Why are the general population resistant to getting fit?

[Pebble]

Question (I don't know the answer so not a question actually making a point)

Do those not exercising have the impression you need eg gym membership (expensive) or flashy jogging gear or stuff that costs money.

Do the "inactive" appreciate they can do a lot of exercises indoors with no gear, no need for showers after, etc. Do they appreciate they can go for a walk for free? and that a walk is good.

Basically are there misconceptions driven by eg Peleton (and others) TV ads and seeing joggers in lycra with tight pink tops, headphones and phone strapped to arm?

Ian

Aye, I actually know someone who drives a few miles to a gym to walk 5km on a tread mill - apparently she prefers the atmosphere to the boring countryside.

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As for my relationship with exercise; I have always been lucky that my obsessions (climbing, hill walking and now cycling) have always kept me relatively fit, but I have never done any of those things to be fit. I doubt I would ever exercise for exercise sake. I have pilates exercises to do to keep my back OK, but I only ever do them when I start getting twinges, which is stupid but i suppose no stupider than the couch potato who would like to be fit but can't be bothered!

My argument fails a bit, I put my cycling down to my love of being out in the countryside, but then I wouldn't want an electric bike, and I obsess about my mileage (784 so far this year, best start of a year since 2021) and I love that occasional feeling I get when I'm up on the pedals and powering up a hill like a 20 year old - so therefor I must like exercise ? I'm not that sure what really drives me

[ossie]

and I love that occasional feeling I get when I'm up on the pedals and powering up a hill like a 20 year old - so therefor I must like exercise ? I'm not that sure what really drives me

Dancing on the peddles like Contador...yep I love that feeling. I also find its good for my bad back / sciatica - just been told I need a L5/S1 fusion and am desperate to put it off for as long as possible.

[Ron]

To me the sports period was like extra play time and something to enjoy, but to others it was hell, obviously.

I was in the latter category.
I blame the syllabus used for teaching physical education for the general unwillingness to engage in physical activity in adult life. It was all so competitive. The importance of taking part was never mentioned, you had to be a winner or you were nothing.

[Bmblbzzz]

School sports:

I think there's a kind of blindness or tunnel vision that exists in this. It affects many outside school too. For instance, a few years ago I was talking to a woman in her late 20s who had started cycling for enjoyment, fitness and (to an extent) sport, at university. At the same time, she had joined the university's women's rugby team, and was enthusing about how she would have enjoyed PE at school if they had been allowed to play rugby. What had they played? Hockey. Same thing! I replied. My point being that they're both ball sports, both team sports and even that they're both competitive. To her, they were radically different. But far too often at school we're given the choice between hockey and rugby, or football and basketball, but never given a truly different option like football and cross-country running or basketball and archery.

I'm not sure if that answers the OP topic though.

[Psamathe]

School sports:

I think there's a kind of blindness or tunnel vision that exists in this. It affects many outside school too. For instance, a few years ago I was talking to a woman in her late 20s who had started cycling for enjoyment, fitness and (to an extent) sport, at university. At the same time, she had joined the university's women's rugby team, and was enthusing about how she would have enjoyed PE at school if they had been allowed to play rugby. What had they played? Hockey. Same thing! I replied. My point being that they're both ball sports, both team sports and even that they're both competitive. To her, they were radically different. But far too often at school we're given the choice between hockey and rugby, or football and basketball, but never given a truly different option like football and cross-country running or basketball and archery.
...

It's an interesting aspect and thinking back I dreaded virtually all organised sport/PE at school but I did enjoy hard surface hockey (can't remember it's proper name). And I have no idea why I enjoyed hard surface hockey it but hated all other sport (even hating grass hockey).

At my school we never got any choice about what we wanted to do other than if you were good and were selected for a team (which you could avoid by being useless).

Ian

[Pebble]

and I love that occasional feeling I get when I'm up on the pedals and powering up a hill like a 20 year old - so therefor I must like exercise ? I'm not that sure what really drives me

Dancing on the peddles like Contador...yep I love that feeling. I also find its good for my bad back / sciatica - just been told I need a L5/S1 fusion and am desperate to put it off for as long as possible.

