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Innocent Choga : Fitness

Is it a sin to spend time working on one’s physique or to take care of one’s body? In the earlier centuries there were individuals who for religious reasons did not believe in exercising and spending time working on the physique. They believed it was vanity since the body needs are the causes of our sins. They believed that time should be spent on spiritual matters only. That meant praying and meditating only.This was called asceticism. Asceticism was linked to early Christianity. The belief was that the body is inferior to the spirit. This is because the spirit is pure whereas the body and its five senses long for earthly pleasures and therefore the body is evil because it taints the spirit. They even went to the extent of punishing the body in rituals.

Even in this era, I think there are some individuals who one would like to think still believe in this notion. There are individuals who do not believe in exercising and eating well at all, despite the fact that they have weight problems.

One would think they despise their physiques, for how can we explain the neglect of one’s physique to an abnormal extent unless one has a medical or genetic condition causing affliction .

Just the other day on Star FM Radio I heard The Breeze DJs Tariro and Iyati asking Doctor Fitness why people should bother to exercise and diet strictly when we know that surely one day we will die. I would like to think this is not their personal view but the question was meant for the benefit of the listeners.

Doctor Fitness admitted that it is a fact that we will die at any stage but aptly explained that life is a journey that we travel in our vehicles which are the bodies, and we can travel in different makes of vehicles depending on our wish. I agree with that, we can travel in the vehicles that we desire and money is not an issue because exercise is for free. We do not pay for jogging in the grounds neither do we pay for tending our gardens.

The cars/bodies we wish for and travel in can be new or old classic and vintage cars; Sunnys, Fords, Kias, Toyotas, Jaguars, Mercedes Benz, Range Rovers or even Beetles.

These cars/bodies can be accident free or damaged; short sighted, scared/dented with mental and physical challenges. But all the same if they are regularly serviced all the time they will present our spirits with pleasant rides to our final destinies be they short or long journeys.

The larger fitness and health equation states that we should live a balanced life. To live an ideal life we should strive to be, physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally and socially healthy.

Today, most churches have become platforms for introducing fitness and healthy lifestyles. Apart from imparting spiritual and moral values some churches are helping congregants to exercise by hosting sporting events, building sports and exercise facilities and through consultations. I also understand there is now a church soccer league.

I had a word with health and fitness expert Mac Mukadam of Health and All, a Muslim fitness fanatic whose religion is Islam. He stated that the Islamic religion strongly emphasised the need for physical fitness.

According to Mukadam the Prophet Mohammed brought no new message but he came to renew the messages of the previous prophets Jesus, Abraham, Moses, Noah, David, Solomon etc, meaning there are many verses pertaining to fitness and good health, since as Mukadam further stated, Muhammed himself practiced archery, horse riding and wrestling as sports.

This cements the belief that people who follow the Abrahamic faith, which are the Jews, Christians and Muslims believe in the principle of self preservation. According to Mukadam, God and Godly teaching comes first, next is spiritual balance followed by preservation of self.

Spiritual balance eliminates extremes that is we should neither go to extremes in our beliefs, for example going to the extent of exterminating other human beings in the name of religion nor should we neglect our spiritual side.

Apart from physical exercising, good nutrition is also a religious requirement and even though as human beings we may falter, there is need to avoid violation of religious beliefs through eating well and avoiding toxic substances which could be just eating excessively, smoking, alcohol and drug abuse.

According to Mukadam the intention is to lengthen our lives as much as possible. He says sport plays a large role in enhancing participants’ fitness and enhancing longevity but this can be side tracked by the infiltration of toxic synthetic drugs for short-term glory rather than the longevity it was meant to aid.

I also had a chat with one Christian Junior Pastor who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Junior Pastor is also a fitness enthusiast who started exercising long back in the early nineties. He said there is no way we can separate the body and the spirit. The body is the temple of the Lord and if the body is not well how can the spirit be happy and at peace.

He said most of their fellow worshippers are aware of the need to exercise and maintain proper body weight but most find it difficult to start on a fitness program. He said some individuals have gone way beyond reasonable weight and find it a daunting task to even think of starting a program to shed weight, but one has to start somewhere and we never give up trying to convince them.

The Junior Pastor said his Senior Pastor is also a fitness enthusiast. He said “At times we have people coming for prayers for different issues and sometimes one can tell the problem is weight related and we do not hesitate to tell them the truth”. To add confirmation to a world research finding that women exercise more than men, the pastor said women are most likely to listen to reason, take correctional measures and start exercising unlike men.

Most men do not care about how they look but women do. The Junior Pastor said: “Most men would rather pray for more money despite the fact that they are already wealthy. But when you look at them you see they have serious weight problems already and you wonder if the cash doubles up are they not going to add more weight and pass away early without enjoying the cash.

“These days pastors and prophets alike are preaching the importance of maintaining health and fitness lifestyles but people will always listen to what they want to hear and anything they do not want to hear will soon be forgotten.”

The Junior Pastor said the onus is also on the pastors to show the congregation what is ideal.

“What we preach the congregates must seen in us. We must practice what we preach. At times some of our colleagues do not look after themselves well and mid way during a sermon you see them leaning heavily against the pulpit for support.

Other members in the congregation might not notice anything amiss but for us who are into fitness, we can tell the pastor is having a hard time in terms of fitness’.

The pastor also emphasised the need for children to start participating in physical exercise and sport at an early age so that it becomes ingrained in them and it does not become an alien activity when one is grown up.

Recently the Salvation Army held Harare Regional Sport gala for youths where basketball, tag-of-war, soccer, volley ball and netball were some of the sports involved.

This event was attended by Salvation Church youth members covering the areas from Norton to Marondera and from Mhondoro to Chiweshe, providing 16 teams for each sporting discipline. This is their demarcation of the Harare region.

I had a word with Clayton Muringai (29) who is the sports organiser of the Budiriro Salvation Army district. Clayton hinted on recreation and the social aspect as part of the fitness benefits. He had this to say: “We were celebrating the 125 years of the Salvation Army’s existence in Zimbabwe. By organising sports functions we bring together youths from different backgrounds and sport provides entertainment for the youths.

“It is not only a way to get physically fit but we also reduce their idle time. Youths are able to open up in such a relaxed and playful environment and it is easy for us to spot abused youths and counsel them.

“Last year we had quite a number of youths fainting due to lack of fitness but this year they showed remarkable improvement in their physical fitness because of regular sports functions.”

Clayton said they are in the process of organising a similar function for Junior Soldiers whose ages range from two to 13 years.

[email protected] Innocent Choga is a six time National Bodybuilding Champion with international experience. He is studying for a science degree in Physical Education and Sport.