Controversial opinion, I think working out and playing sports frequently is a waste of time. I never really understood the drive for fitness and sports. Probably because I wasn't particularly good at sports, I'm not sure if lack of interest drove lack of ability, or if lack of ability drove lack of interest. My area of interest/competence was technical, intellectual, financial. Most of the "fit" guys I know who spent spare time playing sports are now in pain with bad knees, backs, shoulders, etc.
I think a truer statement is that loving yourself means not being UN-fit. If your eating habits match your lifestyle, or you are a high metabolism person, it's possible that the time spent building muscle mass and endurance could be better spent on something else.
If your metabolism or eating habits necessitates you working out to not become fat/unhealthy, than that is a different story.
However, it's not necessary for me to workout to be healthy, and when I do the math, it's tens of thousands of dollars of time (lost earnings from being able to do something else), food costs (your appetite goes way up), and related expenses (gym memberships, work out equipment, etc) for gains that I'll lose the second I stop working out, just seems like a waste. I'd rather spend that time making more money which is it's own kind of power.
If I need to lift something heavy I have lots of people around me I can tap for help, just like I get tapped to help my circle out with things in my area of competence.
And from a family self-defense argument, I'm at home 95% of the time within arms reach of my safe. It's not going to come down to me having to beat someone with my bare hands.
For me, the physical aspect of it is completely secondary.
Working out on the reg vastly improves my mood, cognition, and brain function. It is the only thing that has ever helped alleviate my crippling depression.
Learning to be disciplined , working out even when you don't " feel like it " , getting to be alright with physical discomfort , and pushing past what you thought were your limits is something that I get from working out. Seeing your body change , and seeing your strength increase is pretty sweet too.
Great point. Discipline is really what you are training for with physical fitness. People think that changing your frame of mind is some kind of magic thing that happens in our brains. It isn't. Just like muscle fibers, you need to excercise your neural subsystems regularly to change your mind set.
vastly improves my mood, cognition, and brain function
100%
Helps me control my drinking too.
Good comment. I'll disagree on a couple points just for point of discussion.
I never really understood the drive for fitness and sports.
On Sports: All of my children were in sports while in school. This gave them 5 things. (1) being competitive is a good thing. (2) taking risks is a good thing. (3) how to deal with defeat. (4) hard work is rewarding, (5) how to handle conflict from coaches, teammates, etc.
Most often, sports is about training the mind more than training the body. That mind training will last a lifetime.
This isn't a hard rule - there are PLENTY of kids who do great in life without sports. (You included - I'm stating generalities, not talking specific people.) But, I'd postulate that part of the western success (and strength) of the individual is our youth sports programs. Anecdotally speaking: without fail, my nieces / nephews who played sports did well in life. Those who didn't, struggled more. Struggled with accepting failure, struggled with taking risks, struggled with anxiety, etc.
However, it's not necessary for me to workout to be healthy,
On Fitness: I'm guessing you are still young. (20s or 30s.) I was the same way in my 20s/30s. It wasn't hard to be mostly healthy. I'm older now ... lack of some level of physical activity will catch-up to you. And, lack of good habits will compound that..
Again, anecdotally speaking: my relatives who were fit generally lived into their 90's with sound mind and (mostly) sound body. My older relatives who were not fit generally died in their 60's and 70's. A 30% life span difference isn't something to scoff at. (A few outliers ... cancer and smoking will have a larger impact on mortality than fitness.)
I'm at home 95% of the time within arms reach of my safe.
One can hope you are aware and fast enough to handle a home invasion. I used to feel that way (in my 20s and 30s.) This changes as you get older. :)
Thanks for the comments, you raise some good points about sports.
I'm almost 40, I think the best argument for working out would be yours, that it could extend your life and keep you healthy longer.
Fair! My apologies for under estimating your age. I guessed wrong based on my personal experiences.
I felt I hit a mental and physical wall when I hit 35. Lots of it was psychological, but my body really started falling apart after that.
Mental strength, man. You must be a total waif to be this averse to physical activity.
Do you know what it feels like to conquer a massive physical obstacle that you've prepared to challenge for months? Do you know what running long and hard does for you mentally? It reveals to yourself your potential. I never thought I'd make it through the Crucible in Boot Camp- but I fucking did it, I completed one of the hardest training courses on earth at the time. My confidence flourished- I was already confident in my speech and social skills. But now I was physically confident. I don't expect someone like yourself to understand what that means, and it's a shame that you don't even see merit in trying to reach that.
It's not going to come down to me having to beat someone with my bare hands.
How can you know this? You can't. What if you hear an intruder just as he's walking into your room, and as you're fumbling with your safe he fucking grabs you? You're going to fold and be killed, because you have never overcame intense physical hardship. You have this attitude that "Someone else in my circle will come along and help"- those people aren't always going to be around. Part of being a man is being able to physically take care of yourself and those in your family weaker than you.
Finally, a hypothetical scenario: Two guys get into a gunfight. They have the same skill level at shooting, same size, same guns- all variables are equal, except one of them runs 5 miles a day, and the other one depends on everyone else around him to assist with difficult physical tasks. My money is on the man who can run, every fucking time. Even if he is shot first, he will have something the shut-in doesn't- THE WILLPOWER TO CONTINUE FIGHTING, TO CONTINUE PUSHING UNTIL THE JOB IS DONE. They'll be more likely to stay in the fight longer, even with severe/mortal injuries- we can see this in action in combat/police footage. The guy who doesn't physically train will immediately fold upon catching a bullet and give up, hoping his "circle" comes along to save them. The guy who trains physically will depend on himself and his own skills to WIN.
