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Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding
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Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group 2021
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Description
If exercise is healthy (so good for you!), why do many people dislike or avoid it? These engaging stories and explanations will revolutionize the way you think about exercising—not to mention sitting, sleeping, sprinting, weight lifting, playing, fighting, walking, jogging, and even dancing.

“Strikes a perfect balance of scholarship, wit, and enthusiasm.” —Bill Bryson, New York Times best-selling author of The Body
• If we are born to walk and run, why do most of us take it easy whenever possible?
• Does running ruin your knees?
• Should we do weights, cardio, or high-intensity training?
• Is sitting really the new smoking?
• Can you lose weight by walking?
• And how do we make sense of the conflicting, anxiety-inducing information about rest, physical activity, and exercise with which we are bombarded?
In this myth-busting book, Daniel Lieberman, professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and a pioneering researcher on the evolution of human physical activity, tells the story of how we never evolved to exercise—to do voluntary physical activity for the sake of health. Using his own research and experiences throughout the world, Lieberman recounts without jargon how and why humans evolved to walk, run, dig, and do other necessary and rewarding physical activities while avoiding needless exertion.
Exercised is entertaining and enlightening but also constructive. As our increasingly sedentary lifestyles have contributed to skyrocketing rates of obesity and diseases such as diabetes, Lieberman audaciously argues that to become more active we need to do more than medicalize and commodify exercise.
Drawing on insights from evolutionary biology and anthropology, Lieberman suggests how we can make exercise more enjoyable, rather than shaming and blaming people for avoiding it. He also tackles the question of whether you can exercise too much, even as he explains why exercise can reduce our vulnerability to the diseases mostly likely to make us sick and kill us.
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Format:
Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read
Street Date:
01/05/2021
Language:
English
ISBN:
9781524746995
ASIN:
B082H3ZH44
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APA Citation (style guide)

Daniel Lieberman. (2021). Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Daniel Lieberman. 2021. Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Daniel Lieberman, Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2021.

MLA Citation (style guide)

Daniel Lieberman. Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2021.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
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      • bioText: DANIEL E. LIEBERMAN is Edwin M. Lerner Professor of Biological Sciences and professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University. He is the author of the national best seller The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease and Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rearding. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
      • name: Daniel Lieberman
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Vintage
publishDate
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title
Exercised
fullDescription
If exercise is healthy (so good for you!), why do many people dislike or avoid it? These engaging stories and explanations will revolutionize the way you think about exercising—not to mention sitting, sleeping, sprinting, weight lifting, playing, fighting, walking, jogging, and even dancing.

“Strikes a perfect balance of scholarship, wit, and enthusiasm.” —Bill Bryson, New York Times best-selling author of The Body
• If we are born to walk and run, why do most of us take it easy whenever possible?
• Does running ruin your knees?
• Should we do weights, cardio, or high-intensity training?
• Is sitting really the new smoking?
• Can you lose weight by walking?
• And how do we make sense of the conflicting, anxiety-inducing information about rest, physical activity, and exercise with which we are bombarded?
In this myth-busting book, Daniel Lieberman, professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and a pioneering researcher on the evolution of human physical activity, tells the story of how we never evolved to exercise—to do voluntary physical activity for the sake of health. Using his own research and experiences throughout the world, Lieberman recounts without jargon how and why humans evolved to walk, run, dig, and do other necessary and rewarding physical activities while avoiding needless exertion.
Exercised is entertaining and enlightening but also constructive. As our increasingly sedentary lifestyles have contributed to skyrocketing rates of obesity and diseases such as diabetes, Lieberman audaciously argues that to become more active we need to do more than medicalize and commodify exercise.
Drawing on insights from evolutionary biology and anthropology, Lieberman suggests how we can make exercise more enjoyable, rather than shaming and blaming people for avoiding it. He also tackles the question of whether you can exercise too much, even as he explains why exercise can reduce our vulnerability to the diseases mostly likely to make us sick and kill us.
reviews
      • premium: True
      • source: Kirkus
      • content:

        July 15, 2020
        An accomplished intellectual explains our need to be regularly physical. While there are plenty of generalities that apply to exercise--it's good for us, it may help prevent disease, it's best done regularly--most of the important elements are personal and variable. Near the beginning of his latest, Harvard paleoanthropologist Lieberman states, "this is not a self-help book." Indeed, the narrative is more of a thoughtfully organized natural history than a straightforward how-to guide. In appealing, accessible language, the author tells interesting stories and only seldom slips into the weeds--e.g., overly long discussions of the daily lives of hunter-gatherers. He also addresses relevant topics that regularly generate misinformation: "Is sitting the new smoking? "Is it bad to slouch? Do you need eight hours of sleep?" As the author notes, many Americans don't get enough exercise, so some may wonder how many will desire a pure history of something they don't do and don't like. Nonetheless, Lieberman adds useful context regarding the why of exercise--we didn't evolve to spend time on treadmills, yet exercise seems essential in a post-industrial age--and readers will want to know what to do with this compelling information. The author suggests some answers, such as in a section on how exercise might be applied to combat certain common ailments. An example: "This one is easy: cardio is better than weights for obesity." It wouldn't be hard to find personal trainers who quibble with that statement. After all, is the goal sustained weight loss or the most weight loss in a specific period of time? How old/healthy/overfed/active is the person? While readers may not be convinced by such statements as "make exercise necessary and fun," the author successfully makes use of "evolutionary and anthropological perspectives to explore and rethink dozens of myths about physical inactivity, activity, and exercise." A good choice for those seeking a macro view of the history of movement. For what to do about it, hire a trainer.

        COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

      • premium: True
      • source: Booklist
      • content:

        Starred review from July 1, 2020
        Exercise is big business, touted as some sort of magic elixir for good health and longevity. In this brilliant investigation, Harvard paleoanthropologist Lieberman (The Story of the Human Body, 2013) examines exercise from an evolutionary perspective and concludes that it's a fundamentally strange and unusual behavior." Humans did not evolve to perform optional physical exertion for fitness and health benefits. While our ancient ancestors lived lives that required spending many hours of the day walking, hunting, climbing, lifting, and digging to survive, Lieberman believes "humans evolved to rest as much as possible." His wide-ranging discussion highlights inactivity (sitting, sleeping), endurance (walking, running, dancing), power (speed, strength, sports, fighting), and modern times (the relationship between exercise and health, how much exercise is optimal). As he demolishes common myths and exaggerations, his wit and wisdom are ever-present. He finds treadmill machines boring, treacherous, and loud contraptions that make you work to arrive nowhere. In contrast, while reading, your body burns approximately 60 calories an hour while tending to necessary physiological processes. Humans excel at endurance walking and are the "sweating champions" among all animals. Even if we didn't evolve to do it, Lieberman emphasizes the necessity and healthiness of regular exercise no matter your age. This makes for captivating reading between workouts.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

      • premium: True
      • source: Library Journal
      • content:

        August 1, 2020

        Lieberman (paleoanthropologist, Harvard Univ.; The story of the Human Body) explores the paradox of exercise, "a source of pleasure and health but a cause of discomfort [and] guilt." The benefits of exercise are well-known, but the vast amount of opinions, research, and trends in the field show that humans are still confused about how to do it safely, enjoyably, and beneficially. He suggests that the contemporary Western approach to exercise is riddled with misunderstandings because evolutionary and anthropological perspectives on physical activity are usually overlooked. He evaluates common myths about exercise and health, including the idea of a correct amount of sleep, the dangers of sitting too much, and the role of inactivity. He concludes that while our bodies evolved to exercise, our minds did not; to overcome this barrier, exercise needs to be seen as necessary or enjoyable. No exercise instructions or plans are provided in this natural history of exercise, but Lieberman's explanations and a disease reference may help convince some non-exercisers to start moving. VERDICT Lieberman writes in a clear, approachable style, even when explaining complex research and concepts. Recommended for collections where either exercise science or human evolution are popular subjects.--Anitra Gates, Erie Cty. P.L., PA

        Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

      • premium: True
      • source: Publisher's Weekly
      • content:

        September 7, 2020
        In this smart volume, Harvard paleoanthropologist Lieberman (The Story of the Human Head) takes a scientifically astute look at exercise. Alongside actionable workout tips, he proffers persuasive reasons for everyone to exercise in some way (his preferred activity is running), notably that “physical activity is probably the single best way to lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease,” and that an active lifestyle can help “to prevent or tame... several kinds of cancers.” To help win over “habitual non-exercisers,” Lieberman has some refreshingly realistic suggestions for “mak the exercise less disagreeable,” such as rewarding oneself for completing workouts, or doing them in like-minded groups for moral support. Meanwhile, the recommendations for exercisers in general are helpfully straightforward and unfussy (“exercise several hours a week, mostly cardio but also some weights, and keep it up as you age”). To explore why humans can but don’t always build strength, Lieberman traces “two conflicting threads” in Homo sapiens’s evolution—as early humans became hunters, they “must have benefited from plenty of brawn,” but human society’s becoming “less reactively aggressive and more cooperative... reduced selection for being big and strong.” His illuminating and frequently humorous work will delight fitness mavens and make those pesky workout sessions more rewarding for everyone else.

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If exercise is healthy (so good for you!), why do many people dislike or avoid it? These engaging stories and explanations will revolutionize the way you think about exercising—not to mention sitting, sleeping, sprinting, weight lifting, playing, fighting, walking, jogging, and even dancing.

“Strikes a perfect balance of scholarship, wit, and enthusiasm.” —Bill Bryson, New York Times best-selling author of The Body
• If we are born to walk and run, why do most of us take it easy whenever possible?
• Does running ruin your knees?
• Should we do weights, cardio, or high-intensity training?
• Is sitting really the new smoking?
• Can you lose weight by walking?
• And how do we make sense of the conflicting, anxiety-inducing information about rest, physical activity, and exercise with which we are bombarded?
In this myth-busting book, Daniel Lieberman, professor of human...
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