It's no accident that we're attracted to fitness. While we sometimes tend to go overboard and get shallow about it, like calling attention to abs and not value systems, shiny hair and not parenting skills, and succumbing to the media hype and frenzy and money market that is fitness these days, there are still valid evolutionarily sound reasons why we like it.
The most obvious reason is that human beings perceive fit people as being healthy. As any other mammals, we have a natural instinct to gravitate toward health and away from disease, based on biological imperatives to keep ourselves alive. Another reason is our mating drive. Whether we're straight, gay or bisexual, something informs us, sometimes against our will, that a fit partner is a good partner for mating with and try as we may, we will react this way time and time again (acting on these feelings is quite another matter).
But what is less often pondered is the fact that increasing levels of exercise makes for better sex because our blood is flowing more freely, our cells are more oxygenated, and our mood is elevated, increasing our capacity for joy, for outgoingness, for self esteem and for making connections with others.
Far from the superficial need for physical perfection in our appearances, the myriad reactions occurring in the invisible realm, underneath the skin, in our brains, as a result of increasing our exercise are really the catalysts for great sex in our lives.
We can move more freely, feeling our body parts with greater awareness, laugh with someone more easily, smile more, and do more athletic things in bed with more stamina.
So while the fitness marketing craze is completely out of control, our ability to give ourselves the gift of fitness doesn't have to be. It's really not about having a certain size of thigh, it's more about what you can do with that thigh and how it feels when it's wrapped around your lover than anything else.
Aimee Boyle is a teacher and writer in CT. She has a blog you should visit at http://www.straightandnarrow.yolasite.com, and she is a regular contributor to EmpowHER.