
Body Work: The curiously self-punishing rites of fitness culture - pepys
https://thebaffler.com/outbursts/body-work-ehrenreich
======
igor47
man, i'm actually a huge fan of barbara ehrenreich (especially nickel-and-
dimed), but i feel like i could write an article like this about _any_
subject. for instance, here the subject is some people who are trying to be
more healthy and take care of themselves. but it's made sinister through some
sprinkling of conventional villains (humorless gym owners, corporations with
fitness programs), a caricature (people tracking their workouts on clipboards)
and some topical/social-justice tie-in (people who cannot afford gyms,
headphones that remove you from normal interaction).

i can do this as easily for, say, education. you thought it was about people
trying to learn stuff, but it's actually about drones doing rote memorization
in ivory towers (which the urban poor can ill-afford), all for the benefit of
soul-sucking corporations which will use that knowledge to destroy the world,
even while the system oppresses those same students through massive loan debt.

or, how about programming? you thought it was about having fun creating stuff
that people find useful, but it's actually about pencil-necked dweebs who got
abused in high school and are now taking their revenge on the world through
will-sapping social networks, even while the government lets them steal your
private data consequence-free and lets them get so rich they all buy teslas
(which the urban poor can ill-afford)

someone give me a topic, any topic! i can make it so sinister and hateful
you'll soon be too afraid/cynical to do anything more than cower in your
basement -- which, you thought it was just cowering in your basement, but it's
actually about sociopathic loners hiding from the world, probably polishing
assault weapons and stockpiling canned goods (which the urban poor can ill-
afford) while forgoing their sacred duty to vote, thus allowing republicans
and corporations to pillage the world

this really brings home for me why kim stanley robinson avoids writing
dystopias.

~~~
mistersquid
You offer your view/counterview narratives as skeptical trial balloons but I
think you needn't be so skeptical.

That is, interpretation of any phenomenon--fitness, education, programming,
etc.--can be done enthusiastically or critically, as an encomium or a
critique. (There are other modes, but I'm focusing on these two here.) Being
able to do both is central to understanding that interpretation or judgement
is not an objective act of reception but a guided act of perception.

Without the skeptical mood, your narratives reveal that none of the acts of
fitness, education, and programming are unalloyed goods or unmitigated
problems. Rather, they are things that can be perceived differently depending
on what one takes into account.

Knowing this enables us to make decisions with greater information and,
hopefully, deeper wisdom, even as it complicates what from a more limited
perspective may seem straightforward.

EDIT: add "more" in last sentence.

------
eadmund
I think that there's a very good point here which is being ignored: that in
order to be in the manager/director/CxO class it has become a near-requirement
to go to the gym. Once upon a time attendance at church would have been
mandatory; any candidate who didn't belong to a church, or the Masons, or
whatever, would have been 'not quite our type'; now someone who's not
physically fit is 'not really a cultural fit.'

As far as I can tell, it's really status signalling. Once upon a time the
wealthy were overweight, as a show of their superior access to resources; now
that our society is so rich that anyone can be fat, the wealthy are fit, as a
show of their superior access to the resources of time (to exercise) & money
(to belong to a gym/hire a trainer/eat fancy engineered food).

And the thing is, I don't think it's actually relevant to the jobs of
managing, directing or being CxO.

~~~
CPLX
This is nonsense.

Being in good shape is a direct visible sign of self discipline, ability to
work towards goals despite pain, resilience, impulse control, patience, long
term thinking, and many other positive traits.

It's literally the diametric opposite of what you suggest, in many ways it's
arguably the _only_ truly meaningful status symbol you can't buy, inherit, or
win via lottery. You have no choice but to work for it.

