National Fitness Hall of Fame

Passport Required to Exercise? 

During this critical time in history, the fitness industry is once again challenged by overreaching officials.  Now we must stand up and defend our rights and the rights of our clients and members. Remember way back in the early days of fitness when the medical community fought hard against weight resistance exercise? They believed and warned that lifting weights would ruin your joints and you would become muscle bound. They said it would lead to heart damage and would compromise your overall health, which put high intensity exercise in a bad light. Do you remember how hard we worked to change the narrative and provide evidence to change the thinking of the medical community so the medical benefits of weight resistance exercise would be appreciated and endorsed by healthcare professionals? We succeeded to the point where not only was exercise accepted, but it was endorsed by presidents, doctors, healthcare providers, the CDC and the WHO. Health insurance companies and companies that self-insured went so far as to offer incentives and discounts to people who work out because fit populations require fewer medical procedures. We learned that fit people cost the healthcare systems less money. 

The sleeping anti-exercise giant has raised its ugly head again. We should be very concerned about the latest overreaching draconian selective attack on fitness. New York City will now require proof of vaccination to work out in a fitness center or gym. This panicked overreaction to a manageable problem is sure to spread across the nation. Alarmingly, this nonsensical, illogical effort punishing a person for their personal choice to medical care is targeting the segment of the population most likely to resist the shot. Keeping these health conscientious people out of fitness centers and gyms will deprive them of the valuable therapy of boosting their immune system and maintaining health and mobility through weight resistance exercise, which to them is critical. 

This is also a kill-shot to the fitness industry, still recovering from the consequences of the Covid-19 shut-downs of 2020. We, as an industry, must stop being a victim of ignorance and control and rise to leadership by asserting facts above ideology and politics.

Everyone in the healthcare profession knows the value of exercise and the devastating consequences of what happens when people don’t exercise. Deconditioned populations result in a cascade of negative physiological consequences including lowering the body’s resistance to viruses of all types including Covid-19. The thought of closing people’s access to the valuable medical benefits of exercise facilities is unthinkable. 

Unvaccinated does not mean infected. As with many other policies concerning this issue, closing fitness centers and gyms to people who choose alternative healthcare does not stand up to logic. We know better and our clients and members know better.  Collectively, the fitness industry can message millions. This is a fight worth fighting. 

~ Bill Crawford - National Fitness Hall of Fame Inductee 2012 

• 45 Year Fitness Industry Leader, Fitness Center Owner, Operator and Trainer of Thousands
• Former Chairman of the Board, National Fitness Hall of Fame
• Resistance Exercise Conference Arthur Jones Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient 2019
• Represented the NFHOF at the US Surgeons General’s “Step It Up” Fitness Program