It just shows how these similar back injuries vary so much - one of my red flags to tell me that I need to do my pilates exercises is sciatic twinges when up dancing on the pedals. walking is not good for me either, I can walk 3 or 4 miles but my back will start to play up, 5 mile is too far, but weirdly I can cycle 50 mile and feel better. And yet other folk give up cycling cause of their backs.

Good look with the fusion, luckily I never had surgery. I had two slipped discs at the same time, L5/S1 & L4/L5 Sciatic in one leg Femoral nerve in the other, crawled around on the floor for 6 months, what worked in one leg didn't in the other, an astonishing experience! a little bit of permanent motor loss to one quad means I have to keep my routes clockwise

[mattsccm]

The answer doesn't need a paragraph. Most people are lazy and getting fit takes effort.

[ossie]

and I love that occasional feeling I get when I'm up on the pedals and powering up a hill like a 20 year old - so therefor I must like exercise ? I'm not that sure what really drives me

Dancing on the peddles like Contador...yep I love that feeling. I also find its good for my bad back / sciatica - just been told I need a L5/S1 fusion and am desperate to put it off for as long as possible.

It just shows how these similar back injuries vary so much - one of my red flags to tell me that I need to do my pilates exercises is sciatic twinges when up dancing on the pedals. walking is not good for me either, I can walk 3 or 4 miles but my back will start to play up, 5 mile is too far, but weirdly I can cycle 50 mile and feel better. And yet other folk give up cycling cause of their backs.

Good look with the fusion, luckily I never had surgery. I had two slipped discs at the same time, L5/S1 & L4/L5 Sciatic in one leg Femoral nerve in the other, crawled around on the floor for 6 months, what worked in one leg didn't in the other, an astonishing experience! a little bit of permanent motor loss to one quad means I have to keep my routes clockwise

Clockwise You're right, it seems that all symptoms are different. I've previously had two microdiscectomies at L5/ S1 and after the first op back in 2012 my surgeon advised me to get back on the back as soon as I felt I could. Unfortunately the disc reherniated for a third time in 2014 so I've been putting this damned fusion off. However like you walking isn't good and its getting worse, ten minutes and the leg/ foot is numb and I'm dragging my foot.

I've just had a three week break off the bike / turbo and worryingly after a 45 minute session the other night I was in a lot of sciatic pain, despite dancing like Contador It seems that if I do absolutely nothing and lead a sedentary life style the sciatica improves. He's offered one more nerve root block that I get in a few weeks but the writings on the wall I think if I still want to be active (I'm only 58).

[Debs]

...but to others it was hell, obviously.

I blame the syllabus used for teaching physical education for the general unwillingness to engage in physical activity in adult life. It was all so competitive. The importance of taking part was never mentioned, you had to be a winner or you were nothing.

[Jon in Sweden]

The answer doesn't need a paragraph. Most people are lazy and getting fit takes effort.

That is true. But by taking just a little time to get fit, everything else gets easier.

I forget who said it, but exercising for one hour a day makes the other 23 easier. And that's really all it takes.

It's remarkable to consider how sendentary we are compared to the average person just 100 years ago. I consider myself extremely fit and quite strong, but I did 6 hours today of clearing old, semi rotten bearers out of about an acre of timber storage sheds. I lifted/dragged and then stacked (ready for forklift uplift) maybe 5-7 tonnes of bearers/sleepers, and had to use a sledgehammer to unstick quite a few of them as they were frozen to the ground.



I am absolutely knackered, and I didn't even cycle to work today. I honestly cannot imagine how your average person would manage such a task without a base in strength and endurance training.

To be fair, my boss did give me this job because he knows I like a physical challenge!

