What Moving Your Body Can Mean

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Although exercise has clear benefits for both physical and mental health, for many people, “those are side effects of the aesthetic goal,” Xochitl Gonzalez wrote in 2023. People who grew up equating working out with trying to lose weight may ultimately need to find a new form of movement or a new community to rewire their brain’s associations. For Xochitl, it was running with her dog—and sometimes doing SoulCycle. For my colleague Julie Beck, it was weight lifting. For others, it’s a group fitness class.

Finding a form of movement that works for you can make you feel better in your body than you thought you could. “It turned out that picking up something heavy for a few sets of five reps, sitting down half the workout, and then going home and eating a big sloppy burger did far more to make me feel comfortable in my body than gasping my way through endless burpees and rewarding myself with a salad ever did,” Julie writes. Today’s newsletter explores movement and why we really do it.

On Movement

The Paradox of Hard Work By Alex Hutchinson

Why do people enjoy doing difficult things?

Read the article.

The Feminine Pursuit of Swoleness

By Julie Beck

Casey Johnston’s new book, A Physical Education, considers how weight lifting can help you unlearn diet culture.

Read the article.

In the Age of Ozempic, What’s the Point of Working Out?

By Xochitl Gonzalez

The idea that we exercise to get thin may be more dangerous than ever.

Read the article.

Still Curious?

• Inside the exclusive, obsessive, surprisingly litigious world of luxury fitness: How Tracy Anderson built an exercise empire
• A ridiculous, perfect way to make friends: Group fitness classes aren’t just about exercise.

Other Diversions

• Alexandra Petri on what the Founders wanted
• The Ciceronian secret to happiness
• That dropped call with customer service? It was on purpose.

P.S.

I asked readers to share a photo of something that sparks their sense of awe in the world. Chris Spoeneman, 65, from Ponte Vedra, Florida, shared this photo from his and his wife’s “bucket-list trip to the South Island of New Zealand (otherworldly!!) and Australia. This was taken while hiking the Ben Lomond Track … The hike was somewhat strenuous but the views just blew me away,” he writes, including this one—“which I dubbed the most beautiful outhouse on Earth!”

I’ll continue to feature your responses in the coming weeks.

— Isabel