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04-14-21, 07:06 AM | |
VF Supporter
Join Date: Mar 2002
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I've never had what I'd call one; I haven't "exercised with other people" since team sports in school.
I'm not opposed in principle to having one, but my schedule tends to be irregular enough and prone enough to disruption that I wouldn't want to subject anyone else to having to accommodate it. Even before this thread, I'd realized anyway that I've missed having one only for practical reasons--most often, having a spotter or having someone around for safety. Other reasons for exercising with others don't appeal to me or even repel me. For example: - I don't find the idea of exercising with others inherently encouraging or motivating in itself. I'd have to find the right people and interactions. - I'm disclined to use exercise as a setting for socializing. I'm not completely opposed to the idea, but I'd want to find the right people and interactions. - I wouldn't want to exercise with someone who tends to be "competitive." - In a recent newscast, I heard from someone who said that she likes exercising with other people because she's not tempted to slack; I'm not that kind of exerciser at all. - Introducing "accountability" into exercise demotivates me for a number of reasons. I could write an entire separate post about what I find unappealing about "accountability." I wouldn't reject the right person if I ever found that match, but I'm also glad that my exercise life doesn't rely on one.
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"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand." The Velveteen Rabbit |
04-19-21, 10:45 AM | |||
VF Supporter
Join Date: Mar 2002
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A summary of some specific points: - My motivations are strongly intrinsic. I don't know why they are, but I'm happy with this state. I happily exercise without being monitored to see that I do, and I'm probably happier and more consistent without being so monitored. I don't think that trying to add extrinsic motivations related to a sort of accountability would be "balancing" or "reinforcing" for me, either. - The idea of accountability usually introduces certain moralizing and quasi-moralizing elements that I'd like to keep separate from exercise, such as judgment, disappointment, disapproval (and even a corresponding approval), guilt, shame, and embarrassment. For example, I wouldn't want to be expected to make (or hear) confessions of faux-sins related to exercise. (I don't object to all instances of accountability in the world, such as "the head of the department will be accountable to the finance committee," but those contexts are different in a number of ways. I also don't think that exercise is completely separate from ethics and morality, but their relationship is not something like "four workouts good, two workouts bad.") - In particular for the idea of a buddy for "exercise accountability": I already wouldn't want a "neutral" compliance monitor watching me, and I'm even more averse to the idea of having an alleged friend or buddy who's there to monitor my behavior. Of course, I'm not saying that a friend of mine must blithely accept or approve of whatever I do, but I don't know how much enjoyment, companionship, and comfort I'd have with a nominal friend whose relationship with me included a large bit of checking that I was doing something "right" and not doing something "wrong."
__________________
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand." The Velveteen Rabbit |
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Tags |
workout buddy, workout partner |
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