What is the connection between art and fitness, you might ask. Actually, they have everything in world to do with one another. As humans, we are made to move. Life, and the degree to which we live it, can be measured by movement. A sculpture or painting is judged “lifelike” by the impression of movement it suggests. Whereas fitness develops the capacity for movement, art is the expression within that movement. We need only to watch the grace of a skilled dancer to really appreciate this point.

Image © ESPN Magazine's "The Body Issue", 2011

The art-to-fitness connection is not confined to the stage. Professional sports have more pageantry and decoration than a broadway production. Gifted athletes, like gifted artists, always have a distinctive and recognizable style. Talent may show itself intuitively but it is by practice and refinement that it becomes remarkable. As a spectator, you are watching a performance. It has been this way since the first Olympic Games. In ancient Greece, statues were made to honor Olympic victors. The entire event was wrapped in mythology and celebrated through art. Did you know the modern incarnation of the Olympics actually included an art competition as part of its original conception? This art component continued until as late as the 1954 games. The wild popularity of Sports Illustrated’s “Swimsuit Issue” and the more recent ESPN Magazine’s “The Body Issue” reminds us that fitness is a universally appreciated beauty. Long before any of this, mankind was capturing the raw physicality of life in cave drawings. These drawings were a recording of the past, a plan for the future and a ritual in the present. The physical difficulty of creating these artworks made them athletic achievements in and of themselves.

Detail of Rape of the Sabine Women, by Giambologna

The Renaissance saw the height of artistic expression of athletic form. Michelangelo’s David took three years to carve from single block of marble. This is but one example of so many amazing works from the time. Imagine the cost required to mine and transport such a block of marble. Think of the personal investment of pouring three years of day and night labor into creating a masterpiece. The statues and paintings of this era showed time and time again that the subject deemed most worthy of these colossal undertakings was the dynamic, muscular, human figure. It was the pursuit of perfection as conceived by the artist who was inspired by the Romans who were inspired by the Greeks who were inspired by that same fascination shared by mankind all the way back to those marvelous cave drawings.

You and I are not so different from those cave artists. If you are new to exercise, ask yourself what is motivating you to get started. If you are already a fitness enthusiast, try to recall what your motivation was in the beginning and what it is for you today. As a personal trainer, the number one goal I hear from new exercisers is that they want to change the shape of their body. They want to lose fat, or gain muscle or wear a different size pants or dress. In other words, they want to look better. There are countless benefits to physical fitness and every one of them contribute to a more satisfying and rewarding life. More often than not, however, the desire to look better is the impetus to begin the realization of these life affirming rewards. We want to be beautiful. As an artist, I believe that nothing could be more natural. It is right to appreciate beauty. The human body is so innately captivating, it motivated our prehistoric ancestor to set down his spear long enough to craft a voluptuous figurine from the dirt and clay around him. His first artistic instinct was to create a human form. This appreciation is born into every one of us and it holds the key to a fuller potential than most will ever realize.

I wrote that, as a spectator, you are watching a performance. It is also true that, as a spectator, you are taking part in your own creation. You are absorbing inspiration from the world around you. An artist is a person who recognizes inspiration and acts upon it.

Art is about Life
Life is about Motion
Motion is Art

That’s how I see it.

Life imitates art. Myself posing with "David".