Nassos 1

Georgios Nassos
Prof. Jose Alvarez
English 113B
13 December 2016
Final Revised Draft
Athleticism or Consumerism?
Newtons third law says, With every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Much
as, Newton developed this law to describe the theory of motion, it holds true in many other areas
of our life in the sense that everything around us is interrelated. Supply and demand is one
example, we consume and waste is another, we earn money we spend it, you get the pattern.
Now, sometimes we tend to spend more than we earn, or waste more than we consume, or supply
more than we really need. What are the actions that lead us to such reactions? Environmentalist
and social activist Annie Leonard seems to see the grand scheme of things. In her book The Story
of Stuff, Leonard documents the journey of consumer goods; from mass production all the way
to the junkyard in an effort to raise public awareness for our problematic and unsustainable
economic system and ultimately unveil its many repercussions to our emotional, social, cultural
and environmental health. Leonard points out that we live in a consumeristic society where an
excess of products are constantly made, distributed, sold and bought in an ongoing never-ending
cycle. From a cultural standpoint, she argues that through years of relentless advertising and the
promotion of a false value system consumerism has been instilled deep within our code of
behavior. To such an extend where were led to believe that not only there is nothing wrong with
it but convinced that all our problems can be solved through more shopping. She calls this the
work-watch-spend treadmill where one makes it home from work, turns on the TV, gets sold

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on Stuff (as she calls them) and then, goes out spending their hard-earned money to buy them.
Of course, to acquire all that Stuff we need to accumulate more wealth which means we need
to work longer hours leaving hardly any room for social interaction. Let alone that more wealth
breeds a feeling of superiority over our peers which by default makes us less sociable. Leonard
also notes that because our pursuit of happiness has been strictly associated with the collection of
capital and material possessions we are bound to be unhappy and emotionally distressed. From
an environmental aspect, consumption or consumerism drains our natural resources at a
threatening rate from which our planet cannot fully recover while creating intolerable and
unprecedented levels of pollution due to increasing carbon dioxide emissions. According to
Leonard, this unnatural sequence of events are the byproduct of a flawed economy which works
only in favor of special interests and big league companies misinterpreting depletion with growth
and wasteful production with development. At end, she urges us to take action claiming that true
change can only take place if we all come together and regain control over our conditioned
consumeristic ways. Leonard, cites credible sources that provide the audience with eye-opening
facts and invaluable insight along with her relatable personal experience.
More or less we all care about our body image. Our bodily appearances have always been
demonstrative of our social status playing a significant role in the way we are acknowledged and
respected within our social environment. There was a time when being overweight was
considered being rich while being muscular was looked upon as the result of manual labor.
Today, extreme advertising through social media, magazines and television have expanded our
social circle from local to international setting or dictating new social standards through the
promotion of lavish lifestyles, emerging fashion trends and appealing physiques. The catch is
that it all comes with a price. You want to look or perform a certain way? Thats fine. In fact,

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thats great especially if that certain way is the one they are trying to sell you. The health and
fitness industry is no exception. On the contrary, even though most people dont realize it, its
amongst the most consumer influential. As it happens, its amidst the fastest growing industries
currently in the market. There is money to be spend and money to be made in all kinds of ways.
From food supplements, training/dieting advice to gym memberships, athletic apparel and
equipment even so called boutique fitness studios (a fancy gym for those who wish to receive
further social acknowledgement and prestige for exercising) and the list goes on. Its a vicious
consumeristic loop where Its no longer about being fit and healthy as much as it is the means to
obtain the physique our society has set as acceptable or else a body of consumption, while
helping the fitness industry generate more profit.
Interestingly, as Leonard points out we tend to invest more money on things that are
noticeable by others and less on things that we keep primarily to ourselves. To explain that
notion she cites economist Juliet Schor who argues that For example, the popularity of health
clubs, Schor says contributed to the creation of design underwear. And women spend far more on
lipstick- which is applied and worn in public- than on facial cleanser, which seldom leaves the
bathroom (2, p.167 Leonard). By the same token, we can justify the increasing popularity of
the fitness lifestyle and the institutionalization of health clubs all over the world. In most cases,
people go to the gym so that other people will take notice. It comes as no surprise that we also
tend to train more our visible muscle groups such as; arms, back and chest than we train our abs,
waist and legs (muscle groups vary between sexes). In fact, the need to create an even more
noticeable and accelerated difference to our body is such that we resort to the purchase of
training supplements or even illegal means such as the use of steroids to increase and maximize
our results. As reported by Forbes magazine, supplements are now a multi-billion dollar industry

