Harry Enfield’s joke it’s connected to valid point - the obsession with gyms now is largely a waste of money. Keeping healthy is good but gyms appear to be mostly a silly fashion.
Anti-Gym: when exercising aint healthy
Here is yet another of my 'ideas that seem odd to most people but are actually rather sound' - which is my specialism, you just cant get a Phd in it!
Exercising aint healthy. Gyms are not good. Sixpacks can seriously damaged your sensitivity.
What I mean is that nowadays there is far too much focus on body building gym going six pack making...and not enough on developiong our brains, our knowledge our poetic muscles, etc.
When i mention this someone always says: 'We can do BOTH!' Obviously they are not mutually exclusive. I never said they were... but the point is that, in practice, a large amount of people spend a large amount of time doing the first... without doing the second almost at all. Its become an, ironically, unhealthy craze to got to the gym...while libraries close all around us. We need a bit less focus on gyms and more on developing knowledge and understanding. We need a better balance.
One of the other replies Ive had is that humans have always been focused on the body. Obviously humans have always focused on the body. We have no choice - breathing and eating are focusing on the body… we are already on different points there. I was talking about something more more specific…I’m talking about building a 'six pack/gym-obsessed/ overly muscular' body. Which is quite different from a general focusing on the physical body.
Another reply Ive had is: “if the purpose is for sport, or dance or some other physically demanding field, work on the body is equally as valuable” Of course, i never said anything against that. Its interesting that when i make these points several people say things that i have not said, or implied. Exercise for health is good, of course. I exercise myself, everyday in some moderate way. Thats not my point.
The point is that there is too much focus on building a ‘six pack/gym-obsessed/ overly muscular' body. Which is quite different from normal healthy exercise.
A key point is: the increasing amount of people who spend a large amount of time in getting that ‘six pack/gym-obsessed/ overly muscular' body are consequently NOT using that time on learning and developing their minds. It seems to be mostly the case. Often I’ve ask gym goers who tell me ‘I’ve just come back from the gym’ how much time they spent that day in the library - and they seem confused and annoyed by the question. But a look at their lifestyle shows that they spend far more time in the gym working on their bodies than they do learning and working on their brains. It’s a simple question of imbalance.
My point is a positive one: lets spend more time learning and thinking…and less time developing muscles and six pack. That’s a good thing to say.
So as to my specific point, there does seem to be more focus on the building a 'six pack/overly muscular' body now than at various other times in the past. When i was a child or even when i was in my 20s i dont recall men showing off their six packs/exaggerated muscular bodies as is common now. If you see a movie from the 60s or 70s most men in it are thin (in a healthy way),not overly muscular. now its almost always the case that a star has to have a six pack and large arm muscles. even if they are a musician or businessman or a politician. meaning not action type figures - they still seem to need that gym-trim body to get the role. That wasn’t the case in the past.
If you look at the guys considered macho action stars - in the 50s and 60s if was folk like Sean Connery or Kirk Douglas or Michael Caine. They basically had just big strong bodies. By the 70s Caine was even a big overweight, and Connery’s previous muscles had faded, but they still played the tough guy. Now the tough guy has to have a six pack and very large arm muscles. Almost always. It a significant change, and not a good one.
Last point - other people say to me: ‘no, no, there is not enough exercise being done, people are overweight!’. Its surprising to me that people dont see how that doesn’t defeat the point I’m making. In society in general there can be an over emphasis on 'six pack/gym-obsessed/ overly muscular' body among millions of people, AND a lack of exercise/weight problem among millions. The two phenomena can be happening at the same time. Not in the same person normally (though even there some folk do both things!) - i mean in society at large.
So, maybe my point can be adjusted to: ‘Lets spend more time learning and thinking…and less time developing big muscles and six packs…but still eat healthily and do a normal bit of exercise everyday.’
Isn’t that a good thing?
Here is yet another of my 'ideas that seem odd to most people but are actually rather sound' - which is my specialism, you just cant get a Phd in it!
Exercising aint healthy. Gyms are not good. Sixpacks can seriously damaged your sensitivity.
What I mean is that nowadays there is far too much focus on body building gym going six pack making...and not enough on developiong our brains, our knowledge our poetic muscles, etc.
When i mention this someone always says: 'We can do BOTH!' Obviously they are not mutually exclusive. I never said they were... but the point is that, in practice, a large amount of people spend a large amount of time doing the first... without doing the second almost at all. Its become an, ironically, unhealthy craze to got to the gym...while libraries close all around us. We need a bit less focus on gyms and more on developing knowledge and understanding. We need a better balance.
One of the other replies Ive had is that humans have always been focused on the body. Obviously humans have always focused on the body. We have no choice - breathing and eating are focusing on the body… we are already on different points there. I was talking about something more more specific…I’m talking about building a 'six pack/gym-obsessed/ overly muscular' body. Which is quite different from a general focusing on the physical body.
Another reply Ive had is: “if the purpose is for sport, or dance or some other physically demanding field, work on the body is equally as valuable” Of course, i never said anything against that. Its interesting that when i make these points several people say things that i have not said, or implied. Exercise for health is good, of course. I exercise myself, everyday in some moderate way. Thats not my point.
The point is that there is too much focus on building a ‘six pack/gym-obsessed/ overly muscular' body. Which is quite different from normal healthy exercise.
A key point is: the increasing amount of people who spend a large amount of time in getting that ‘six pack/gym-obsessed/ overly muscular' body are consequently NOT using that time on learning and developing their minds. It seems to be mostly the case. Often I’ve ask gym goers who tell me ‘I’ve just come back from the gym’ how much time they spent that day in the library - and they seem confused and annoyed by the question. But a look at their lifestyle shows that they spend far more time in the gym working on their bodies than they do learning and working on their brains. It’s a simple question of imbalance.
My point is a positive one: lets spend more time learning and thinking…and less time developing muscles and six pack. That’s a good thing to say.
So as to my specific point, there does seem to be more focus on the building a 'six pack/overly muscular' body now than at various other times in the past. When i was a child or even when i was in my 20s i dont recall men showing off their six packs/exaggerated muscular bodies as is common now. If you see a movie from the 60s or 70s most men in it are thin (in a healthy way),not overly muscular. now its almost always the case that a star has to have a six pack and large arm muscles. even if they are a musician or businessman or a politician. meaning not action type figures - they still seem to need that gym-trim body to get the role. That wasn’t the case in the past.
If you look at the guys considered macho action stars - in the 50s and 60s if was folk like Sean Connery or Kirk Douglas or Michael Caine. They basically had just big strong bodies. By the 70s Caine was even a big overweight, and Connery’s previous muscles had faded, but they still played the tough guy. Now the tough guy has to have a six pack and very large arm muscles. Almost always. It a significant change, and not a good one.
Last point - other people say to me: ‘no, no, there is not enough exercise being done, people are overweight!’. Its surprising to me that people dont see how that doesn’t defeat the point I’m making. In society in general there can be an over emphasis on 'six pack/gym-obsessed/ overly muscular' body among millions of people, AND a lack of exercise/weight problem among millions. The two phenomena can be happening at the same time. Not in the same person normally (though even there some folk do both things!) - i mean in society at large.
So, maybe my point can be adjusted to: ‘Lets spend more time learning and thinking…and less time developing big muscles and six packs…but still eat healthily and do a normal bit of exercise everyday.’
Isn’t that a good thing?
One of the problems i have with exercising is how BORING it is!
The mindless movement of muscles, up, down, in, out, right side, left side.
It just not mentally stimulating enough to keep my interest.
I’d like exericising a lot more if you could read a book at the same time.
Looked like Sean Connery agreed with me: