Interesting how many of us feel the need to compensate for our lives of inactivity by paying for a gym membership.

In the past we might just have got up off our arses and become active in our own time, under our own volition…

Indeed, where in the past one might readily have combined exercise with leisure – invigorating morning walk or a couple of hours gardening with the afternoon sun – nowadays it appears recreation and exercise must be taken as totally separate pills.

…We now seem to abide the belief that all physical activity is to be reserved for a gymnasium or other fitness institute, while our recreation time is to be used solely for Netflix and/or chilling…

So when was it that we decided we needed to pay to be active – when did we stumble upon the conclusion that healthy movement was taxing thus work and sloth was fun thus play therefore one must be kept apart from the other?

…Pretty sure this philosophy was instituted around the same time as the release of PS3, or that first X-Box; in fact it must have been a similar era to the production of the very first Smartphone, and gosh, what a wonderful time that was for Internet subscribers – best thing since Broadband made it possible to connect the telephone (landline, people) and the Internet at the same time – so now people could be sure they didn’t miss a moment of life’s wonders…

Is it that we as modern people have so much else to occupy our time that we now need to force ourselves to get out and be active?

…To be fair many of these modern people do appear quite content to miss out on life – with its birds and its trees and its air and such – just not their other life – life inside an electronic box…

Do we actually feel that casual exercising is no longer a worthwhile task so, I mean given the way technological advances have removed from life many of the requirements for physical exertion, the only time we now feel able to raise our heart-rates is when our Smartphone App tells us it’s time to hit the gym?

…The physicality of most jobs has been replaced or at least eased by technology, and most people seem to have made the effort to render their home lives similarly inactive – what with all their time-consuming devices that require only a firm grasp and comfortable chair – leaving that weekend saunter through the shopping mall as the only potential exercise a youthful body might enjoy…

Or is it that this modern age of cotton-wool-schooling along with the next few years of a terribly sheltered early adulthood thanks to our Government ensuring that today’s youth can be as disorganised, as unprepared, as irresponsible, as immature and as indolent as they choose and still be afforded a promising start on life – along with the inability to commit to anything unless they are told step by step exactly how to go about it, coupled with the refusal to exhibit towards any potential safety issue even the most basic display of common sense, believing instead that regardless of how much they were asking for it modern people ought to be protected from any of life’s hazards, perils and ills, thus from their own stupidity – has left us with such a low supply of willpower that we simply can no longer compel ourselves to embark on anything the least bit trying?

… Alas even purposeful walking has been substituted for preoccupied – head down, immersed in the computer in our hands – dawdling…

Some of us pay someone to mow our lawns because we don’t have time; we then pay to go to the gym and walk on a treadmill. Some of us pay to put our car through the carwash because we can’t be bothered; we then pay to go to the gym for Zumba classes. Some of us talk ourselves out of going for a late-afternoon bike ride around the block; we then pay to go to the gym and ride the exercycle. Some of us pay to have our trees pruned because it’s too hard; we then pay to go to the gym and lift weights. Some of us pay someone to shop for our groceries to save time; we pay for a gym membership then pay to watch television.

…Seems paying to be active is a trend that might be trending for some time then.

Article by Tim Walker

Edited by Indie Lint

Photography by Yung Pearson