Working Out Isn't Working

I rode my bicycle more than 70 miles last week with the Minneapolis Team in Training team. I’m training with them for my 100 Mile bike ride at Lake Tahoe on June 1 to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and to honor my dad. (Please click on the link to the right to donate.) Anyway, 70 miles seemed like a major physical ordeal to me and my body. It dawned on me that people ride hundreds of miles a week. Some of them are older too. Besides doing these kinds of things for charity, to get physically healthy, or for a sense of accomplishment though, working out in general doesn’t make much sense.

All that exertion doesn’t do much for society. It doesn’t accomplish anything. Nobody gets fed, no power gets generated; we just use up (now expensive) food calories to move ourselves or machines around and the energy exertion results in meaningless motion. What if all the machines in a gym were hooked up to a generator to reduce emissions from our power plants? Or what if we had organized volunteer days where we transported bags of grain or building supplies for volunteer organizations and built up our fitness at the same time? Then our work-outs would be doing work.

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I’m just as guilty as anybody. I play sports, bicycle, and work out to stay (somewhat) fit, and it’s all entertainment and agony. It doesn’t work that great. Of course this is mostly my fault, I would say working out doesn’t work out for most other people as well. That’s because it’s boring and often mindless. Perhaps we would all be more motivated if we worked out for the benefit of society or the environment.

We basically put ourselves through a work-out’s extreme stress to look good and so that we can eat more unhealthy, scrumptious foods. We want to look good so that we can find an attractive mate who brings us pleasure. So when we work out, we are partaking in hedonism. There are physical benefits such as feeling good, and stress relief, but those would be trumped if we worked out to do work.

+ Atul

Comments

[chancelucky]

The trick with bike tours is that you have to find a cadence or comfortable rhythm for your body. Once you do, you can much further and longer than you would ever imagine (we're talking cycling not other activities).
There's a store near me that specializes in "green" solutions for everyday life. Outside the store they have a bunch of exercise bicycles hooked up to their power generator. It's not all that easy to generate any appreciable amount of energy with your legs+arms. IT's really pretty humbling to see how many watts you can produce on a bicycle.

[Atul]

CL,

The bike tour trick on cadence makes sense. Just yesterday somebody told me that you should start at a slower than normal cadence and work your way up with the miles.

I know about the minimal wattage our bodies can produce, but at a gym, 30 machines could generate significant power I would think. I saw on the show Real People a long time ago that I guy hooked up his TV to the exercise bicycle so that he could only watch while he was pedaling. That's a great idea.

[Dave P]

I just started a twice a week circuit training class. 13-15 stations at 1 minute each-targeting specific muscle groups. Like anything else worthwhile, it takes time and effort. We are so spoiled because there are many instances in life where we experience instant gratification that we give up when we do not receive it. It's tougher to give up good food and drink than it is to work out.

[Atul]

Dave,

Circuit training does take time and effort although I think it's more time-efficient than other types of work-outs. I agree that for most people, tasty food and drink is a necessity and working out is optional.

[Erin Maier]

It would be interesting to see how much power would be generated for a city if all of the fitness centers, gyms, etc. were hooked up to the power grid.
I'm certain there would be plenty of power, however I don't believe that people would think anything more (or less) of their workouts. So what if they are generating power for part of the city? How does that change the boring, repetitiveness of their treadmill jog? It doesn't.
I'm not saying that we shouldn't try hooking them up, I just don't agree that it would suddenly give people a purpose (beyond losing weight, staying in shape, etc.) to exercise.
In what way are people "guilty"? Guilty for wanting to stay healthy? to have fun playing a sport?
"working out doesn’t work out for most other people as well", why would you say that? it seems you are making broad assumptions based on your own personal experience. besides, working out doesn't have to be "boring and often mindless", ever hear of Dance Aerobics? hahah, yes this is more of a woman's type of exercise but men could do it too! ;P
I personally would not feel more motivated to exercise (or enjoy it more) if I knew that I was helping society or the environment, I'm sure that other people feel this way too. Some people simply enjoy working out, they don't need motivation. I love to run, not because it keeps me fit or so I can eat more "scrumptious foods", I do it because I can, because I just enjoy running around the neighborhood, seeing people and being outside.
All in all, I do not agree that 'doing something for society' will motivate people to exercise, but I do think it would be a good idea to hook the gyms,etc of a city up to generators and such.

[Atul]

Hi Erin,

When I said "guilty", I meant that my workouts do no more for society than anybody else's. It's good that you exercise regularly, but most people don't. That's why so many people buy gym memberships that don't get used or gym equipment which they don't use and often end up selling.

Perhaps doing something for society with their workout will motivate a small percentage of people more than a regular workout. I play sports more than I work out because it's more fun to me. As for the generator thing, our exertion wouldn't give that much useful power for a city, but it is ironic that workout machines have to be plugged in while the user is creating energy that could at least be used for the machine.

[Dave P]

Erin
Not to speak for Atul, but what I think he meant is that his workouts and the energy spent doing them, only serve him, but if he/others used their energy as a volunteer, a measure of good is accomplished. In Philosophy, there are ethical belief systems which measure a person’s behavior/actions related to its contribution to society.

It does seem that Atul may be making broad assumptions in that he is contemplating a greater good while the behavior of many people is “me” oriented. This blog is called “Things I’ve Noticed” so it contains Atul’s views based upon HIS experiences. The great thing about the Comment section is that you, I and others can share our points of view in the same way.