Perhaps you just lack a competitive streak? I also find it a little unsettling that multiple people agree with this notion that "physical fitness is a waste of time". Sounds like coping to me; and this post on the same day that MSNBC published some nonsense about how physical training is White supremacy. You look very suspicious in light of this.
I'm sure it's a good use of time for many people. There's many benefits, I've just weighed them and determined for myself I'd rather use my time on something else. 45 minutes a day of working out equates to 5% of my remaining lifetime waking hours. I have ALOT of shit that I am trying to get done before I die, and the ROI on using 5% of it on this just doesn't make sense to me individually.
Some personal reasons:
1) I see the value in an active lifestyle, I just don't see the value in working out or running around kicking a ball for the sake of it. My day to day activity is already active enough, my body has exactly as much muscle as it needs to deal with it's current workload. We build and maintain our buildings, we produce (and hunt) our own food, we maintain our roads, we cut our own heating fuel. Yes, we do this in as energy conservative a manner as possible, ie, we're not chopping firewood with an axe, but it's not a sedentary lifestyle.
2) I'm genetically of very small stature. I learned early that weight matters more than training and strength. I'm not saying that strength and training don't make a difference, I'm just saying my huge cousin who was just born a beast would beat me in a fist fight regardless of how much weight lifting I do. There are examples of highly trained people who would fight way above their weight class against average people, but I've determined that it would take a massive amount of effort for me to build up to a point that I could win in a confrontation without fighting dirty. I'd rather spend that time on IPSC, UDPA or some other defensive pistol training which I enjoy and has a higher likely hood of actually protecting me.
If I need to carry a fridge up a flight of stairs, a have close family members that love to be asked for help, or hell, I can pay someone with the extra money I made using the work out time more productively. I'd probably have needed help even if I worked out like crazy my whole life.
3) Women prefer muscular guys, but I'm past the stage in my life where I care about attracting a mate. That being said, women are also attracted to power/authority and wealth.
4) If I value my time at $100/hour, that 45 minutes a day costs me $75/day. That's $27,375 I could have earned in a year if I just worked instead.
I learned early that weight matters more than training and strength.
That's just flat out incorrect. Maybe you had some bad experienced getting roughed up by bigger people "early in life" or w/e, but that shouldn't make you fold up and decide "I'll never be able to defend myself from someone if they're heavier than me", that's a real bitch decision. I can provide you with many examples where this is disproven, if you'd like.
Women might be "attracted" to scrawny/fat/pudgy rich men, but they're fucking broke Chads on the side, and you're a fool if you don't think so. "Chad fucks, beta bucks", man.
If I value my time at $100/hour, that 45 minutes a day costs me $75/day. That's $27,375 I could have earned in a year if I just worked instead.
This has to be one of the most jewish things I've ever read, fucking disgusting that you put a dollar value on your life. YOU ARE NOT YOUR BANK ACCOUNT. You seem to be mistaken. And if you make that much money, you can stand to sacrifice a hundred bucks a week to do some damned push-ups and cardio. You'll add years to your life.
I was thinking the same thing with him - that he was coping for a lack of physical fitness and was being overall lazy.
If one has trained to not be completely fucked when they're in discomfort or actual pain they are going to be able to get themselves out of bad situations rather than being outright killed.
It's never a waste of time to be physically fit, to be able to fight through pain and discomfort, and to get the job done despite this. To be otherwise is being a pussy.
If one has trained to not be completely fucked when they're in discomfort or actual pain they are going to be able to get themselves out of bad situations rather than being outright killed.
This is what I was trying to say, in so many words, well put.
If you haven't felt your lungs burning, feeling like they're about to burst, and then still climbed up that rock-wall. You get to the top ledge of the rock wall, your muscles are screaming in agony, every cell in you wants to give up and let go- but something inside of you says "NO, CLIMB! REACH UP, GRAB THAT LEDGE, AND PULL!"; and then you do.
Someone who can do that will be better in any kind of fight than someone who has never experienced physical hardship and overcome it.
It does reek of coping. Pushes glasses up: "I think that people who do physical activity are just wasting time because I make $1 million per hour, and an hour of working out is minus one million dollars for me!" Pure faggotry, sounds like something a jew would say.
Having physical strength is so you don't have to rely on others to do things, which is not only just for a 'shit hits the fan' situation. The mental strength comes as part of the natural progression of gaining physical strength too. You don't lose the gains the second you stop working out, you'll still have that base strength for a long time to come, and will still retain the majority of the remainder unless you entirely stop doing any sort of physical activity for ages. To be fair though, everyone's interests are different, some find the idea of sitting down doing nothing to be intolerable, some find being up and about intolerable. I think the important thing is what you said: loving yourself means not being UN-fit.
If my tummy jiggles when I brush my teeth I know it's time to start riding my bicycle more.
I'm not joking. That's one of my metrics.
I used to make arguments along these lines. Then I started lifting, not intensively or in pursuit of a body builder type physique, just 30 to 45 minutes a day. It changed me for the better. Pushing yourself physically leads to opening untapped potential. It heightens your will power. It increases your mental toughness. You are likely a very good person but the version of you who lifts for a half hour a day is better than the version of you who doesn’t.
You might be overthinking it a bit. All men should be training for war all the time and this merely means continuous competence training that includes physical fitness.
What you consider as competence depends on many things including your understanding and desire to step up and help in the hierarchy when called upon.
There is room here for fitness from Tyler Durden to merely being healthy, in shape and able to carry a 100 pound military backpack on a daily grind for 20 miles or some such.
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