I was sorting through my articles and realized I never published this one. Whoops!

In addition to being a professional performing strongman, I make my living as a personal trainer in Boonton. Being a fitness professional for a living I try to see what’s relevant (i.e what are people talking about) and that’s apparent when I see some of the personal trainers and nutritionists I’m Facebook friends with talking about something.

The first time I saw it, it was as a youtube thumbnail from a fitness/health ranter that I occasionally will listen to as I load the dishwasher.

Here is a link to the actual article.

So here is what a lot of my fellow personal trainers are saying…it’s not healthy yada yada yada. Much of what the article is saying is focus on what you can do, not the way you look.

I think what we really have is a simple miscommunication.

So for one, we need to define a couple of terms. I subscribe to the Dan John school of thought where fitness is the ability to do a task, while health is the optimal interplay of the various internal organs. They can be related, but they are not the same.

Consequently, wellness and health are related but not necessarily one and the same.

Wellness, however, is much more than physical health. Wellness is a full integration of physical, mental and spiritual well-being. It is a complex interaction that leads to quality of life.

Grand Rapids Community College

Here’s where I got that from https://www.grcc.edu/humanresources/professionaldevelopment/wellness/sevendimensionsofwellness

So what are we talking about then? Are the people in question healthy? How do you define that? There are certain biomarkers that tell you that. Things like blood pressure, cholesterol etc.

From what I can gather they aren’t necessarily talking about physical health. They are talking about mental health which is a whole other talking point. That boils down to their self-confidence, sense of self-worth etc.

Are they fit? Some of them definitely. At least one of them is an olympian.

I think the main point of the article is that you don’t have to be a specific size. The body positivity movement can be a good thing but like many good things can get turned into something harmful. Love yourself…but love yourself enough to be healthy…both physically and mentally.

Eric Moss is a personal trainer in Boonton and doubles as a world-record-holding modern-day professional performing strongman, author, and motivational speaker. In the tradition of the strongmen more common during the turn of the century, he performs feats of strength such as bending steel and breaking chains as part of a show and speaks on goal achievement for corporations, nonprofits, government as well as for schools and universities. His exclusive personal training studio is located on Main Street in Boonton New Jersey, is close to Mountain Lakes, Denville, Montville and Parsippany New Jersey.