Mostly everyone perceives exercise as healthy and required in order to maintain health. In a way, it is. Like a still pond, a still, sedentary body will become a breeding ground for putrefaction and disease.
However, the definition and perception of exercise has been perverted, distorted, taken to an extreme, and made into a multi-billion dollar industry.
The Western world as a whole has adapted an all or nothing mentality in all areas of life, and a rejection of nuance or reasonability. Nuance and reason are much less profitable than becoming obsessed with an activity that releases dopamine, appeases one’s vanity, and serves to help create a reassuring identity.
I was in Paris, France last week, and noticed quite a lot of joggers passing me by while walking my dog in the park. It seemed like all of them had the latest gear. Leggings, smartwatches tracking their pulse and calories burned, and the latest ergonomic running shoes.
Something bothered me about watching these joggers, and it took me few days of thinking about it to figure out why.
We live in a world of excess. With excess comes waste. Jogging and all other forms of exercise for the sake of exercising represent wasted energy, or energy that was not delegated towards the construction of something lasting or meaningful.
A little over a century ago, if you would have been running through the parks or streets of Paris, others would’ve thought you were either being pursued by the police, or were late for an important rendez-vous.
Although there were bicycles, they were used to get from point A to point B, not to ride around in circles and hold up traffic.
Energy was mostly expended deliberately and with purpose.
The society depicted in the video above was the same that produced intricate, timeless architecture, literary masterpieces, stunning artwork, and the Classical music that we still listen to today. This was the time period of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel.
I used to lift weights 4-5 days per week and spent countless hours in the gym per week. I was also a victim of the fitness industry. Here is an excerpt on exercise from my e-book explaining how to overcome a debilitating autoimmune disease:
Having large muscles and low body fat does not mean that you are healthy. If anything, oversized muscles and an obsession with intense physical exertion represents ill health. Most people do not life weights for their health, but for the admiration of others at the expense of their health.
They are placing unneeded stress on the central nervous system, joints and immune system on an unnaturally frequent basis.
Exercise fanatics often use exercise as a means of distraction from a largely unsatisfying life because it is an easy way to cultivate pride and release endorphins. The countless hours spent in a gym could have been spent with family, on self-education, helping others in a meaningful way, or in the great outdoors.
No matter what you do, your body will inevitably deteriorate and die, so it would be wiser to focus on things that live on after you’re gone and create memories with the people you love.
I lifted weights fo 4 times per week for 6 years, and failed to make the connection between heavy weightlifting and the worsening of my autoimmune disease. I was in a state of denial. Deep down, I knew that I needed some sort of therapy, but the creatine-infused muscles told me otherwise.
Hard exercise is not as conducive to good health as most people think. It creates lactic acid in the tissues and carbon monoxide in the bloodstream as metabolic by-products.
Intense exercise also keeps the autonomic nervous system in the ‘fight or flight’ mode, which stifles the body’s innate healing mechanisms.
People that live well into their 90’s and beyond are not typically exercise fanatics, but they do not live sedentary lives.
They have a sense of purpose, move their body, and spend time outside.
“Cigars, whiskey and no sport”. – Winston Churchill
Since ending my gym membership, I have since gotten a dog and go for daily walks in the nearby forest, which is much more rejuvenating than spending hours in a crowded, indoor gym filled with blaring music and insecure people.
Having an aesthetically pleasing physique has much more to do with having balanced hormones a healthy body fat percentage, sufficient sun exposure, and spending the majority of your time in environments conducive to good health (nature) rather than participating in intense exercise.
After doing away with intense exercise, ironically, I feel much healthier both physically and emotionally. I’m no longer obsessed with my body and simply perceive it as a vessel to fulfill my life’s purpose.
I also have a better relationship with food. I would justify binging on food because I had lifted weights or did high intensity interval training. Now, I intuitively eat when I’m hungry, and stop eating before I’m full. There are no more restrictive diets.
Another benefit is that I have more time on my hands to read, write, work on my French, play the piano, and keep in touch with my family.
Although running, cycling, weight lifting, and yoga can be meditative and mentally therapeutic, there are other ways to achieve this flow-like state without compromising other aspects of your health or emotional well-being. Some of these activities could be taking up a musical instrument, sewing, painting, drawing, creative writing, wood-working and cooking.
Above all, the most underrated and best physical activity out there is undoubtedly walking.
