Why do so many people give up on physical fitness after hs and college?

Some people are active by nature. Most are not. The ones that are not are pushed into being active in school, and once that's gone they revert to their natural sloth-like state.

They come up with all kinds of excuses, like they're married, have jobs, etc. That they even make excuses at all shows they consider exercise a chore. If it was something they liked to do they wouldn't stop.

It is all because of civilization in my opinion. It has gotten to the point where being sedentary and fat is a selective advantage. Of course when civilization falls there will be a mass extinction of all those people.

ya..... wrote:

If you're single and or don't have kids you wouldn't understand.

I think this applies to a lot of threads. I was finally able to consistently run when I realized 10 years ago that the only time I could count on was when everyone else was asleep. (about to head out at 6:15am on Sun -- usually 5-6 am on weekdays)

I was a collegiate All-American but I wasn't good enough to go pro, so I decided to go to grad school and work after college. Grad school and work took up a lot of my time. And, I felt extremely exhausted and worn down from so many years of running. I gained about 70 pounds in the next three years. After grad school, I had enough of that, so I started working out and eating right, and it took a long time, but I finally got fit. But now I'm pretty slow and I just run and race for fun.

Having small children. You can't understand until you have kids. I never knew the meaning of busy or responsible before I had kids, and I was a very busy, responsible undergrad. Nothing compares.

That said, my wife and I both run 30-40 mpw and are in shape. But it is a challenge. Right now, one kid is sick, I am recovering from sickness, and I have a huge work deadline on Monday. Wait, why am I posting here!! gg.

Charlie Sollers wrote:

ya..... wrote:

If you're single and or don't have kids you wouldn't understand.

I think this applies to a lot of threads. I was finally able to consistently run when I realized 10 years ago that the only time I could count on was when everyone else was asleep. (about to head out at 6:15am on Sun -- usually 5-6 am on weekdays)

^^This

Re marriage/young kids/job

I ran the most when I commuted to work by jogging. That was great.

Now I have a toddler and a car commute. Baby jogger and treadmill is the answer. Tv wastes time but I find letsrun and facebook more so.

Also as you age your metabolism changes drastically. Also the ability to recover from workouts disapates. Injury increases. All your prs are behind you. If you are twenty or 30 think about this: If you have obtained the dream girl, and will never run faster than you used to, and after training steadily for 20 years, on every trail or road within a 2 hours drive, what the point of running more than you feel like?

I wish I could answer that question for my son who is in college now. He was a very good high school runner who chose a DI school where he would be a walk onto the xc team (didn't pursue it) over a very good DIII school where he was recruited to run. Big mistake. Now he is basically doing nothing. Very hard to watch especially since our family always put a premium on physical activity. Something about the structure/competition of a team motivated him. He could run for the club xc team but won't do it because he says he's too out of shape. A viscous cycle. Any tips (I can't nag him any more!) would be appreciated!

Various reasons:

1. Stayed in shape before only for team/sport purpose. Now that is gone, no need to keep training and not interested enough to do it for fitness only purpose.

2. Just get caught up with busier schedule (say a 60-hour week job, kids, etc.).

3. Injury

4. Lost routine and never gained it back

Hard to believe from my perspective which is one of a lifelong runner. I do understand from the previous posts on this thread why this happens.

I still think injuries are the main reason why a lot of pretty good runners give up running.

Or, I should say keeping active in general.

Some type of injuries shouldn't stop all activity.

Dr. Spacemen wrote:

Chronic sleep deprivation and long commute. Average American is sleeping less than 7 hours a night, which a) is stupid, but b) also drains your willpower and c) tends to make you gain weight. If you're already tired all the time and it takes you 30-40 minutes to get home, all you want to do is sit down and eat shit.

Agree. Proud that I've continued exercising. But the time required for work demands has become ridiculous. People today either need a job, or are worked to exhaustion, with execs getting credit for running things efficiently.

ttc wrote:

Dr. Spacemen wrote:

Chronic sleep deprivation and long commute. Average American is sleeping less than 7 hours a night, which a) is stupid, but b) also drains your willpower and c) tends to make you gain weight. If you're already tired all the time and it takes you 30-40 minutes to get home, all you want to do is sit down and eat shit.

Agree. Proud that I've continued exercising. But the time required for work demands has become ridiculous. People today either need a job, or are worked to exhaustion, with execs getting credit for running things efficiently.

Manual labor (ex: oil rig workers)... low pay but forces you to physically work. I'd take that over your average cubicle job any day.

Granted, they will be under the delusion that a $100k income will make them happy, but the growing gut and failing sex life will negate that.

Cat man wrote:

Re marriage/young kids/job

I ran the most when I commuted to work by jogging. That was great.

Now I have a toddler and a car commute.

Great if you can do that. What if your employer doesn't have showers or anything like that?

Car commute for me wastes so much time. Commute is 5 hours of lost time every single week. That is a lot of wasted time.

Too dangerous to bike there, too far to run without showers.

Run commuting is the best. The trick is to share the responsibility if you can. I only run to work 2x a week but its great.

Regarding the general question, its that people fail to realize that even 20min will improve your shape. 30 min will do that much more. But you need to make it a habit. So many times in the past when I got busy I gave up entirely - why run for 20min when you really want to run for an hour? Figuring out how to maintain a routine, even small, is a life saver.

seems like a lot of folks get back into being fit as middle age beckons

Lots of good responses above, but I might add, lack of good goals. If you ran in college, those will probably be your career PR's. It's disappointing to get up at 5:30 AM before work, train hard, and run a road 10K 2 minutes slower than you did in college. It's hard to get up early and squeeze in regular runs just to "stay in shape". It's easier to hit snooze and think, skipping this run and getting some extra shut eye won't cause me to gain a pound. On the other hand, if you're trying to eke out a PR, you won't skip a run, in fact, you'll be tempted to add in a few extra runs in the week. Eventually, the lack of a motivating goal or some good competition erodes your fitness little by little til the years pile up and you're no where near what you used to be as a runner. A vague desire to "stay in shape" (whatever that means or can be excused as) doesn't cause you to skip sleep or rearrange your schedule to get your runs in.

If you avoid eating as much as you comfortably can, it's very little you have to do to stay in shape.

NEVER EAT ANYTHING IF YOU CAN AVOID IT xD

Medical Student and Runner wrote:

I'm in medical school and manage to workout 1 hour a day. I guarantee I am more busy than 99% of my peers and a good amount of married couples too (even those with kids). What is the secret to fitting exercise into my schedule? I don't watch television, sports, movies, or play childish video games. Don't get me wrong I like to be entertained, but people need to grow up and stop watching hours of television every night and then bitch about they are fat.

That guy that paced Galen Rupp at BU works in investment banking and ran sub 4 this year. People like him and those on letsrun are outliers. With every passing decade Americans are becoming more soft.

You're not married are you? You live in an apartment and have no kids? Am I right?