[djnotts]

Because it takes effort and a motive. When the future looks bleak, why bother about getting there alive?
I played a lot of sport until about 17. From then til 25, some hard manual labour plus ever increasing drink and drugs. 25-35 drink and sedentary work.
Arrival of kids gave me some motive to keep a bit fitter!
Beyond 50, battled alcoholism, beat it by .... cycling.
And my weight/BMI barely changed from 15 to current 75. I am not fit, extreme COPD and cancer treatment sees to that. I managed av 105 miles p.w. last year because I have motive to stay "active" - my personal life is happier than for decades and seems a shame to shorten it more than is already decreed!
Many people have no particular reason to look forward to any future by the time they reach 50.

[Nearholmer]

^^^

Wise words, IMO.

When you consider the amount of borderline self-destructive behaviour that people engage in (and I don’t exempt myself from that at various times, in various ways), one can only conclude that a great deal of the answer to the question posed lies between people’s ears. Where there’s hope, there’s a will to live as long as possible, but where there is a great shortage of hope ……..

Personally, I still think it’s exacerbated by the challenging times we’re living through right now, and the “resultant bad news tsunami”, acknowledging in saying that that previous generations have had to soak-up a lot of tough stuff too - being an adult in this country through the 1930s, 40s, and early-50s can’t exactly have been good for mental well-being, for instance.

[Bmblbzzz]

The same aforementioned co-worker also has a massive issue with the cold. I realise of course that women tend to be comfortable at slightly higher temperatures, but she's said she avoids cold drinks and has never swum in any of the lakes (we have a wonderful swimming lake 1200m from work, that I swim in twice a (work) day from April to September).

I suggested a program of acclimatisation, by starting in summer with daily dips and continuing on for as long as possible into autumn. Then couple ice dipping with sauna, and Bob's your mother's brother, you've got hot and cold endurance training nailed.

Sounds horrendous. If you'd just suggested the occasional summer dip, maybe she could have progressed from there, but linking that to "ice dipping" has probably put her off even a heated indoor swimming pool.

[Jon in Sweden]

The same aforementioned co-worker also has a massive issue with the cold. I realise of course that women tend to be comfortable at slightly higher temperatures, but she's said she avoids cold drinks and has never swum in any of the lakes (we have a wonderful swimming lake 1200m from work, that I swim in twice a (work) day from April to September).

I suggested a program of acclimatisation, by starting in summer with daily dips and continuing on for as long as possible into autumn. Then couple ice dipping with sauna, and Bob's your mother's brother, you've got hot and cold endurance training nailed.

Sounds horrendous. If you'd just suggested the occasional summer dip, maybe she could have progressed from there, but linking that to "ice dipping" has probably put her off even a heated indoor swimming pool.

I don't agree.

Firstly, there is a big culture here of swimming outside in lakes. Every village has a swimming beach that's maintained by the council (if they have a lake, which many do).

Secondly, ice bathing is very common here in conjunction with sauna.

So to suggest starting bathing in a lake when the water temperature is 20c plus (often 23c plus, and sometimes higher) and then continuing on for as long as is comfortable is a decent suggestion. That's basically the standard advice given to newbie wild swimmers in the UK who want to swim at colder times of year. Don't start when it's cold. Start when it's warm and just continue. Occasional summer dips (whilst pleasant) won't have any effect on cold tolerance.

By training the body to tolerate cold, you stimulate the production of brown fat, which is key in instigating non-shivering thermogenesis (which is why babies have loads of brown fat - they can't shiver).

Additionally, a dip in colder water is a large calorie drain. Increasing the body's use of calories will raise the metabolic rate, which in turn is likely to increase heat production.

I appreciate that I'm probably an outlier though. I had a period of having to wait for a colleague to show up at work this morning. I was outside, it was minus 9c, I was sat still on a timber stack and very comfortable wearing fewer clothes than my aforementioned colleague would wear indoors at 25c higher temps. Opposite ends of the spectrum!

[Bmblbzzz]

That's basically the standard advice given to newbie wild swimmers in the UK who want to swim at colder times of year.

"Want" is the crucial word.

You said she doesn't like cold. If she's also said that she'd like to be able to swim in the lake, I'm sure your advice would work. But if she's happier snuggled up under the duvet* with a mug of hot chocolate and the heating on full, then I'm not sure those words are painting an enticing picture of winter activities.

*Which I believe is a Swedish word!