The Examined Workout

I just finished reading a fascinating article about an eccentric code programmer who is trying to embed philosophy into video games.

His games aren’t anything like the super-realistic blood splattering that’s become the norm in a $40 billion industry. They are short, simple pixelated story lines based around all-important choices.

They have names like Regret, Immortality and Passage. Subtle themes are revealed to the player over the course of these games. These are revelations they had a hand in creating.

“Here’s a game that made me cry,” declared one game designer at an influential video game conference. “It did. It really did.”

What’s really significant is that this is being accomplished with video games. It radically rethinks something that’s become a symbol of instant gratification, cheap thrills and dumb fun.

So why can’t we do that with exercise? Are superficial 6-pack abs really what it’s all about? Can a workout have meaning?

We’re already heading in that direction.

This is nothing new. We just had to get back to the basics of why we work out.

“Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being,” wrote Greek philosopher Plato. “While movement and methodical physical exercise save it and preserve it.”

And there you have it. Philosophers have discussed the relationship between the mind, body and the soul since philosophy was invented. Now people are once again starting to see their workouts in this larger context.

Functional training is one example of this way of thinking. This rejects the one-size-fits-all approach to fitness, and creates a workout that’s relevant to someone’s life.

This new philosophy is not afraid to ask hard questions about someone’s established, comfortable exercise routine. It strives to shake up someone’s workout worldview. Why should I (or why should I not) do certain exercises? How should I be doing it? What is truth – about fitness?

This can be seen as a response to the increasing use of technology and the depersonalization of workouts: Running a digital pace on an endlessly looping treadmill. Watching TV from a stationary bike going nowhere. Checking off a box that records X sets and Y reps. Again and again and again.

I’m not saying those tools are necessarily bad – especially on a -35 degree day. They can be useful means to an end, but they shouldn’t be what controls a workout.

This is all part of larger movement of people recognizing that nothing is isolated. The slow food movement emphasizes where our meals come from and giving careful thought about the overall impact of what we put into our bodies. The green movement considers how our individual consumption has a direct relationship with our environment. Now workouts are also becoming more mindful and integrated.

The genius of the video game programmer wasn’t that he created something slick and new with technology. It was that he adapted technology to have real meaning in people’s lives.

Aristotle said the unexamined life is not worth living. I say the unexamined workout is not worth the price of a gym membership.


Training with Tim is arguably Milwaukee’s third most underrated fitness blog. It’s updated semi-daily at trainingwithtim.com.