What would slaves think of weight training? A person forced to perform backbreaking labor would probably have trouble understanding why someone would do it voluntarily.
Though strength training is an important part of a fitness regimen, I can't help finding it just a little bizarre. During most of history and up to the present, the vast majority of the world has subsisted through manual labor. The very fact that we need fitness regimens in 21st century America is a historical incongruity. When you stop to think about it, weight training is one of the truly remarkable aspects of the modern world — a world in which people pay for the privilege of performing manual labor with a Nautilus machine or free weights.
For the past several centuries, Western civilization has sought to raise people's standard of living through labor-saving technologies. The result for many is a sedentary existence in which physical exertion is not necessary for survival. We are truly blessed to live in an age and a country in which the most common cause of death, heart disease, results from easy access to an abundance of food. The vast majority of human beings throughout history have never had to worry about dieting and exercise.
Increased risk of heart disease due to more efficient agriculture is only one of the many ironies of advancing technology. Such technological "revenge effects" are documented in Edward Tenner's book "Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences." Among the other revenge effects Tenner addresses is the increase in paper usage as result of the proliferation of computers and the "paper-less" office.
I should also note the irony of college students going to the gym. It may not seem strange at first, but note that one of the main reasons for going to college is to be able to make a living without having to perform manual labor. In other words, we go to the gym week after week to do the thing that we are ultimately trying to avoid. Does anyone else think this is a little strange?
Don't get me wrong — I head to Dillon three mornings a week (usually). But when I put on a harness to do calf raises, I wonder what ancient Egyptian slaves harnessed to a block of stone would think. Eric Harkleroad is a physics major from Overland Park, KS. He can be reached at eharkler@princeton.edu.
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