01 Feb 2011
Ripped and Righteous

I've always considered the obsession with gyms, abs and weight loss to be a rather ridiculous exercise (pun intended). If you want to stay "fit", no gym is required: just hard work. I frequently listen to my co-workers talk about paying to go to the gym and offer them my own half-price deal: they can come help put up hay, shear sheep or set fence and I'll only charge them half of their current gym fees for the privilege.

So far, there's been no takers.

There’s a bullying strain to the modern fitness ethos, a blurred line between cheerleading and hectoring. And it’s hard not to wonder whether that kind of intimidation — in addition to the social and economic realities of diet and exercise — helps explain the paradox that for all the newfangled aerobic machines and reduced-rate January gym memberships, Americans aren’t noticeably haler and healthier.

(link) [New York Times]

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