Economics and Fitness

Most assume that economics is the study of money. Others believe it is an extension of business studies, covering little outside of the shady realm of finance and industry. Economics, however, is more general; it is the study of scarce resources and their uses.

Like all finite materials, our bodies too are a scarce resource. We are only given one, and once its vitality is used up, our lives end. The brain dies with the body, we begin to decompose, and the consciousness has nothing else to occupy (for now at least).

Because of this basic fact, we must accept that time itself is a scarce resource. This is why human beings have such a hard time making decisions; the limited time we have available to use our bodies, and the difficulty of choosing what to do when we understand that there are alternatives, inevitably leads to prioritisation. As we cannot occupy two spaces at once, pretty much every action we take is economic in nature. We are constantly considering the trade-offs on how we use our time.

This is the thought behind the concept of time preference. Those with high time preference want things now, and are willing to spend their money or time—sometimes irresponsibly—to satisfy immediate needs. In contrast, those with low time preference are willing to put off immediate pleasures in hope of future rewards. If this sounds like Jordan Peterson’s seventh rule—to pursue what is meaningful vs. what is expedient—it’s because it is. Peterson is advising people to develop a low time preference.

Economics, not least as a financial field, thus neatly ties into the discussion around physical fitness. Fitness, by its very nature, requires the sacrifice of immediate pleasure for future reward. In fact, it requires trading leisure time for hard work. This is why so many people give up on their gym memberships so quickly; low time preference is a necessity if you are going to forgo time sitting on the sofa playing video games in favour of lifting heavy metal bars. Accompanying this, there are the aches and pains that come after gym sessions—the reminder of hard work—and even the risks of injury. This kind of lifestyle does not appeal to everyone; the development of consistent and healthy habits is something that has to be actively cultivated and maintained.

In brief, achieving results in all areas of life requires a conservative mindset. This has not gone unrecognised. We are seeing constant articles decrying exercise as a supposed springboard to the alt-right pipeline, and, sadly, this kind of attitude is actively discouraging people from improving themselves physically. The benefits of getting in shape are many; one may find mental clarity in exercising, an important component to the focus and discipline necessary to guide us in life. People being shooed away from positive lifestyle changes for the sake of political partisanship is one of the great crimes of our time, and a stark indictment of the high time preference infecting our society. A culture that encourages people to get what meaningless indulgences they can with no thought of the future is the definition of decadence. It is no surprise that this, along with the hookup culture following the sexual revolution of the ‘60s, has resulted in the crisis of mental health prevalent among countless young people.

How We Got Here

The roots of the mire we find ourselves in can be traced to the pathologically ‘anti-fascist’ culture which emerged after the Second World War before engulfing the majority of the Western world. The ideas of Frankfurt School critical theorists like Theodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer, particularly from their book The Authoritarian Personality, have spread through mainstream thought like wildfire. The book proved hugely popular upon its publication in 1950, and it has since influenced every normative interpretation of what is ‘authoritarian’ since. Of course, it was just a happy twist of fate that everything Adorno identified as authoritarian happened to be opposed to his progressive leftist worldview; both the F-scale test—designed by Adorno to identify fascist personality traits—and Umberto Eco’s 14 Signs of Fascism have been prime movers for the social engineering we have been subject to for decades. The F-scale test warned that traits like “power and toughness” are sure signs of fascist tendencies, and Eco’s 14 signs condemn ‘machismo’ and “the cult of heroism” as indicative of the evil moustache man’s reemergence. 

As a result of such rhetoric, anything masculine in modern society is subject to condemnation. Men are encouraged to debase themselves by becoming increasingly feminine, and hopes of creating a family adopting a traditional patriarchal structure are abandoned. What was once ‘men’s only’ is now for women too. This is not to say that women shouldn’t attempt to be more fit and healthy—God knows that women are pushed to be slovenly and fat in the modern age—but it is a simple acknowledgement that exercise, particularly weightlifting, is seen as a traditionally masculine activity.

The sheer scale of influence this propaganda holds has fostered a society in which the weak are venerated above the strong. Once positive role models for young boys are publicly emasculated, and kids are encouraged to throw aside their future so they have time to become activists for progressive causes—or else they might be perceived too as ‘authoritarian’. There are other material reasons for the changes we see all around us, but we should not ignore the social attitudes and pressures contributing to this. Circling back to economics, people on the whole are adapting by adopting higher time preferences and prioritising cheap thrills and selfish excess at the expense of meaningful relationships and healthy habits.

The best approach against this degeneracy is to abandon current cultural standards and fears, to not fret about whether people perceive you one way or the other politically, and do what is best for you and your loved ones. This will always involve self-improvement, both mentally and physically, so maybe, this time, stick with that New Years’ gym membership. It might be just what you need.