By Karen and Erica

Do you exercise? 

We both walk, a lot and fast–which sometimes is counterproductive–and we do strength exercises as well, to deal with osteoporosis and hopefully to help to fend off dementia. We both would probably rather do other things, like sleep in and eat bonbons. We liked how people acted when we were younger—the diets were more fun and only Jane Fonda exercised. But we have come to the view that exercise is important for mental and physical health.

We did not grow up thinking exercise was important–and apparently not too many other people did either. We certainly had no expectation that exercise had a neurological component, or that machines like Peleton–or human trainers for that matter–would play such a large role in something as simple as exercise. 

Two articles in the Wall Street Journal tell the stories that bookend our experience.  

The first, a book review entitled Fit Nation Review: Go, You Chicken Fat, Go, notes that in the glorious olden days, not all that long ago, being plump meant you were prosperous, and exercising was deemed suspicious. Few people worked out, until Jack LaLanne and a few others realized they could sell training. Exercise other than manual labor ultimately became the province of the successful. As the article rather snarkily notes:

Meanwhile, for the affluent, fitness and its accessories have become, like organic food, a form of acceptable conspicuous consumption. Fitness is “self-care” and therefore somehow virtuous rather than frivolous. Fitness (and its spawn, “wellness”) became just another path to demonstrating success, from the thrusting ’80s, when white-collar types sweated it out at racquetball or marathons, to the extreme hot-yoga craze of the early 2000s. And we all like to look like we’re exercising by wearing athleisure. (Of course, we’re not. Gyms are the only industry to operate on a business model that assumes most paying customers won’t show up: Self-reported fitness participation rates are apparently matched in their upward trajectory by adult obesity rates.)

Just for the record—we dislike the word athleisure and the outfits it describes, and even more the word wellness. We never did and never plan to do anything extreme in the exercise arena. We just learned to do a modicum of movement.

The second article reflects how far exercise has come and where it might go. These are some of the characteristics of the new workout world:

• Neuromuscular training will gain in importance. 

Now mainly used to rehab pro athletes with injuries, neuromuscular training is likely to become a complement to strength and cardio workouts for aging baby boomers, says Andrew Jagim, director of sports-medicine research at Mayo Clinic Health System in La Crosse, Wis. This coming wave of seniors is particularly suited for such training, he says. Many have previous injuries, multiple areas of muscle weakness or lack adequate mobility, he notes. “Targeted neuromuscular training can help them re-establish some of these temporary losses in motor control, the ability to properly activate a muscle group, or to help improve a weak muscle group.”

• Workout clothes will monitor vital signs–and also tell us when we are not doing something right, or when we need to do more, and may even take the place of human trainers. (We already find it annoying when our iPhones tell us we aren’t doing as well as we did last week with our 10,000 steps, so we’re not sure about clothes that yell at us.)

• Working out will happen in venues that give us additional health benefits–or, presumably, in the metaverse.

• AI will gives us even more unappreciated advice. 

Yikes. It all sounds a little nuts. We don't want to sound like Luddites, but most of us really just need to move a bit more than we do. We don’t need to know at all times how much oxygen is in our muscles, and we might not respond well to monitors that scold us.

We’ll see what the future brings. We hope to live lives long and healthy enough to try the new machines out—and we hope all those smart people realize that what we really need is a machine that does the exercise for us. Meanwhile, we’ll keep walking, and lifting groceries, and trying to maintain our sanity. Crossed fingers!

Do you work out? Or wear athleisure when you go out? Do tell!