If I were to describe The
Biggest Loser television show to someone who had never watched it, they
would probably express several common stereotypes of the show. Often times, people who are obese are thought
to be that way because they’re lazy. If
you’ve ever seen a preview for the show you’ve most likely seen trainers
yelling and out of shape contestants that look like they absolutely hate the
exercise portion of the show.
One common stereotype is that personal trainers are
always yelling to motivate people to exercise.
This stereotype is commonly depicted in the show especially when they
show Jillian Michaels with her contestants.
Although trainers do yell and sometimes get in people’s faces, it’s not
the only way that they motivate people.
More often times than not, they use other methods of motivation. A couple forms of motivation are: recognizing
accomplishments, reminding the contestant that someone else did it faster or
better, and reminding the contestant that they’ve done a particular exercise
and succeeded. Another stereotype is
that exercising is grueling and no fun.
Especially in the first episode of the season, the show reveals just how
hard it is to start working out when your body isn’t used to it. You’ll see people falling off treadmills, making
excuses as to why they can’t exercise, vomiting, and wanting to quit. What the show rarely shows, especially in the
first few episodes, is that exercise can be fun. There are many activities that you can
participate in that are fun exercises. The
gym shouldn’t be thought of as a torture chamber because there are many fun
exercises that can be done there as well.
Rituals are important on The Biggest Loser. There are
three important rituals during the show.
The first is the “Last Chance Workout”.
The workout has been named that because it’s the contestants’ last
chance during that week to lose any more weight before weighing in. The second ritual is the “Weigh-In”. This is where the contestants, in very
limited clothing, step up onto the scale in front of their fellow contestants,
trainers, and America to see how their hard work has paid off for the
week. Sometimes it’s a victorious moment
as the contestant loses a large percentage of their body weight and other times
it’s a somber scene as the contestant loses very little, none, or actually gained
weight for the week. This brings us to
the third ritual of the show, the red or yellow line. If a contestant loses less weight than their
fellow contestants they may fall below the line on the weight loss board for
the week. If it’s a red line that week,
than the contestant is automatically eliminated. If the line is yellow, than the contestants
will choose which of the contestants below the yellow line will be sent home.
I think the show does a good job of defying some of the
stereotypes that people have placed on it.
For instance, the stereotype that all obese people are lazy is often
looked at very deeply by the trainers.
The trainers often uncover the emotional reasons that led to the
physical state that the contestants are in.
I’ve found that many people who are obese are that way because they
lacked the knowledge of how to eat healthy, exercise, and deal with
stress. I have firsthand experience that
personal trainers don’t always get in your face and scream at you to get you
motivated. Actually, I don’t believe
that my trainer has ever yelled at me; he may have raised his voice to get my
attention and to get me to show more intensity but there are many more ways
trainers motivate people. For instance,
I was doing an exercise the other day and my trainer reminded me that one of my
friends was able to do the exercise thirty times in a row without
stopping. This motivated me to do it
forty-two times before stopping. By
being competitive and finding different ways to exercise, being healthy can be
fun. It’s not always all work and no
play.
I enjoy watching the rituals on the show. I think the Last Chance workouts are a good
time to show how much intensity a person can bring to their workout. Without that intensity there wouldn’t be
change. I try to remind myself to give it
my all each time that I workout. Some
days I give more than others but I know that for that session I’m doing the
best I can. I also like the ritual of
weighing in on a regular basis. I wasn’t
a big fan of this when I first started working out because my goal wasn’t to
lose weight; it was to get fitter. Now
that I’ve been weighing in on a regular basis I enjoy it for two main
reasons. The first is that I get to see
my accomplishments a little bit at a time.
The second is merely for accountability.
I know that I don’t want to gain and my trainer is going to read the
scale every two weeks with me on it.
This helps me make better day to day decisions about what I’m
eating.
I honestly think that The
Biggest Loser does a great job defying stereotypes as well as making ones
well known that are true. I think it’s
important for people to understand that laziness is not the only factor that
leads to obesity and that working out and getting healthy can be fun. In order to get healthier you need to be held
accountable and that’s where the rituals of the show come into play.
No comments:
Post a Comment