Gym frauds get a kick out of it
Walking up to the school gates with her daughters, Abbie, 41, stopped to chat to the other mums. "Off for a run?" asked one, admiring her Sweaty Betty Zero Gravity Run leggings, Lululemon Swiftly Tech Racerback vest and Asics GT-2000 4 trainers ."Yep, another 5km this morning," she replied.But Abbie was planning nothing more energetic than going home to sort through some overdue paperwork.She is one of a secret tribe of 'gym frauds': Women who pretend they work out to make themselves feel better about the money they're blowing on a costly, and unused, gym membership.In the past few years it has become de rigueur to name-drop the latest barre move you've mastered or tips on the best yoga studio.Keeping fit is not just something to do - it's something to shout about.She could be on to something. A 2012 study by researchers at Northwestern University found that we undergo psychological changes when we wear certain clothes, this "enclothed cognition" means that by putting on our Lycra we could (in theory) feel more inclined to exercise."It's all about the symbolic meaning you associate with a particular item of clothing," says social psychology researcher Adam Galinsky...
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