Why are we fit when most people aren't?

15 watchers
Aug 2017
6:17pm, 24 Aug 2017
117 posts
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Julii
Thinking of stories like these:

bbc.co.uk
bbc.co.uk

Why do so many people live for years never even trying to get regular exercise?

I have a child-like attitude of wanting to Do Stuff with my body. As well as I can. Like run & swim. Plus cycling is fun. Is that unusual? And exercise is good for my mental health. So I don't understand people who do almost no activity.

I was always the slowest & weakest in school (& bullied for it). The PE teacher once acted disgusted with my 10 minute mile (enormous effort on my part). So people saying they were put off because of bad PE teachers or being bad at sport doesn't wash... Blaming school experiences sounds like an excuse to me. Saying that as someone not naturally resilient or tough, either. Anything but.
Aug 2017
6:29pm, 24 Aug 2017
11,709 posts
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Bazoaxe
Good question.

Up until age 32 I did very little and between 18 and 32 I piled on weight as I ate and drank too much and rarely exercised. 3/7/1999 in a kilt at a wedding I decided I didnt like the size I was and the next day I ran. The rest as they say is history and for as ,long as I can I will run. If I cant run I will cycle, swim or something else. Its just the way my brain is now wired.
Aug 2017
6:32pm, 24 Aug 2017
13,339 posts
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Fenland (Fenners) Runner
From the age of 16 until almost 40 I didn't run a step! :-o
Aug 2017
6:33pm, 24 Aug 2017
11,710 posts
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Bazoaxe
...and some would argue you still dont ;-)
Aug 2017
6:35pm, 24 Aug 2017
3,109 posts
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Curly45
I basically spent the first 26 years of my life sitting on my bum. Its no wonder my glutes dont work properly ;)

Nothing to do with bad PE teachers for me, I just enjoy being lazy. I started running as I was too cheap to pay for the tube every day, started walking my commute, that took too long so started running it.

But now I counteract it with loads of other stuff. I enjoy being outside now as well, but it takes a long time to get to the point where exercise is fun. Its hard work to start with. I think its that which puts people off.

There is definitely something in making it part of the day though - active commutes (or part active) are a big solution to lack of exercise for a lot of people. They just need to see it.
Aug 2017
6:36pm, 24 Aug 2017
61,385 posts
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Gobi
Heading towards 50 - always played sport. Ran a sub 5 min mile as a teenager and again at 38.

Can play any sport I want as long as there is no swimming involved.

Some people just have no interest in exercise. I respect that.
Aug 2017
6:40pm, 24 Aug 2017
13,340 posts
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Fenland (Fenners) Runner
Nice one Baz, you're right I just hop from leg to leg :)
Aug 2017
6:40pm, 24 Aug 2017
16,045 posts
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Wriggling Snake
People think it won't happen to them. Early death. Ill health. Debilitating disease.

However it will. At everyone's cost.

A lot of people are lazy and a lot proclaim to be too busy.
Aug 2017
6:42pm, 24 Aug 2017
13,341 posts
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Fenland (Fenners) Runner
Busy...binge watching x on the TV. You can make room in your life for anything, IF YOU WANT.
Aug 2017
7:08pm, 24 Aug 2017
5,405 posts
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Wobbling
I was a lazy kid and a lazy teen. I got my first gym membership when my boss told me my arse was getting flabby. Went to the gym intermittently in my 20s and early 30s but never enjoyed it, never got a buzz, never got a sense of achievement.

The buzz and the achievement came when I ran my first 10k, at 35. And that was that, running was everything.

When I couldn't run anymore I took up cycling. Now I can't train at all (and it breaks my heart) but I walk whenever I can. Hoping to get back on the bike at some point and possibly run again too, if only a little bit.

I can well imagine tho if my life had been different, if I'd not discovered running and kept on with gyms until I had kids and gave up the gym membership, that taking up exercise in my mid 40s would be a huge thing. I have friends who don't know what I mean when I say I'm missing exercise. They see exercise as a chore, just one more thing on their list, it's not part of who they are.

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Thinking of stories like these:

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