Turgåing ikke nok til å komme i form
(Here is the equivalent article in English.)

Oooh, this article pisses me off. My first reaction is a simple “fuck you”. What is “enough” exercise? How good shape do you have to be in to be in good enough shape? Good enough shape for what?

Part of the reason this article gets on my nerves so much is because this is such an incredibly Norwegian attitude: unless you get your pulse way up, get out of breath, and get sweaty, you’re not really exercising. Walking is barely even considered exercising here. I myself get 6-8 hours of exercise each week between yoga and walking, while Johannes gets a little less with his walking and Jujitsu, although his Jujitsu workouts are so intense that he comes back with a soaking wet gi. I don’t know about Johannes, but my “numbers” are all good, I’m strong and flexible, and I don’t feel like my condition stops me from doing anything I want to do in life. Despite this, we both feel like we don’t get enough exercise. The attitude expressed in this article is precisely why we feel that way, and it makes me furious. It’s like we can never win unless we run or ski or jog on a treadmill or something. I’m tired of feeling like everyone thinks of me as a fat lazy slob because I don’t do those things. You know, I do what I can. I do the exercise I do because I enjoy it. I simply do not enjoy intense aerobic exercise. And I know that I’ll never maintain any habit that I don’t do for the joy of participating in the activity itself. There are definitely some people in this world who enjoy intense exercise for the feeling the exercise itself gives them, but they’re relatively rare. And I’ve said my piece before about people who claim to be motivated by health.

Then there are the many people, especially in the US, get virtually no exercise at all. American society isn’t set up for it, for one thing. It’s a strange country where people make every effort to avoid having to exert themselves (e.g. driving around the parking lot for five minutes looking for the closest parking place available. And I’m sure you’ve seen this picture), and then pay for the privilege of exercising at health studios. I’m sure some Norwegians are the same. Exercise is often not a privilege the working class can afford, we must remember. Imagine a single mother trying to follow these articles’ workout advice while working two jobs to try to feed her kids, in addition to her second shift. How is this article going to make her feel? She’s a lot more likely to die or experience a lower quality of life from a lack of quality medical care due to not having medical insurance than due to not being in “good enough” shape.

I expect a majority of the people in both the US and Norway will never meet the expectations outlined here. The exercise we’re able to do–”it’s not enough”, we’re told. Well, fuck it, then. If we’re never going to be in “good enough” shape to meet these researchers’ standards, then why bother at all? There are two things this article is going to achieve, and neither are in harmony with the authors’ stated goals. First, this information will make the sweat hogs feel even more self-righteous than they already do, and second, it will frustrate and demotivate the majority of us who exercise moderately or don’t exercise at all. I don’t debate the facts laid out in these articles, but is this what the authors are trying to achieve?