Whoever cultivates the golden mean avoids both the poverty of a hovel and the envy of a palace.
HORACE
The genesis of this post comes from the opening credits of Murder, She Wrote when Jessica Fletcher goes by riding her old school upright bicycle with the basket on the front. She is also seen jogging in old gray sweats. The show is from the 1980s and straddles the divide I see between fitness in the 1950s and the 1970s. This is when fitness evolved into the extreme path that I see today. This is in opposition to The Gentle Path I recommend. How did we get to the extreme path? And what has been the result of that extreme path?
1950s Fitness
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| https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lady_on_a_bike_(Unsplash).jpg |
Fitness in the 1950s was a basic affair. It was mostly people riding upright style bicycles as seen in the picture above with baskets, fenders, and a chain guard. Those bikes were utilitarian, practical, and comfortable. With a comfortable bicycle, you end up riding it more. It is a no-brainer. Similarly, people would go hiking or for long walks in the park. They built strength with mostly calisthenics in the style and philosophy of Jack LaLanne. Running was mostly for 2 miles or less to qualify for US Army fitness standards. People used canoes instead of kayaks. They gardened and did manual labor. Exercise and fitness were not taken as seriously as today.
The irony of those times was that the average fitness of the population was higher than today. The evidence for this were those US Army fitness standards that few recruits had trouble meeting in those days. Fast forward to our time, and you see those recruits struggling to meet the standards even after they have been dumbed down. How did we get here? I think we got here because fitness turned extreme.
I remember as a kid in middle school upgrading from my Huffy BMX bike to my old man's old school upright bike. It had the fenders, the chain guard, the 3 speed hub, and normal handlebars. I was too short for the thing at the time, but I still managed to ride it. It was embarrassing because it was an old man's bike. In hindsight, I realize that bike was simply awesome. I was too young and dumb to appreciate it at the time.
1970s Fitness
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| https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robin_Hood_10-speed_bike.jpg |
I remember as a kid in middle school upgrading from my Huffy BMX bike to my old man's old school upright bike. It had the fenders, the chain guard, the 3 speed hub, and normal handlebars. I was too short for the thing at the time, but I still managed to ride it. It was embarrassing because it was an old man's bike. In hindsight, I realize that bike was simply awesome. I was too young and dumb to appreciate it at the time.
I got a department store 10 speed bike later, and it was cooler than the old man bike. I could count on my hands going numb and my shoulders aching as I rode hunched over the drop handlebars. My pants would get caught in the chain and the gear because it didn't have a guard on it. All of the dirt and mud would fly up on me from the lack of fenders. Riding the thing was miserable, but it was OK because I had a "real" bicycle. When I got a mountain bike in my 20s, it was no better than that 10 speed bike. Both bikes were uncomfortable and impractical. As a consequence, I rode them hardly at all and got rid of them.
The change in popular bikes is the best example I have of the change in the mindset of people from the 1950s to the 1970s. The 10 speed was sportier and more athletic. The average Joe could pretend to be a Tour de France rider. When the fantasy wore off, he was stuck with a bike unfit to ride on a daily basis. Unfortunately, the new mindset stuck. This was the extreme path of fitness.
The 1970s was when the bodybuilding craze got going along with the running boom. People like Frank Shorter, Bill Rodgers, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Bruce Lee entered the popular imagination and became fitness icons to a generation. Marathon training replaced walking. Bench pressing replaced push ups. And being lean took a backseat to getting ripped. For those willing to take this new extreme path, there were results. For everyone else, they threw in the towel and chose to watch the athletes on TV while eating chips on the couch.
The extreme path continued after the 1970s with the Ironman Triathlon, the ultramarathon, and CrossFit. The average fitness of people today in the USA is dismally low as the extremity of fitness has increased. Compare this to the average fitness of people in Denmark which is very high. People blame technology, but I think the cause is cultural. Denmark didn't embrace extreme fitness like the USA did. Those Danes still ride their upright bikes and do other sorts of common physical activities like the USA did in the 1950s.
When you take something that is fun and feels good and turn it into something like torture, people don't want to do it anymore. so they don't. It's popular to castigate these people as lazy fat asses, but that ignores the obvious cause of the fitness decline. People have lost the common sense that comes from moderation. Why must gain always come with pain?
The Way Back
I don't care to ride a bike now because of my brain injury. My balance is poor, and I would probably smash my head again. But if I did ride a bike again, it would be one of those old school upright bikes I mentioned. Comfort is key. The same is also true of a canoe versus a kayak. I remember wanting to get into sea kayaking at one time in my twenties. That was stupid. I would have flipped over in the water and drowned. But I could paddle a canoe.
I think the way back requires a change in the mindset of the general public. The extreme path appeals to a person's vanity. The gentle path requires humility. You have to desire modesty in your fitness. You have to actually want to enjoy your physical activities as opposed to punishing yourself.
One of the things that has helped me is to see the extreme fitness people as complete idiots. I remember an iconic photo that I won't post here of a distance runner who had massive diarrhea during his race, but he completed the race with fecal matter covering his leg. For some people, they admired his dedication to completing the event. For me, I think it was utterly stupid.
