What You Can (Really) Learn About Exercise from Your Human Ancestors
The Art of Manliness10 Mar 2021

What You Can (Really) Learn About Exercise from Your Human Ancestors

We all know how indisputably good exercise is for you. Yet a lot of folks still find it a struggle to engage in much physical activity. To understand the reason that this conflict and tension exists and how to overcome it, it helps to understand the lives of our human ancestors. Though, not the way the popular culture understands them, but the way someone who's actually studied them understands them.

My guest is such an expert guide. His name is Daniel Lieberman, and he's a Harvard professor of human evolutionary biology and the author of Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding. Today on the show, Daniel shares what we can really learn from our ancestors as to our modern relationship with exercise, while debunking some of the popular myths about our hunter-gatherer history. We begin by talking about how very recent, and actually quite weird, the whole concept of exercise is. We then discuss the fact that our ancestors were not the natural super athletes we typically imagine, what their state of physicality was really like, and how understanding their lifestyle can help us understand the competing interests going on in our own minds and bodies that can leave us feeling ambivalent about getting up and moving around. We then discuss if, as it's been said, "sitting is the new smoking," and the less and more healthy ways to sit. Daniel unpacks whether we're evolved for running, how our ancestors' strength compares to our own, and whether or not exercise helps us lose weight. We end our conversation with how this background on the past can help us in the present, by showing us the two factors that are critical in helping us moderns make exercise a habit.

Get the show notes aom.is/exercised.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Episoder(1159)

#377: 12 Rules for Life With Jordan Peterson

#377: 12 Rules for Life With Jordan Peterson

Have you been stuck in a rut for awhile? Have you been there so long that you feel like there’s no use in trying to get out of that slump? Maybe you even start telling yourself, “Things can never get ...

6 Feb 201852min

#376: When to Compete, When to Cooperate, and How to Succeed at Both

#376: When to Compete, When to Cooperate, and How to Succeed at Both

Being successful in life requires social adeptness. And part of that social adeptness is balancing two seemingly opposing social strategies: competing and cooperating. But how do you know which approa...

2 Feb 201846min

#375: The Misunderstood Machiavelli

#375: The Misunderstood Machiavelli

The ends justify the means. It’s better to be feared than loved. Politics have no relation to morals. These are just a few of the maxims the Italian writer Niccolo Machiavelli is well known for. The c...

30 Jan 201841min

#374: The Race to Break the 4-Minute Mile

#374: The Race to Break the 4-Minute Mile

You may have heard of Roger Bannister and his amazing feat of breaking the 4-minute mile mark in 1954. But the story leading up to this milestone of human performance often gets overlooked and is fill...

25 Jan 201843min

#373: The Leader's Bookshelf

#373: The Leader's Bookshelf

It’s been said “Leaders are readers.” But what should a leader read?My guest today set out to answer that question by polling 4-star generals and admirals in the U.S. military to get their best recomm...

23 Jan 201832min

#372: World Without Mind — The Existential Threat of Big Tech

#372: World Without Mind — The Existential Threat of Big Tech

During the past decade three companies have revolutionized the way we shop, socialize, and find information. I’m talking, of course, about Amazon, Facebook, and Google. While these companies have made...

18 Jan 201840min

#371: The Best Ways to Rehab From Injury

#371: The Best Ways to Rehab From Injury

#371: The Best Ways to Rehab From Injury by The Art of ManlinessSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

16 Jan 201859min

#370: The Era of Bright Expectations

#370: The Era of Bright Expectations

After WWII and before the Korean War, America experienced a short period free from the fear of war and conflict. People were optimistic about a future of peace and plenty. My guest today calls this ti...

11 Jan 201847min

Populært innen Fakta

fastlegen
dine-penger-pengeradet
mikkels-paskenotter
relasjonspodden-med-dora-thorhallsdottir-kjersti-idem
treningspodden
foreldreradet
rss-strid-de-norske-borgerkrigene
jakt-og-fiskepodden
rss-bisarr-historie
rss-kull
rss-kunsten-a-leve
sinnsyn
tomprat-med-gunnar-tjomlid
hagespiren-podcast
gravid-uke-for-uke
rss-sunn-okonomi
hverdagspsyken
level-up-med-anniken-binz
rss-bak-luftfarten
fryktlos