Not to mention, besides its usefulness as a proxy for positive traits, it also
has direct effects. Exercise leads to improved mental health and other effects
that are directly applicable to doing a better job.

~~~
scottlegrand2
All true but as someone who lives in Santa Cruz, the home of CrossFit, I will
say there is a strong subjective correlation between fitness douchebags and
CrossFit. To paraphrase Bill Maher, it's not that all CrossFit people are
douchebags, it's that most of the douchebags I meet in the gym are doing
CrossFit routines requiring them to alternate between 2 or 3 machines in a
precise rhythm which we should not interrupt for any reason or there will be
horrible consequences.

The best example here was this body beautiful couple that never smiled in the
gym for any reason whatsoever. When they wanted your machine, they would each
man the machines on either side of you with very low weight and sit there
slowly pumping reps on it whilst glaring at you to try and get you to give the
machine to them. After a few instances of this, I responded by slowing down my
routine and throwing in extra exercises just to mess with them because this
was hella annoying. They could have just asked me when I would be done, which
would have been in about 2 or 3 minutes, but apparently forming words was too
much work for them so it became an eternity of 5 minutes instead.

When my membership expired, I left that gym and never returned.

------
drakonka
I don't know what kinds of gyms the author is going to, but in my years of
taking an active interest in fitness I have never seen a gym employee tell
anyone to stop dancing, nor have I ever heard anyone tell me to "crush my
workout". I'm not really sure what the point of the article is aside from "I
did this thing and now I don't and here's a long winded article about it", but
I'm glad the author ended up listening to her body in the end and hope she's
in a good place now with her health.

------
PeterStuer
Many people just enjoy their workouts. Of course there is a small number of
obsessives in any activity. Of course there are people that hate working out
but just want the result. But from years of experience I can tell most people
just feel good both during and after their gym visits.

------
verylittlemeat
I wouldn't bother reading this article, it's just an anti-exercise polemic.
The author prefers to act as though she's observing some kind of pointless
alien culture without acknowledging even the obvious reasons people go to the
gym.

~~~
chillingeffect
s/article/website

It's always been that way... the dark, snarky side of Harvard's self-loathing.
It's ideology is really the antithesis of what goes on at HN. Try reading some
other articles in the Baffler....

------
dmytrish
> The major interaction that goes on in gyms is not between members or between
> members and staff, but between the fitness devotee and his or her body.

That's exactly what makes a gym a palatable place for asocial types like me.

------
fortythirteen
Quite fitting that this article comes in the beginning March, when
resolutioners come to the realization that fitness, like everything else,
requires dedication and focus to reap rewards, and subsequently create
ridiculous excuses for giving up.

The most ridiculous claim in this essay is that gyms are classist towards
employees when, in reality, getting certified as a trainer is one of the most
accessible paths to a solid income for someone without a college degree. But
that, of course, requires dedication and focus as well, so the author is blind
to it.

------
montalbano
'Functional' exercise is often underrated (e.g. boxing, martial-arts,
crossfit).

I used to be very healthy when I went to my local boxing gym regularly.
Unfortunately there's not a boxing gym near where I currently live.

Interestingly, I joined the local (regular) gym for a year (cancelled my
membership in January) and I'm in the worst shape I've been in for about 9
years.

edit: added a word

~~~
mercurysmessage
Totally agree with you. I do judo and workout at a regular gym and I'm in
pretty good shape.

If people want a good fun workout I think they should give combat sports a
try. If they don't want to actually fight fitness boxing could work. Or spar
and not get hit judo or bjj are good.

------
singularity2001
It's not about punishment but enjoying to feel resistance in the forces of
nature.

~~~
KozmoNau7
Paraphrasing from Henry Rollins: The iron doesn't lie. 200lbs will always be
200lbs, and that's a nice constant to rely on.

Taking it even further, exercising for me is all about making my everyday life
easier. Being stronger than average means I have a much easier time opening
jars, taking down kitchen machines from the top of the cupboard, moving around
furniture and countless other things that people do all the time.

I started out not even being able to do a single pushup, and I felt like a fat
slob (because that's what I was). Now I'm stronger and fitter and everything
physical is just so much _easier_. I'm still not at my goal of getting rid of
my beer gut, but so much better than where I used to be. I can run up stairs
now, I couldn't even imagine trying to lug myself up the stairs at work if I
weighed 200kg.

