I work out because I have to schedule my breaks away from my screen during my work day because I’m busy, and I don’t want to spend my entire life sitting down stationary
Basically, any significant and/or scheduled time spent doing physical exercises, without it being for the purposes of physical therapy and such. Going to the gym, in short, or home work-out routines.
I fully accept this as a quirk of my psychology, but I’d rather do anything - anything! - other than running on a treadmill, or pumping iron, or what have you.
However, I do compensate for this in my general behaviour, I’m fidgety and active. I always skip, or hop, or stretch, or flex when doing stuff like checking Lemmy on my phone, or texting someone, I always put in more effort when doing chores, or try to do them faster and faster (I like things which pose a challenge to my dexterity), I dance or contort around the house randomly, etc. And stretching in general is closer to a reflex than anything else, which is why I, personally, don’t consider it a work-out.
I’m still a little lost on what does and does not count. You mentioned not wanting to run a treadmill, but what about running on a quiet street or a trail or path? What about if someone is training for a marathon, or to improve their 5k PB at their local Parkrun? Is that “working out for the sake of working out”? Or does having the extrinsic goal change the equation somehow? Does it change if instead of running, the sport they’re training for is triathlon? What if it’s weightlifting? Or they want to have sufficient fitness to be a valuable member of their casual Touch team?
If it’s training for a different thing, then it isn’t working out for its own sake - eg. a football player running laps to buff stamina and speed for the field, a lumberjack hitting the weights to help them with logging, same as every example you’ve provided, have the working out be incidental to the goal.
This is why I highlighted that I believe one does not need to hit the gym if one only wants to stay active. The aspects you’re describing are all well beyond just staying active, I’d argue some are even tangential to physical therapy.
same as every example you’ve provided, have the working out be incidental to the goal
Fwiw the terminology often used here is “instrumental goal”. That is, a goal is instrumental if it is something someone tries to achieve in order to work towards their terminal goal. If my terminal goal is “win the soccer tournament”, one instrumental goal might be “be able to run a sub-50 minute 10 km”. And you can have instrumental goals to help reach the instrumental goals (this is my terminology, not a standard one, because I don’t know if there is a standard one, but I’ll call these a “secondary instrumental goal”). For example, a secondary instrumental goal to win the soccer tournament’s instrumental goal of run a sub-50 minute 10 km might be to run at least 30 km per week for 6 weeks.
Anyway, some of the sports I chose in my example were chosen specifically because of the grey area this creates. If my goal is to complete a marathon or a triathlon, is that my terminal goal? What if the reason I want to complete a marathon is to show myself that I can get physically fit and healthy? This is not uncommon, I’m pretty sure, especially among 40–60 year-olds. In that case, “get fit and healthy” is the terminal goal, and “complete a marathon” is only an instrumental goal, with a secondary instrumental goal of working out regularly. If my terminal goal is “get fit” and my secondary instrumental goal is “run frequently”, does it really matter if my primary instrumental goal is “run a marathon”?
I’m asking this sincerely, by the way. I’m sorry that other users are downvoting you, but I’m not. I think you’ve touched on an interesting nuance that I want to tease out.
define “for the sake of working out” I guess
I work out because I have to schedule my breaks away from my screen during my work day because I’m busy, and I don’t want to spend my entire life sitting down stationary
Basically, any significant and/or scheduled time spent doing physical exercises, without it being for the purposes of physical therapy and such. Going to the gym, in short, or home work-out routines.
I fully accept this as a quirk of my psychology, but I’d rather do anything - anything! - other than running on a treadmill, or pumping iron, or what have you.
However, I do compensate for this in my general behaviour, I’m fidgety and active. I always skip, or hop, or stretch, or flex when doing stuff like checking Lemmy on my phone, or texting someone, I always put in more effort when doing chores, or try to do them faster and faster (I like things which pose a challenge to my dexterity), I dance or contort around the house randomly, etc. And stretching in general is closer to a reflex than anything else, which is why I, personally, don’t consider it a work-out.
I’m still a little lost on what does and does not count. You mentioned not wanting to run a treadmill, but what about running on a quiet street or a trail or path? What about if someone is training for a marathon, or to improve their 5k PB at their local Parkrun? Is that “working out for the sake of working out”? Or does having the extrinsic goal change the equation somehow? Does it change if instead of running, the sport they’re training for is triathlon? What if it’s weightlifting? Or they want to have sufficient fitness to be a valuable member of their casual Touch team?
If it’s training for a different thing, then it isn’t working out for its own sake - eg. a football player running laps to buff stamina and speed for the field, a lumberjack hitting the weights to help them with logging, same as every example you’ve provided, have the working out be incidental to the goal.
This is why I highlighted that I believe one does not need to hit the gym if one only wants to stay active. The aspects you’re describing are all well beyond just staying active, I’d argue some are even tangential to physical therapy.
Fwiw the terminology often used here is “instrumental goal”. That is, a goal is instrumental if it is something someone tries to achieve in order to work towards their terminal goal. If my terminal goal is “win the soccer tournament”, one instrumental goal might be “be able to run a sub-50 minute 10 km”. And you can have instrumental goals to help reach the instrumental goals (this is my terminology, not a standard one, because I don’t know if there is a standard one, but I’ll call these a “secondary instrumental goal”). For example, a secondary instrumental goal to win the soccer tournament’s instrumental goal of run a sub-50 minute 10 km might be to run at least 30 km per week for 6 weeks.
Anyway, some of the sports I chose in my example were chosen specifically because of the grey area this creates. If my goal is to complete a marathon or a triathlon, is that my terminal goal? What if the reason I want to complete a marathon is to show myself that I can get physically fit and healthy? This is not uncommon, I’m pretty sure, especially among 40–60 year-olds. In that case, “get fit and healthy” is the terminal goal, and “complete a marathon” is only an instrumental goal, with a secondary instrumental goal of working out regularly. If my terminal goal is “get fit” and my secondary instrumental goal is “run frequently”, does it really matter if my primary instrumental goal is “run a marathon”?
I’m asking this sincerely, by the way. I’m sorry that other users are downvoting you, but I’m not. I think you’ve touched on an interesting nuance that I want to tease out.