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Alicia

Batty

English 101

29 March 2017

Can a Gym Reduce Stress?

In an industry often equated with fad and fashion LA Fitness has steadily increased its

presence by focusing on the one lifelong benefit valued by everyone: good health

(Lafitness.com). This quote is LA Fitness, a widely know gyms mission statement. LA Fitness

started up in Southern California in 1984 by Chin Yol Yi and Louis Weish (Lafitness.com). The

first prototype gym was in Los Angeles, California, now in 2017 LA Fitness has 800 plus gym

locations in the US and Canada (corporateofficehq.com) we continue to seek innovative ways to

enhance the physical and emotional well-being of our increasingly diverse membership base.

(Lafitness.com) this statement on La Fitness website is very important because the company is

expressing their involvement to their members well being, both mentally and physically. Many

Americans believe that the gym is there for them just to workout and as a result they look good,

although that may be a result I believe the gym holds a secondary purpose allowing people to

relive their stress they face on a day to day basis, by relieving their streak it will improve the

mood and mental function.

The first gymnasium dates back 3 millennia. ( Amanda Smith, The 3,000-Year history of

working out) At that time gyms had a very narrow range of members, which consisted of men.

Men were the only ones who attended these gyms. Not only were gymnasium for men but

athletic men as mentioned in an article called The 3,000 Year History of Working Out by
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Amanda Smith she states The ancient olympic sports of running, disus, javelin, and wrestling

were practiced at the gymnasium it would most closely resemble an athleteic venue. In

other words the men that attended these gyms had to have some athletic attribute to them. Now

in the 21st century local gyms like LA Fitness have a more diverse set of members. Both men

and women attend gyms in the U.S.

I decided to go to a LA Fitness to make some observations on who attends gyms and how going

to the gym is helping these individuals. The location I chose to visit is on 6161 Sepulveda Blvd

in Van Nuys. On monday March 13, 2017 at 10.30 in the morning the first thing that caught my

attention was the variety of mothers dropping off their children at the Kids Klub, a daycare

provided by the gym, I imagined how convenient it must be for these parental guardians.Having

access to the kids klub and not having to stress about finding a babysitter so that they can go

relieve some stress they have built up from work or their surroundings. As I continued into the

gym I noticed an elder man possibly in his early sixties sitting at some silver tables the juice bar

provided, he was sipping on a cup of coffee while he had sweet dripping down his face

indicating he just finished working out. What this older man caught my eye was due to the fact

that he had a huge smile on his face. This truly filled me with joy because even though he just

exhausted himself due to a type of physical exercise he took part of he manage to still have such

a smile, as if nothing could bother him at that very moment. Going out on the gym floor there

were men and women everywhere, it was pleasing to see such diversity in gender and culture.

The free weights section was packed mostly men with a handful of women scattered around, I

noticed a majority of these of the people that filled this area were pushing and exhausting

themselves, giving everything they had into their work outs. I then thought to myself why put

yourself through such exhaustion and pain, as I thought to myself I saw a couple people pop up
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like popcorn from their routine exhaling deeply followed by a crooked smile and even a Wooo

from a young kid in a red muscle tank. Due to the observations I made I can visually see that

people that work out physically exhaust themselves in a positive way and as a result these people

seem to be in a better mood.

The physical appearance the working out has on the body can be very obvious to the human eye

but the affect that it has on the human mind is not so easily noticed. We all go through stress and

anxiety at some point of our life or even day, stress is not easy to deal with and unfortunately we

can not get rid of. When we stress our entire body feels it as well as our mind. The first thing

people to when stressed is place their hand on their head. If your body feels better, so does your

mind (Anxiety and Depression Association of America, Physical Activity Reduces Stress). The

brain has numerous nerve connection and chemical that get released in the brain and affect our

mood In an article called Physical Activity Reduces Stress by the Anxiety and Depression

Association of America mentions, Exercise and other Physical activity produces endorphins-

chemicals in the brain that act as natural pain killers- and also improve the ability to sleep, which

in turn reduces stress. many people tend to think reliving stress is impossible or so much more

complicated but in reality it only takes a small amount of physical exercise, for instance going to

LA Fitness and pushing through a quick workout.

With Just a small amount of Physical activity in ones life people will be able to reduce their

stress. The U.S. is ranked third for having high anxiety and depression disorders (U.S. Among

Most depressed countries in the world, Deidre McPhillips) LA Fitness has locations all across

the country giving americans the chance to help reduce their stress which will then help anyone

dealing with anxiety or depressive issues. Hopefully with these gyms that surround us all we can
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become less stress and a more pleasant country. a work out of low to moderate intensity makes

you feel energized and healthy five minutes of aerobic exercise can stimulate anti-anxiety

effects. as mentioned by the ADAA. No one has to exert themselves to feel better physically or

mentally, small changes in ones life with make a huge difference.

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