are absolutely unhealthy. So many people became vegetarian because they thought it was heart healthy. If that was true, then Buddhist wouldn’t get heart diseases”. Scott does make a good point that many people who try the vegan and vegetarian diets are rather uninformed, and assume its healthy because you’re eating a lot a greens. If people were more educated about that kind of diet, would more or less people actually try them? While Scott believes that people shouldn’t even bother with those diets, Thom states that, “sometimes diets like vegan or vegetarian diets are religious or cultural, so I don’t judge people for those reasons, but if you come to me and say “what’s the healthiest way to eat” you need
to be more flexible and you can’t base your diet on religious or cultural reasons - it needs flexibility”. Thom also brings up an interesting point that diets can come from cultural or religious reasons, so it’s hard to judge a person for those reasons. However, both Scott and Thom agree that a person needs to be more flexible than just one kind of diet, whether that’s vegan, vegetarian, Mediterranean, Paleo, or any other crazy diet you can think of. A person cannot spend their whole life eating just one specific group of foods. Humans need variety to be healthy. Well, we have definitely covered a lot this chapter. We have discussed that there are indeed alternatives to working out, but you also need to have your basic needs met. We have also talked about how diets cannot sustain the health for a human body to prosper, and that humans need to branch out in order to meet fitness goals. While these are all just opinions based on facts, my
only goal is to educate the reader as to what evidence I have found and what other people with professional opinions believe. I do not expect any readers who are on a diet right now to immediately stop, but rather I want them to think about, and do some more research on what it is they are eating. 19
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Chapter Three: Does Working Out Make a Person Happy?
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ow, let’s finish this book with a question that has been asked for years and years. That question would be, if you didn’t read the header, “Does fitness make a person happy?” . Yes, it does. Well, that’s what I wish I could say, but instead I feel it is more important to explore this question, breaking it down and finding complex answers, than it is to just give a simple yes or no answer. Now, from what I have seen, this ageold question has been asked for quite some time now, and I feel that we should discuss it in the chapter. The question itself is rather too broad to give a straightforward answer, so let’s dissect it. The term “fitness”, as discussed in chapter one, can mean a variety of things, ranging from
general health to having a large muscle mass. Also, happiness isn’t very selective, as one specific thing in life, like fitness, can’t make a person happy. Can that question really be asked if fitness itself isn’t enough to define a person’s happiness? How about we break up the question into new questions? For starters, let’s ask ourselves, “Is working out worth the rewards?” Most likely, yes. But of course, we can’t just answer that question with a yes or no answer either. Then how about I ask the
question, “Do you think people who work out are happier than those who don’t?” Well, yeah. I have to say, this is a lot harder than I thought it would be. The clear answer to this question is that working out makes a person happy because of the long term benefits, and short term euphoria. Most of the time, people generally don’t feel all-that happy before or during a workout, but its the aftermath that people look forward to. The end of the work out signals that you have become stronger, and that you deserve a good rest. To answer the question, fitness makes a person happy because they receive not only the long term benefits of more muscles and more stamina, but it also makes the person feel something of accomplishment. Of course, it’s always good to take
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a scientific approach as well when discussing a question as broad as this. When exercising, your body releases endorphins that allow for the body to gain more stamina and larger muscles mass. According to MedicalNet, “Endorphins are among the brain chemicals known as neurotransmitters, which function to transmit electrical signals within the nervous system” (Stoppler). What the simplified version of this means is that the body is able to keep going and going thanks to the chemicals that it releases. Because the body is able to keep going, the body gains more muscles mass, while also losing harmful fats. Not only does this make a person look better, but it also makes them feel better about themselves, without fear of ridicule because of their body size. Working out does indeed make a person happy - I think 24
ous answer to an obvious question, I feel that it is still important to get the point across that even those most people can agree on this. Of all the people I interviewed and all who are lazy and don’t have any the websites and books I read, all of motivation, those people can still become happier by working out. them agreed that people are hapEven if those people already have pier if they work out. By working their basic needs met, and are alout, your brain feels better about ready happy, working out still gives yourself because you look better, anyone a boost of confidence and so you don’t necessarily have to healthiness to add on to their day. worry about what people think of Being in good shape adds on to you. You are also happier because those basic necessities that people you get that sense of accomplishneed to be happy. In conclusion, ment after every workout, and working out does indeed make a simply looking at yourself in the person happy, but that same person mirror. Good fitness and health from working out also allows for a needs to have all their basic needs longer life, with more stamina and met first in order to gain anything from their workouts. strength to perform tasks that an otherwise unfit person wouldn’t be able to perform. Being physically fit is definitely something to be happy about. Even though this is an obvi-
I would say sort of in general, if you go for a walk or work out with friends when you’re feeling down, I would have to say people who are active are generally happier. That’s one of the reasons why I love working here - seeing the change that really does make people happier. You know, I’m obviously a little biased, but I’d say people who exercise are happier. ~Thom Downing
Conclusion
Well, I would first like to congratulate you, reader, for making it this far into the book. I am honored that you have read this much of my book, and I hope you actually enjoyed reading it. If you didn’t enjoy it, then I do have to ask why it is you are still reading. Like, honestly. C’mon man. Get it together. Over the course of this book, we have discussed just what fitness and health are, good (and bad) alternatives and diets, as well as the effect working out has on a person’s
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happiness. By using different web sources, personal interviews, and even a book, I have laid out the discussions at hand and the possible answers to the questions asked. It would be hard to look at another person’s perspective in the end, as most people can agree that it’s better to be in shape, working out, than it is to be unhealthy and doing minimal physical activity. Of course, there are always people who will disagree with whatever opinions a person may have. For
instance, people may disagree with my previous statement that vegan and vegetarian diets are unhealthy. Perhaps a person believes that working out can only be done properly in a gym, and a person can’t become fit outside of heavy lifting. All these different perspectives create the world that we see today, so I don’t disagree with other people’s opinions. I am a man that looks at the facts, and my answers to the questions asked in the book are by far not the definite answers.
