Working out naked, huh? The Ancient Greeks and Romans did it, so why shouldn’t we?
Several months ago a story of naked men doing CrossFit began to circulate the internet. It began in Aarhus, Denmark, when the owner of the Danish gym ‘Spartan Mentality’ Steffen Haldrup Andersen, decided to pull an April Fools joke with an ad featuring some ripped, muscular dudes throwing down a few CrossFit Workouts of the Day. CrossFit movements and exercises which included rope climbing, wall ball shots and some weight lifting, most that are arguably uncomfortable to do in the buff – well at least the rope climbs!
Andersen’s attitude was that people only wear the briefest of clothing when they come to do CrossFit at the gym anyway, so why bother with wearing anything at all. The ad upon going viral online resulted in a mad rush of requests from men in the surrounding areas who wanted to exercise naked. So, with more thought given, Sunday evening classes started…
Unfortunately, for those men that were keen to WOD (Workout of the Day) in their “birthday suits”, the naked training sessions were soon abandoned, mostly due to overwhelming media pressure.
The 4 benefits of working out, living free and naked
You ever wonder what the etymology of the word “gymnasium”
Greeks used to exercise nude all the time, hence creating the Greek word gymnos which means “naked”.
As soon as you get home from work, the first thing you want to do is strip and change into loose casual clothing. However, you probably weren’t aware, there’s actually health benefits attached to being naked, especially during the hot summer months.
- Feel Good Benefit: Think about it, we lather ourselves with sunscreen when out in the sun for any length of time, terrified of what may happen to our skin if we don’t. According to a Mumbai dermatologist, Dr. Satish Bhatia, you should allow yourself time in the nude in the early morning for ten to fifteen minutes for your skin to absorb the sun rays. This aids in producing Vitamin D and it also acts as a fantastic mood booster.
- Cleansing Benefit: The human skin needs air to breathe and by covering up in tight, restricted clothing, you’re actually weakening your skin by way of reabsorbing the toxins that are released from your body through sweat. So being naked allows your body to release those toxins that would otherwise be shielded by our tight skinny jeans and baby-gap sized t-shirts. Hmmm… where do I sign up? 😉
- Economic Benefit: Also, did you realize that the Global economy would have a surplus of $1,200,000,000,000 if we decided globally to live naked? I wonder the effect this would have on the world both from an economic standpoint, but also, do you think wars would be fought the same way?
- Longevity Benefit: (just joking) Have you noticed that the furry Norway Rat only lives 2-3 years, while the Naked Mole Rat survives to be 28?
James Andersen
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