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 05 July 2008 03:34 BST

Gyms fail to tackle obesity

Wednesday, 07 Nov 2007 10:08
Gyms focus too much on body shape rather than overall health, study says

Health In Focus 

Despite the rise in gyms and fitness centres they are failing to tackle the growing problem of obesity, a new study claims.

Last month a major report warned that if current levels continue by 2050 in the UK about a quarter of children, 60 per cent of men and 50 per cent of women will be obese.

Dr Jennifer Smith Maguire from the University of Leicester said that although the fitness industry benefits from the scientific and political arguments for people to lose weight and keep fit, it is "ill-equipped" to address the issues of obesity and inactivity.

In her report, Fit for Consumption: Sociology and the Business of Fitness, she argues that there are three main reasons for this.

Gyms are too geared at people with enough spare cash to afford the monthly payments, she said, with those unable to "most likely to be inactive and obese".

Dr Smith Maguire also claims that gyms and fitness magazines generally present fitness as a leisure activity to be done during leisure time.

"Attention is thus diverted away from such alternatives as the collective provision of fitness and recreation opportunities, and ways in which physical exercise can be reintroduced as an integral part of everyday life, rather than yet another activity to be squeezed into an already shrinking supply of 'free' time," she said.

The fitness industry also comes under fire in the report for focussing on body image rather than being healthy.

"The emphasis in the fitness field tends to be on exercise as a means to some other end: a slimmer, more attractive, healthier body. While such extrinsic benefits may create a seductive marketing appeal, they don't lend themselves to a sustainable approach to fitness, and they don't necessarily lead to health," she concludes.

"What is not promoted are the pleasures of exercise and fitness as ends in themselves-but such intrinsic notions of pleasure are in short supply in the fitness industry, and our culture more broadly."
End of story


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