Last Friday, I suspended my postclass routine of heading to the Student Recreation Center, which I attend weekly with one purpose: to lift heavy objects and grunt.
Like most worthy human endeavors, exercise involves hard work, self-doubt and body odor — then our brains get rewarded with a chemical cocktail strong enough to make Charlie Sheen blush. So why did I forgo my life’s primary paradoxical source of pleasure?
Here’s why: every New Year, after spending weeks on the couch eating reindeer-shaped Christmas cookies (or chocolate Hanukkah money), UNC students flock back to campus with one reasonable, admirable resolution: to exercise.
During spring semester’s first few weeks, SRC regulars like myself roll our eyes at these gym tourists, who make us wait in line to use equipment they forget to wipe down. Most of these resolvers are gone by February, and there’s a simple economic reason why.
New Year’s aims to exercise often fail because supply and demand are mismatched. Wannabe exercisers tend to undersupply and over demand their bodies in pursuit of health.
When we’re talking about exercise, supply comes in three forms: genetics, time and nutrition. Genetics are Mother Nature’s inputs for the human business of exercise. Genes determine not only what exercise we’re capable of doing, but also what exercise we enjoy. For instance, my average stature, thunder thighs and aversion to jumping mean I’d be a terrible basketball player or sprinter, but my body does excel at jogging and weightlifting. Fighting genes when exercising is futile — leverage them instead.
Time is exercise’s second often-ignored supply factor. During winter break’s lull, it’s easy to make grandiose resolutions, such as dropping the “Freshman 15” in two weeks; yet once 15-hour class schedules, part-time jobs and social antics resume, time conspires against our exercise ambitions. Better to budget smaller time chunks for exercise and stick with the routine than go H.A.M.-mer than Jay-Z and burn out fast.
Nutrition supply also plays a key role in success. When supplying nutrition, many undergrads eat a dubious quality and quantity of food. Even if your aim is to lose weight, your body still needs a constant supply of food energy — just replace the Lenoir cookies with black bean salads. On the other hand, if you’re trying to bulk up, then you’ll need to consume more steak and eggs than seems humanly reasonable.
Once supply’s aligned, demand must match. There are two components to exercise demand: intensity and frequency. Oftentimes with good intentions, New Year’s gym-goers exercise too much, too hard — as if proving to themselves that this year, they really mean it.
