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Is Your Workout Truly Good For You?
Do you ever leave a fitness class feeling a little convicted or just kind of icky? I know I have. I used to go to all sorts of classes that were full of raunchy music and movements- thinking it didn’t REALLY matter. As a former Zumba instructor, it baffles me how easily I used to fall into the trap of mindlessly listening to, dancing to and even choreographing to music that was far from what God would want for me.
I remember the mainstream music I listened to, and seemingly everyone else listened to, could be pretty vulgar. The male singers often describing sexy women in the bar/ in the club completely focused on the approval of men. The female singers weren’t much better, mostly bragging about their sex appeal like that was the most important thing, or how evil, bitter and angry they were. And if the songs weren’t talking about sex, they were definitely talking about drinking, getting drunk or just being wasted. I did what I assume most self-respecting women did and listened more to the beat trying to just have fun with the ladies, but the words were still blasting in my eardrums and getting stuck in my head.
Still today if I try to go to a dance fitness class all I can think of is, “why are these ladies ok with these words and accentuating them with the movements we’re adding to them?’ Is this really how we see ourselves and want others to see us? Is this really supposed to be ‘good’ for us? Don’t get me wrong. I still love to move, dance and laugh with the ladies. I would just truly like to do it knowing if my son was in the room I wouldn’t feel completely ashamed or embarrassed.
Over the past 10 years, I’ve moved into teaching other modalities of fitness but the importance of the music hasn’t changed. In fact it has become more important to me. I teach and choreograph to fast and slow music for my classes, but always with a focus on the lyrics. I don’t only want the songs to not belittle the ladies I’m teaching, but I want them to genuinely fill and lift them up. I want them to get their minds off of what drags them down and onto what God says about them. I want their movements to honor their bodies and praise the one who made them.
The studio I now own and teach at uses only Christian music in all of our classes. Our focus is to honor God by caring for our bodies and honor Him in how we move, praising and worshiping Him. We want to move on purpose for a purpose so we can live our fullest lives; the lives God has blessed us to live.
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