While I believe that it’s important to be physically active in a scientific gym, like FiT, and that it’s important to not live your life being active all the time, those are just my personal opinions I obtained from some research. I encourage my readers to explore the topic, and find their own healthy way to live their lives. The future of FiT is strong one, and it isn’t going anyway. From a client’s perspective, there has been
more people in the gym than there has been in a while. With people of all ages, from young children in groups to older gentlemen working out individually, there definitely isn’t a shortage of people. As long as there isn’t a magic pill that gives all the effects of working out, FiT is still needed in the community. Well readers, it is time for me to end this book. I thank you for reading it, and I hope you learned something. If you didn’t, well, then
it’s probably my fault for poorly writing all of my chapters. I blame my English teacher. Before you close this book and put it on your shelf only to gather up dust, I want to leave you with a final thought. If there was a magic pill that gave everyone who ate it all the effects of working out, and it was cheap enough for everyone to get some, what flavors would they come in?
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Works Cited
Edwards, Steve. "Cardio Vs. Weights: Which Is Better for Weight Loss? Beachbody.com." Beachbody. N.p., 27 June 2013. Web. 09 Mar. 2014 Hertzog, Christopher, Arthur F. Kramer, Robert S. Wilson, and Ulman Lindenberg. "Fit Body, Fit Mind? Your Workout Makes You Smarter." Scientific American Global RSS. N.p., 1 July . 2009. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. Evans, Max J. "Interview With Scott Kolasinksi." Personal interview. 13 Mar. 2014. Evans, Max J. "Interview With Thom Downing." Personal interview. 18 Mar. 2014. Evans, Max J. "Interview With Sunny Geers." Personal interview. 25 Mar. 2014. Mims, Christopher. "Study Suggests Health, Not Wealth, Determines Happiness."SmartPlanet. N.p., 3 Jan. 2012. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. Moncur, Laura. "Starling Fitness: Daily Writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health." Starling Fitness. N.p., 7 July 2009. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. Pikul, Corrie. "Exercise Injuries: Workout Moves People Do Wrong At The Gym." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 07 June 2013. Web. 14 Mar. 2014. Rail, Kevin. "The Best Way to Get Fit Fast." Livestrong.com. LIVESTRONG.COM, 09 .Jan. 2014. Web. 10 Mar.2014. Roizen, Mic hael. You: The Owner's Manual. New York: Harper Resources, 2005. Print. Scheve, Tom. "Is There a Link between Exercise and Happiness?" How Stuff Works.HowStuffWorks.com, 22 June 2009. Web. 06 Mar. 2014. "The Top 10 Fitness Myths You're Probably Wrong About." Fitness Magazine. N.p., 11 Sept. 2013. Web. 12 Mar.2014. Vennare, Joe. "Are Fit People Happier?" Greatist. N.p., 4 Sept. 2012. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.
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FiTizens of FiT by Max Evans
Maxwell James Evans was born on February 14, 1997 in the streets of LA (Los Altos). He currently lives with his mother, Sunny Evans, and his father, Dave Evans, in the disaster-prone house located in Los Altos Hills. Maxwell is currently studying at Los Altos High School as well as Freestyle Academy, and hopes to graduate in 2015 and move onto college. Max has practically only begun his adventure at Freestyle, and hopes to continue on to his senior year and continue working on projects. When he isn’t at school, he is glued to the computer screen, either playing video games, watching videos, or browsing Reddit. He is well known for his sarcastic sense of humor and his ability to wear shorts every day of his life. Some of his accomplishments include, but are not limited to, getting slightly over a 3.0 GPA in his Junior year, writing an English essay about two books he didn’t read, and getting an ‘A’ in his online health class by just looking up the answers on the internet during the tests. Max hopes to spend the rest of his life doing what he loves: nothing. However, Maxwell feels it is important to emphasize this quote: “Time wasted having fun is not time wasted”.
F
iTizens of FiT
B
y Max Evans