The joy of exercise, or why life well lived means a body worked hard
"Nonetheless, Nietzsche's point about flourishing is clear: there is a distinctive pleasure in heightened physical power. Importantly, this is not simply about looking better, not about achieving striated stomachs and copper-cable forearms, however striking they might be. Power is visceral: the sense that one's arms are stronger, balance nimbler, reflexes faster, lungs clearer. It is an inner feeling of augmented potency, born of dogged, skilful striving.
Clearly not everyone will run, punch or lift like an Olympian. Anyone witnessing my breathless, unco-ordinated bulk plodding up a hill will testify to this. And many have serious physical impairments stifling their efforts.
But one need not be an elite athlete to enjoy the rewards of intense physical effort. One needs to replicate their outlook, not their achievements: a willingness to bother, when one might equally not. The payoff is not merely endorphins, although it would be foolish to discount the biochemistry of exercise. The rewards are also existential: the satisfaction of seeing one's self-conception translated into flesh. It is the runner's easy breath, the boxer's weavings, the rower's rhythms. The heightened feeling of being alive in this body, the only one we have."
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/the-joy-of-exercise-or-why-life-well-lived-means-a-body-worked-hard-20120901-257gp.html#ixzz25Jt1VYVb
No comments:
Post a Comment