Fitness used to be about the pleasure of having a body.
asserted
Fitness → use → body
Now it’s about the science of optimizing one.
asserted
it → ’ → one
Search the biggest fitness influencers and you’ll find them discussing VO2 max, sleep scores and individualized training protocols.
asserted
you → search → max
They seem intent on reducing the body to a series of numbers.
asserted
They → seem → numbers
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asserted
Sign → sign → California
The man famously compared “the pump,” the feeling of blood rushing into a muscle, to an orgasm.
asserted
man → compare → orgasm
To watch him in the 1977 documentary “Pumping Iron” is to witness a masterclass in discipline, but also bodybuilding as a kind of spiritual ecstasy.
asserted
watch → watch → ecstasy
You can almost smell the salt and metal.
asserted
You → smell → salt
But I admit, I’m biased.
asserted
I → admit → ?
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In a city always obsessed with the newest thing, I find myself in my early 30s with an unexpected crush on 79-year-old Arnold Schwarzenegger.
asserted
I → download → Schwarzenegger
The place where he trained to win Mr. Olympia seven times.
asserted
he → train → Olympia
One morning I was at the squat rack under a photograph of Arnold Schwarzenegger when Arnold Schwarzenegger walked into the gym.
asserted
Schwarzenegger → walk → gym
It must be strange to enter a place where the walls are covered with images of your younger self.
asserted
walls → enter → self
Yet at 79, the man himself was still all teeth and animal muscle, radiating a tangible warmth even from 40 feet away as he clapped his friends on the back.
asserted
he → radiate → back
I had an immediate, visceral reaction.
asserted
I → have → reaction
I pulled out my phone and Googled: Is Arnold Schwarzenegger single?
asserted
Schwarzenegger → pull → phone
He has been dating his former physical therapist since 2013.
asserted
He → date → 2013
I could give him physical therapy.
uncertain
I → give → therapy
But my Arnold obsession is less about Arnold than what he represents.
asserted
he → represent → what
In “Pumping Iron,” 1970s Gold’s looks like an alternate civilization.
asserted
Gold → pump → civilization
Arnold roves the floor with Franco Columbu, Lou Ferrigno and Mike Katz.
asserted
Arnold → rove → Columbu
They yell across benches and crowd around each other’s lifts.
asserted
They → yell → lifts
They compete but also play silly pranks.
asserted
They → compete → pranks
They lift outside partly for the tan and partly for the pleasure of being watched.
asserted
They → lift → pleasure
No one is running for the SPF 70.
asserted
one → run → SPF
No one is wearing headphones to seal himself inside a private universe.
asserted
one → wear → universe
And it looks like so much fun.
asserted
it → look → fun
Back then, bodybuilding was a fringe pursuit, its devotees chasing the Pump the way renegade surfers chased waves.
asserted
surfers → chase → waves
Fifty years later, their strange little Venice subculture has conquered America.
asserted
subculture → conquer → America
The weirdos took over America.
asserted
weirdos → take → America
But then the nerds took over from the weirdos.
asserted
nerds → take → weirdos
Modern fitness is increasingly dominated by science, data and optimization.
asserted
fitness → dominate → science
Stanford neuroscientist Andrew Huberman built an empire around “protocols” for human performance, appropriately calling his podcast “Huberman Lab.”
asserted
Huberman → build → podcast
In the gym-as-laboratory, even the minutes between sets become an intervention.
asserted
minutes → become → sets
Huberman recommends the “physiological sigh — two inhales through the nose followed by a long exhale — to calm the nervous system.
asserted
Huberman → recommend → system
I’m sure it works.
asserted
it → ’m → ?
But how can it compete with s—-talking the guy next to you?
asserted
it → compete → you
Then there’s tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson, who has turned his body into perhaps the world’s most elaborate anti-aging experiment, tracking everything from heart rate to biological age.
asserted
who → ’ → age
He goes to bed every night at 8:30 because data shows the most restorative sleep happens earlier in the night.
asserted
sleep → go → night
He takes zero breaks between sets to maintain a mathematically calculated heart rate zone.
asserted
He → take → zone
…and 12 more, not listed.
The Aporia
