Gyms and Libraries
I’ve just about managed to restart going to the gym, and I’m currently in the wonderful (and wonderfully painful) honeymoon phase where every workout is new and every lift is a “personal best” (well, best this year).
A Record of Achievement
It’s fantastic getting back into the gym and I wanted to share a little about this because I rediscovered my old Tumblr a few months ago (when I started working for Tumblr…which is the sort of thing that prompts you to dig out your old account). It was fun, heart-warming and cringey in equal measures, but one of the most useful posts was one in which I say I’m starting at the gym and giving my weight: 72kg.
That’s probably just about the heaviest I’ve ever been in my life, and after 6 months of no gym, lots of eating and drinking, and sitting under a baby eating biscuits, I thought I was at my physical worst. It was nice to discover that I clocked in at 71kg at my maximum!
Now, I’m around 69.5kg and have started to work on shifting my gut. It’ll take time and effort but at the moment I’m going to the gym every other day and choosing not to go to Wetherspoons for a bonus burger during the week’s martial art class, instead writing this post!
Gym Etiquette
One of the things I love about gyms is the people there. I prefer a spit-and-sawdust, heavy weights clanking, no frills kind of gym. Very little in the way of perfect Instagram shots. A fair number of big scary looking men who could probably crush you.
But it’s not just them (though there are a lot of them) - there’s elderly people trying to build muscle mass or keep their heart going, fat people at the start of a journey, teenagers just out of school looking to build their body, and…well, pretty much all types of person. All of them united by one thing - they all want to improve their body.
Libraries
I think of a University library in much the same way - everybody is reading their own thing, and everybody has their own reasons. Sure, there are exams that people want to pass but that’s really just the first order reason why people are there. Some people love their subject and just want to learn more about it. Some people want to get a specific type of job, or want to get a first to impress their parents, or have to find one specific thing out…
Gyms are like that. So many different ways of working out, so many different muscle groups and approaches, and just as many different motivations. Maybe you’re trying to impress somebody by looking better, or improve your mental health, or extend your life, or train for a specific event.
I think there’s an (often silent) camaraderie that comes with gyms and libraries
- though our motivations and methods might be different, we’re all ultimately trying to achieve similar things together. Perfect strangers sharing facilities, taking their own approach to similar goals.
Community
I could (and maybe still will) invest in a home gym - the drive to the gym is friction that I think makes it less likely that I’ll stick with my exercise plans (see my previous post on habits). However, there’s something about the communal aspect of a gym that appeals to me. Seeing the same people, watching them doing different exercises and getting stronger and coming back again and again.
I get motivation from seeing people who are stronger and better than me (most people), both for the exercises that they’re doing but also for the guide: this could be me. I could do that/look like that. But I probably get more motivation from those who are weaker than me - that’s what I used to be like at the start of my journey. Look how far I’ve come.
I don’t think there’s an academic version of that. Is it motivating to see a Nobel prize winner studying in a library - reading a textbook and taking notes? Or a first-year undergrad reading a textbook that you struggled through for a year? I don’t think so.
Intellectual versus Physical
Why don’t I find it intellectually motivating to see others working in a library? I find a camraderie, and find it much easier to work when others are working. But it doesn’t matter who it is doing the work - whereas I think in a gym it does.
I suspect the reason is the lack of clarity on intellectual prowess. When I see somebody weak doing a bench press, I know how strong they are and I know what they’re working out.
But seeing somebody read “The Brothers Karamazov” doesn’t tell me anything like as much. Even seeing somebody reading the Feynman Lectures doesn’t tell me whether they’re a genius, brushing up on some reference electromagnetic theory that they haven’t seen in a while, or a fresh-faced undergrad trying to understand classical mechanics.
And intellectual excellence is harder to recognise, too. When I see somebody deadlift 300kg, it’s clear that they’re a monster who has spent years developing their strength. Senior academics can be first-class administrators or teachers, but only third-rate researchers. Indeed, it’s not clear that even the first-rate researchers are ‘geniuses’ in a world that rewards other skills much more highly.
That’s my guess, then. Physical prowess is immediately visible and clearly interpretable. Intellectual prowess is hidden, and hard to divine based on typical status signals. Maybe that’s why more people have gym memberships than library memberships.
Conclusion
No real grand thesis here - I’ve started going to the gym and I’m much weaker than I was 6 months ago when I’d been going continuously for 6 - 7 months. It’ll be a long road back to where I was, but hopefully it’ll take me less than 6 - 7 months, and by the time I finish my parental leave (21 weeks left) I’ll be surpassing where I was.
Even if I do, I’ll still not be the strongest person in the gym - or even as strong as I was when I was 22. But that’s not the point. I’ll be a better version of me, and whether you’re hunched over in a library, or hunched over a weighted row, that’s all you’re really doing. Making a better version of yourself.