Everyone Should Exercise

A New Kind of Body Positivity

I never used to exercise. I was always one of those kids who no matter what unhealthy habits I had, from lack of exercise to eating tons of junk all the time, it never mattered. I was always scrawny. Therefore I didn't think too much about exercise—unless my dad was forcing me to.

To be honest, I was quite athletic—for one who hardly ever exercised (and certainly didn't enjoy doing it). I only ever did because I wanted to make my dad happy. Perhaps the most important thing I obtained from that, though, was even though I was a pasty, scrawny nerd in middle and high school, I always tried my absolute best in gym classes[1]. "Losers never win, and winners never give up!" my dad would say. Despite having no motivation to exercise, those words stayed with me.

[1] Without being a tryhard!

I continued eating junk and not exercising in my early 20s. I didn't drink much water. I was actually one of those people who thought one should only drink water when they're thirsty [2]. My diet consisted almost entirely of frozen taquitos, barbecue chicken wings, and sushi. Not exactly a balanced diet!

[2] Live and learn...

Then in 2020 I had a kidney stone at 26 years old. I would easily describe it as the most painful experience I've ever had[3]. It was so painful that I actually thought it was a burst appendix. My poor diet and lack of exercise finally caught up to me.

[3] People like to compare kidney stones and childbirth. I think the two have absolutely nothing in common, other than forcing an object through your genitals. Although women can get kidney stones, men are far more likely to get them, so maybe that's why they like to compare it to childbirth. To be honest, though, I am uninterested in having a pissing contest with new mothers.

My dad got his first kidney stone in his mid thirties, and I got my first and hopefully last one in my mid twenties. Something was clearly wrong. I had tried exercising on and off for the year prior to the kidney stone incident, but I never stuck to anything. The kidney stone woke me up a bit. Something had to change.

Building Habits

Exercise isn't about getting ripped, it's about healthy habits. The only reason why anyone doesn't exercise is because they are lazy. Regular exercise is probably the healthiest thing anybody can do; the problem is that exercise isn't enjoyable. In fact it is essentially the opposite of an enjoyable activity. So how do people exercise regularly? By building better habits.

Bad habits exist because they are more enjoyable than good habits. Then bad habits are further reinforced through repetition, quite literally changing your brain chemistry (building circuits). That's why bad habits are difficult to kick.

How do you destroy bad habits and replace them with good habits? By doing healthy things that you enjoy doing. If you don't like pumping iron you aren't going to build a healthy habit doing so. Therefore there is no set of exercises that universally work for everyone! Find something you like doing. I like doing pushups. I like doing pullups. I also like riding my bicycle and going to a rock climbing gym. If you like walking, walk! But walk with vim and vigor—enough to make it challenging.

Challenge Yourself

People don't see results immediately and give up on exercise. Results take time and effort. Set smaller, short-term goals, like "I want to lift ten more pounds in the next two weeks than I did this week". Seeing those smaller goals through provides a reward system. Then you feel good knowing that you are progressing in your journey.

Never stop challenging yourself! Becoming complacent in exercise—in everything for that matter—is a sure way to destroy the progress you made. Exercise should never be easy; if it is easy, then you are not doing enough and you will lose progress. Once you have made a habit of exercising, it becomes fun to set new goals and challenge yourself.

"Body Positivity"

I appreciate body positivity. There is a lot to be said about encouraging people to love themselves no matter what. However, I take issue with people preaching that we should ignore reality. To truly love oneself, people must also be willing to do things that they don't like for their own good. The kind of "love" that many body positivists uphold is what I would call empty love, i.e., hedonism.

That does not mean that we should be overly critical of ourselves, either. We're all human beings and we make mistakes; therefore we should be forgiving with ourselves, too. True self love is recognizing your flaws, working to improve them, and forgiving yourself for your shortcomings. It's a delicate balance.

I propose a new form of body positivity, one which is not based on empty love, but true love. Beauty standards should absolutely include multiple body types! There are people who, no matter what they do, will never have washboard abs, never have a thigh gap, never have low body fat percentage. That's okay. It is okay to have a different body than that which fits mass media. It is not okay to neglect yourself.

Body positivity should not exclude encouraging people to exercise and have a healthy diet. Being obese is not healthy. Being underweight is not healthy. People should not be shamed for being unhealthy, but they should also not be coddled and lied to. There is literally no good reason not to get off your ass and exercise, and this is coming from someone who used to sit on his ass all day in front of a computer and eat junk food. However, I (and other people should do this, too) recognize that it is difficult to break bad habits and form good habits. I myself am still on my journey to a healthier life. Don't let difficulty stop you from trying.

Conclusion

There is a difference between understanding that you are not healthy and not caring, and lying to yourself and saying you are when you are not. As far as I'm concerned, everyone who doesn't do some form of vigorous exercise is unhealthy. That said, there are many things that people do and don't do that lead to unhealthy habits[4], and I am not saying people need to be perfect. Out of all the things that people can do to live a healthy lifestyle, though, exercise is by far the single best thing someone can do. Exercising regularly builds good habits, provides natural stress relief, and has the added bonus of improving one's self-image. It's okay to be unhealthy if that's what you want, but to bring about your best body should be the pinnacle of body positivity.

[4] Examples: not flossing, drinking alcohol, not getting enough sleep... etc.

My closing words on the matter are these. If you love yourself, then you should do what is right for your body despite that being inconvenient or difficult for you. Do not compare yourself to other people because that is what leads to distorted perceptions as to what a person "should" look like. There is no standard for beauty, but there are health standards, and the two should not be mixed together. I encourage people to always strive to be better. Be content, but not complacent. Challenge yourself. Most importantly, exercise!