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in the U.S. alone and growing fast (Lariviere 2013). In short, we are treating our body as a vessel
of consumption or a machine and expecting it to give us a certain reward or return for our
money.
To explore the socioeconomic implications of the fitness industry further we will need the
help of sociologist and senior lecturer in cultural production and consumption at the University
of Leicester, Dr. Jennifer Smith Maguire, who in her article Body Lessons: Fitness Publishing
and the Cultural Production of the Fitness Consumer presented in the International Review for
Sociology of Sport observes that the fitness industry is nothing more than a sophisticated, almost
in disguise, consumer lifestyle. She focuses her attention mostly at fitness guides, books and
magazines advocating that they portray the human body as the result of a costly lifelong
investment while also instituting an informed middle-class consumer base of men and women
equally, which self-willingly give up their spare time, social life, money and effort to attain a
certain image that will help them either elevate themselves through the social ladder or promise
the answers to lifelong health and success, confidence and empowerment. To explain the
capacity and veiled reality of consumerism and consumer habits within the fitness industry
Maguire cites R. Dahlin from Publishers Weekly by saying Consumers have a ferocious appetite
for advice telling them what to do, how to act, what to eat and what to shun in order to feel good,
spruce up their health and shed uncomely pounds. In fact, that hunger is so great that publishers
scramble to sate it with books promising, if not the moon, at least a celestial body and mind.
(1, p.452 Maguire).
For better or for worse, Maguire and Dahlin are right. We are given the illusion that
through exercise we partake in something rather unique, recreational, something in which we can
express our individuality and take pride that we are knowledgeable and healthy when in reality

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we are nothing but informed consumers. To get back to the point, we are simply buying the
lifestyle weve been sold on which goes back to the work-watch-spend treadmill Leonard is
talking about.
Inarguably, to attain an all-around muscled physique is a process that can take years if not a
lifetime to accomplish. To say the least, it would require a consistent weekly weight and cardio
training program along with a balanced diet of protein, carbs and low sugars. Basically, living
life like an athlete or a bodybuilder. With only exception, that athletes use the gym to supplement
their training not as their primary source of exercise. In any case, the point is that you need to put
in a lot of work, money, research and dedication to accomplish your fitness goals. Yet, if for
whatever reason (because lets face it life happens) you decide or become obligated to stop
lifting and dieting even for a small period of time you would experience a considerable
difference in your body. Let alone, that this deviation would also translate to a loss in money,
time and effort. The reason why this is happening is because during the period you were weight
lifting (in an effort to create the physique of your dreams), you were conditioning your body to
behave and adapt outside its real day-to-day needs, putting up with challenges it wouldnt
normally encounter at its natural environment. Hence, once you stopped training, your efficient
and quickly adaptive body was no longer under pressure to sustain the body mass you initially
created. Then, due to its natural tendency to downsize, it decided that all those overly swollen
muscles were an unnecessary burden to your heart and practically useless to maintain. The only
reason those muscles where there in the first place is because you created a need for them by
exercising on a regular basis.
Of course, the fitness industry understands that. They know that our results wont last
unless we consume faithfully and train systematically. In this transaction they act as the drug

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dealer while we are the junkies who will always come back for more. More supplements, more
gym memberships, more athletic apparel, more exercise and dieting advice more, more, more. It
never ends. That being the case, the promotion of thick and bulky body figures as the new norm
(for men and women respectively) through extensive advertising and social media makes perfect
sense. Considering, that by creating in us an eager want to look uncommonly muscular while
knowing that to accomplish such an endeavor will take years to develop and then years to
maintain they can rest assured they will acquire our business for life. At the end of the day, it
seems that instead of releasing tension and alleviating stress through exercise we have added yet
another stress in our lives. The -stay fit and pumped at all costs- anxiety. And then the question
arises, do we really do the things we do because we really want them or is it because our society
expects us to? Im sure Freud would have some interesting theories to explain all this frenzy
behind fitness and its correlation between men and women but thats another story.
Dont get me wrong, Im not saying that we should refrain from exercise -far from that- we
all need an outlet, a retreat from our busy lives and many people find that through some form of
activity. Theres absolutely nothing wrong with that. At least, exercising is a selfhealing, healthy
and creative process as opposed to indulging into self-destructive habits. The point Im trying to
make though, following Leonards example, is that more than exercising our muscles our society
needs to learn how to exercise moderation and that applies to all aspects of our lives. Its no
secret that now more than ever we live in a highly demanding, fast-paced, consumer based
society where we often find ourselves stuck somewhere in the middle trying to make ends meet.
Naturally, our daily obligations and the worries that come along with them are so overwhelming,
that complex issues such as; consumerism, pollution, a false value system, cultural crisis, the
brainwashing media, our destructive and unsustainable economy leave us indifferent. Nobody

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needs more problems. Its far easier to view them as fictional scenarios taking place at a faraway
land than to accept them as reality and allow them to become an added stress to our everyday
lives. But, if we simply begin to practice moderation we will not only stress less since our
primary goal will no longer be to acquire more but we will also become evangelists of a new
much needed social standard, one that will finally allow us to set our own pace on the treadmill.
At the end of the day, only through moderation can we ever be truly content, appreciative and
respectful towards what we already have may that be our body, our relationships, our planet, our
material and non-material possessions.

Works Cited
Leonard, Annie. The Story of Stuff: The Impact of Overconsumption on the Planet, Our
Communities, and Our Health-And How We Can Make It Better. New York:
Free Press, Reprint Edition February 22, 2011. Print.
Lariviere, David. "Nutritional Supplements Flexing Muscles As Growth
Industry." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 18 Apr. 2013. Web. 28 Sept. 2016.
Maguire, Jennifer Smith. "Body Lessons: Fitness Publishing and the Cultural Production of the
Fitness Consumer." International Review for Sociology of Sport Dec. 2002: n. pag. Print.