Fitness mom controversy

Since this is such a big story this week, I wanted to weigh in on the Maria Kang controversy. For those of you who don’t know, she is a mother who posted a picture of herself in her workout gear alongside her three sons. Inexplicitly, the picture went viral with over 16 million views. Based on the photo, it’s safe to say that she’s at an elite fitness level.

 

It's an understatement to say that the reaction to her photo varied greatly. Although I doubt that I was intended to be in her target audience of viewing her photo, I viewed it along with the caption “What’s Your Excuse?" as being trying to motivate others almost like an advertisement to use her as a fitness trainer. The intent of why she posted the photo is more important than the photo itself in this case. Therefore, I viewed the photo in a positive light. There are a lot of inspirational photos with the same caption, so I think her intent was to show that with 3 kids you can still become elite at fitness. Here's a sample of one of those:

 

 

The online community didn’t react as positively as me. Instead, she got roughly a 7 to 1 ratio of negative to positive comments. The critics concluded that she is a “bully,” who was shaming women with bodies less fit than hers. She was accused of being a bad mother, called a braggart, and obnoxious.

 

I don't get the hate for the picture. Maria Kang has reached a pinnacle of success in fitness that can't be attained without some serious self-discipline and hard work while simultaneously balancing her duties as a mother. How can anyone criticize her for exercising elite stewardship over her own body particularly since they don't know anything about how she balances her fitness goals with the rest of her life responsibilities?  Her body is a culmination of thousands of little decisions day after day, week after week, and year after year of exercise and diet. That’s why it’s understandable that she’d be proud of her accomplishment.

 

I'll concede that Maria's fitness level is unattainable by the vast majority of women. There are genetics and health issues that make being as lean as her impossible even with maximum effort. Nevertheless, we shouldn't be measuring ourselves against Maria Kang in the first place, since she was born with innate gifts that not many people have. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't strive to reach our potential, whatever level that may be.  I can't measure myself athletically against Usain Bolt, but that doesn't mean I don't want to see him reach his potential as a sprinter.

 

 

So if we aren't Usain Bolt or Maria Kang, then who are we? We are individuals each given stewardship over the innate gifts that we do have. Each of our bodies are unique, so why not just do the best we can to develop good exercise and eating habits aka things that are in our control.

 

We should not feel inadequate or frustrated because someone is at a higher level than us. What's more important is the amount of effort we exert to maximize the gifts we do have. We are all way too different to compare apples to apples so to speak.

 

In case you were wondering, Maria did issue a quasi apology. Of course, the apology spelled out more messages that likely won't resonate well with her haters. I personally am glad that she wasn't contrite as follows:

I'm sorry you took an image and resonated with it in such a negative way... What you interpret is not MY fault. It's Yours.The first step in owning your life, your body and your destiny is to OWN the thoughts that come out of your own head... With that said, obesity and those who struggle with health-related diseases is literally a 'bigger' issue than this photo.

I agree with her that personal responsibility is undervalued by our country. Many of the people that were critical of her photo are not exerting even a fraction of the amount of effort that Maria is. She doesn't watch tv and wakes up at 6 AM to help facilitate her time spent exercising. Even if she is a bit overzealous in trying to inspire others, I'll take her attitude over the haters any day of the week.