Week 24: Neil Degrasse Tyson – The Cosmic Perspective
Week 21: How Economics Can Guide Our Workouts
Fitness is the epitome of the marketplace of ideas: endless competition giving people endless choice. If the 30 Day Detox left you feeling empty (that I’m sure its followers can attest to), then maybe doing the 100 day Squat challenge (which I wouldn’t do concurrently with a detox plan to avoid accidents) can be your gateway to everlasting health. One does not have to go long before another fad, diet or program is shoved out for public consumption.
Very little, if even at all, is discussed about if a person SHOULD do a program; people aren’t being fed knowledge of how to make decisions in regards to fitness, just information on fitness programs. Stealing from economics, there are two concepts that apply directly to fitness: Opportunity Costs and Diminishing Returns. These two principles can build a framework for people to navigate which next behavior they should pick up to continue to see their goals.
Opportunity Costs:
Opportunity Costs are the loss of potential gain from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen (thanks Google!). Put in simple terms: if you decide to go to the movies, you won’t be able to go bowling at the same time. You have given up the opportunity to go bowling, and there is a cost associated with that. If you hate bowling, that cost is almost nonexistent. If you love bowling, however, there is a more significant cost to the choice.
You can’t do two things at once (unless you, the Uber Millennial, can facetime, text and watch TV simultaneously). With only so much time, people need to make sure they are choosing the better options of what to take on in their fitness and wellness plans. If you take on something that has such a huge opportunity cost, you are not going to do it for the long-term.
Eating 5-6 meals a day is, for some reason, the golden standard of fitness. It’s odd that we are so quick to congratulate people on doing this without asking how much they eat at these meals (six, daily, 1000-calorie meals can be quite problematic regardless of the time interval in-between). The amount of planning for this is tremendous: most of the meals have to be made ahead of time, quantified, packaged, and transported every day.
Clearly, there is a huge opportunity cost: the time you spend on your meal prepping could clearly affect other things. The amount of people who chose to take on things that they do not have time for or dislike is staggering in fitness. People are taking classes and doing long cardio sessions while emphatically detesting every second of it. To reference the earlier analogy: if you love bowling, then go bowling damn it!
When the opportunity costs become too large, it becomes unsustainable. There is only so many times you are going to be willing to wake up early (for those night owls), meal prep (for those low on time) and take Cycling (for those who hate bicycling) before you give up. Choose a goal where the opportunity costs are reasonable to your schedule and you will be able to maintain it.
Diminishing Returns:
The Law of Diminishing Returns is used to refer to a point at which the benefits gained is less than the amount of energy invested. In the beginning, results come easy with just a few changes, but there comes a time when you are going to be putting in more effort to get less results.
Think of the progression of someone who is completely sedentary, has bad nutrition habits and is looking to lose weight:
- The first steps of removing soda and starting a walking program net big gains. Small Changes. Big Results.
- Then the next steps of calorie counting and weight lifting gets good results. Moderate Changes. Moderate Results.
- Then to finally get that last 1% of body fat, they restrict carbs, take multiple supplements, do two-a-days, and do intermittent fasting. Huge Changes. Small Results.
Know of anyone, or yourself, that wants to lose 20 pounds and got stuck around halfway? Things start taking more effort for less results which can be a demotivating experience.
Where this gets dangerous is people get caught on the wrong side of the scale; they choose the hardest things to change with the lowest return in value. Instead of deciding the next, natural step, it is a jump to the activity that takes the most willpower and the least results – a sure fire way to discontinue fitness.
This might seem extremely silly — who in their right mind would operate this way? I see it all the time: people who started working out 3 times a week now start doing twice a day 6 times a week; people who just got the handle of empty calories now doing intermittent fasting; people who were doing a simple weight circuit now shooting for 30 sets a workout.
People get these ideas from articles, celebrities or fitness personalities. Many articles and exercise programs are simply not written for YOU. People going for that last .5% of body fat to better show off the serrations in their pectoral muscles are doing things you shouldn’t be. Most people struggle to even have a healthy lifestyle. If that is the case, go for the things that give you the most bang for your buck and you will be more likely to stay motivated.
Conclusion
Information about fitness is a good start, but it does very little to actually help guide someone in choices. Before taking on some new plan, ask yourself: what is the opportunity cost and what kind of return will it get me? If it is going to take monumental effort, be something you don’t have time for, ultimately a displeasure and yields very little results, then there is very little reason for you to pick it up.
Week 20: Christopher Hitchens – Religion is Absurd
Weekly Ration 