Day 6: Taking on the Biggest Loser

Today I didn't have a car so I couldn't get to the gym, and I didn't want to run again because my gastrocnemius is really painful today, so as I'm wont to do when I'm stuck at home, I turned to Exercise TV. I had been planning to walk,with the Leslie Sansone workout, but wanted to do something a bit different so I made the choice to opt for "The Biggest Loser: Last Chance Workout" This was 6 or 7 intervals of cardio and weights, and actually would have been a decent workout if it hadn't been for Jillian Michaels.

I haven't ever been able to figure out what draws people so deeply to "The Biggest Loser" and infact, after reading this interview Golda's interview with Kai Hibberd from Season 3, I understood the fascination even less.

So, perhaps the fascination is watching people fatter than you lose weight, perhaps it's some sort of self-comparison of "oh thank god I'm not that fat", perhaps it's some sort of "wow their so strong" in any case--- it's weird. A friend of mine once loved this show, and I'd watch it with her. What she saw as courageous, I saw a self-loathing in the contestants. But all of this aside, I decided to do the Last Chance workout today.

And as I've already said, it would have been good without Jillian Michaels. What I loved about it is the fact that it actually shows fat bodies exercising! How cool is that?! I love seeing fat bodies in movement and doing some challenging movements; however, at the same time, I hated Michaels' rhetoric. As she "encouraged" the former contestants to work out and push themselves she'd say things like "ah, always trying to get out of it," or "come on, move faster," or "oh, they always are trying to cheat."

It sounded an awful lot like blanket statements about the fat bodies she was working with- and all I could think of was #1. Why would anyone pay money (i.e. purchase the DVD) to be insulted and #2. How does any of this actually support the goals of someone trying to move their body, and/or lose weight?

Frustrating. How cool would it be to have fat bodies in motion in workouts that were as challenging as the ones she did? How cool would it be to have a personal trainer who wasn't a thin, short, muscular woman?
Hmmmmmm.....

So, today's body love? Check out personal training certification programs....