One of the things I miss is seeing the senior citizens walking the mall. Many had scheduled walks early in the morning before the stores opened where these folks could get in their steps without battling the weather. I don't know if that exists now as malls have been overtaken by hood rats. But the mall walkers epitomized the gentle path I recommend.
The other thing I miss seeing is old school calisthenics like we did in PE class back in school. For some reason, people think they need heavy weights and a gym membership to build strength. With calisthenics, you can get strong at a price you can afford-->FREE! And they work. I've seen senior citizens go from being crippled to being mobile again with simple bodyweight exercises. Many of them are done while sitting in a chair.
The last thing I applaud is people doing manual labor like cleaning their homes, mowing their lawns, or tending their gardens without paying professionals to do this work for them. It has been lost on people that physical labor is good exercise. Instead, they pay someone to do their labor while they pay a gym to go be a gerbil on their wheels. This is crazy.
I think the gentle path has the added benefit of being something someone can actually stick to doing. I have walked more miles as a fitness walker than I ever ran as a jogger. The secret was that I enjoyed those walks. I don't recall ever enjoying a run. The only pleasure in running is stopping.
The last thing I want to include is a warning. The extreme path mindset creeps back in if you are not aware of it. I call this "Failed Runner Syndrome." This is when you compulsively log your steps on your fitness tracker and upload it to Strava. This is vanity. With it comes the compulsion to walk a certain number of steps each day and to increase those steps. It becomes a game of more more MORE. The secret to the gentle path of fitness is knowing when to quit. Those extremists didn't know when to quit.
Conclusion
I don't know of anyone who is pushing back on the extreme path of fitness culture. There are people who walk for fitness and do calisthenics, but they never speak out against the extremism. Maybe they don't want to be negative, but I think it would help if more people sounded off about this topic. It is always the folks on the extreme ends of a topic who speak with the loudest voices. I think those on the middle path of moderation need to speak up more in defense of common sense.
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Fitness In The 1950s Was...Different
Get Physical in 1950s - Getting Ready Physically (1951) - CharlieDeanArchives / Archival Footage
1974: MUSCLE MANIA - Inside a '70s Gym | Open Door | Voice of the People | BBC Archive
The unexpected benefits of an upright Dutch bike
UPDATE #1: I saw this article recently and had to chuckle:
LA Marathon Runners Given Option to Receive Medals Before Finishing the Race: ‘If They’ve Had a Tough Day’
I thought about scouring the combox for the juicy comments, but they are redundant. This dumbing down of the marathon is a symptom of the extreme path of fitness. People want the trophy and the medal, but they don't want the suffering that goes with it. Most of the derisive comments are directed towards the "weakness" and "softness" of the people that just want the participation reward. I am actually on the side of those people who don't want to run a full marathon or even run at all. I think marathon running is utterly stupid. Go for a walk instead and forget about trying to get recognition for your efforts or pretend to be a competitive athlete. This is vanity.
Our culture has trained entire generations to do this stupid stuff. I suspect that most of these people will return to their couches regardless of what they did in the marathon. You are either a masochist or a slug. There is nothing in between those extremes.
The combox comments castigate the people that don't finish the entire distance, but I save my derision for the 90% of the participants who filled out the entry form and paid the fee who will take 3 to 5 hours to cover the distance. The reason they hand out the participation trophies is to get these slowpokes off of the race course. Otherwise, these idiots will just keep tying everything up in desperation to not be labelled as quitters. This is also why I am against fitness walkers participating in the local 5K to satisfy their failed runner syndrome. YOU ARE NOT AN ATHLETE! Get over it.
UPDATE #2: In 1960, President John F. Kennedy issued a warning to Americans:
“A single look at the packed parking lot of the average high school will tell us what has happened to the traditional hike to school that helped to build young bodies. The television set, the movies and the myriad conveniences and distractions of modern life all lure our young people away from the strenuous physical activity that is the basis of fitness in youth and in later life,” wrote Kennedy.
Inspired by a challenge from Teddy Roosevelt to his Marines to cover 50 miles in less than 20 hours over three days, JFK issued a similar challenge in 1963, and this became the genesis of the JFK 50 Miler. It was essentially a hike or march with a military bearing in mind. The president's brother Robert took up the challenge, did the 50 miles wearing Oxford dress shoes, and completed the challenge in 17 hours and 50 minutes.
The 50 miler began as a walking event. Somewhere, it morphed from being a hike in the spirit of fitness from the 1950s to a foot race in the extreme fitness spirit of the 1970s. Today, the JFK 50 Miler is a running event and not a walking event and is considered the oldest ultramarathon in America. The original aim of the event was lost.
There are some walkers who have taken back the original spirit of the 50 mile challenge with events that are aimed at walkers and not runners. These videos show the contrast between walking and running this distance.
Kennedy 50 Mile Walk - 2023
Either PR or ER
These two videos show the contrast that I am talking about. I find the walking version more pleasant and appealing.
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