------
kstenerud
With the cherry picked attacks on the article and author, coupled with the
competitiveness of the deeper threads about it on HN (example: 270 pounds?
That's nothing! Not following a regimented process? Lack of discipline! Your
body's fitness is a useful proxy for positive leadership traits!), I can't
help but conclude that the crowd here has validated the article quite nicely.

It's no longer just about being healthy; it's about social and virtue
signalling. Even HN in't immune.

------
nugi
This 'article' seems pretty biased toward ignorance of the body, or even what
'fitness' is. Most gyms incentivise use of easy to maintain machines at the
cost of your fitness. This is commercial chain gym culture, quite distinct
from fitness culture. The author seems to be rationalizing having given up on
their body, by reframing it as refusing to 'pusnish' it. Unadulterated
garbage.

------
marcell
> At my zenith, I could draw spectators for my leg presses at 270 pounds

I had to make sure I wasn't mistaken about what a leg press is [1]. 270lbs on
leg press doesn't draw spectators anywhere, it's a warm up set for most
people. This line throws into question the credibility the rest of the
article...

[1]
[https://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/SL45LegPress](https://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/SL45LegPress)

~~~
oculusthrift
yeah i’d agree but maybe if you’re a tiny woman it could?

Not sure but i know 16 year olds that can do that much

~~~
marcell
Ah, "Barbara", yea maybe... even still I see women doing 360+ regularly at my
gym

~~~
Smaug123
She is 76 years old, if that changes your computations. (I don't think I've
ever noticed anyone actually using the leg press machines in anger at my local
gym.)

------
homonculus1
>A regimented dancelike experience, as in aerobics or Zumba, is fine, but
unsupervised dance moves reek of hedonism, and working out is supposed to be a
form of work. Most people come with a plan like “legs and shoulders today” or
“forty-five minutes of cardio and fifteen minutes of abs,” usually preceded by
a warm-up and topped off with several minutes of stretching on a mat.

>[Insert:] Despite the pulsing pop music and comfortable clothes, gyms are not
sites of spontaneity and play.

>Working out very much resembles work, or a curious blend of physical labor
and office work. Members not only lift weights, for example; they often carry
clipboards on which to record the number of reps and sets and the amount of
weight lifted for each workout, like a supervisor monitoring a factory
worker’s performance.

God forbid people set goals for their bodies and approach them in an
efficient, systematic manner instead of running around like children. This
article is beyond useless, and there are few things I find more pathetic and
loathsome than condescending social critics who squeeze other people's
pursuits into their sentimental, rigor-averse narrative. Any lifestyle or
socio-economic conclusions drawn from this set of assumptions about how a gym
ought to be are just begging the question.

~~~
lolc
> running around like children

> their sentimental, rigor-averse narrative

Me, I experience a positive correlation between gym-affinity and tediousness
in the people I meet.

> there are few things I find more pathetic and loathsome than condescending
> social critics

Do you perchance derive a feeling of superiority from your rigorosity?

~~~
igor47
ah, the knife cuts both ways. do you perchance enjoy a feeling of superiority
when you use the term "sportsball"? how much more cerebral and refined you
must be than those sweaty grunts!

i find people who spend their days "coding for fun" or whatever tedious, but i
don't attempt to ascribe their habits to sinister cultural forces or paint
them as self-obsessed egotistical narcissists

~~~
eadmund
> do you perchance enjoy a feeling of superiority when you use the term
> "sportsball"?

Yes, because I'm a grown man who doesn't feel a deep emotional need to watch a
bunch of men wearing spandex running around on some grass.

 _Playing_ sports is a really awesome thing, and everyone should do it.
Enjoying the occasional game is probably okay. _Following_ sports is IMHO a
kind of mentally unhealthy extended adolescence.

> i find people who spend their days "coding for fun" or whatever tedious

I _am_ tedious — but fortunately we live in a world where people with my kind
of tedious personality are well-rewarded for our skills. A few centuries ago
and no doubt I'd have starved to death.

