Exercised
Daniel E. Lieberman · 2020
Exercised (2020) is a book by Daniel E. Lieberman on Exercise science / evolution. Lieberman's evolutionary case that we never evolved to "exercise", voluntary activity for health, yet in a sedentary world it's now essential. Myth-busting biology that replaces shame with understanding.
A Harvard evolutionary biologist dismantles gym guilt by proving your urge to skip the workout is ancient wisdom, and why you should override it anyway.
Two of the ideas you’ll keep
The Clif summary of Exercised pulls out 7 insights. Here are the first two.
- The book's load-bearing distinction: **physical activity** (any movement, obligatory for ancestors) is not **exercise** (voluntary, discretionary, planned activity for health), a purely modern invention. The thesis is narrow: we never evolved to exercise, not that we never evolved to move.
- The **importance of being lazy**, avoiding unnecessary exertion was adaptive because scarce surplus energy went to survival and reproduction. Your instinct to rest is an evolved response, not a moral failing.
The other 5 — and the full 11-minute summary — are in the app.
What’s inside: 8 chapters
The whole summary runs about 11 minutes, read or listened to.
- Are We Born to Rest or Run?
- The Importance of Being Lazy
- Sitting: Is It the New Smoking?
- Speed, Strength, and the Scrawny Ape
- Walking: All in a Day's Work
- Running and Dancing: Born for Endurance
- The Active Grandparent and Costly Repair
- Making Exercise Happen: Dose and Disease
Finish Exercised tonight.
Read or listen to the full summary in about 11 minutes, then keep the ideas with a minute of review a day. Start with the 2-minute quiz — no card required.
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