Exercise Is Just for Kids
Posted by Mark Iocchelli Filed Under: Children's Running
I ran across this fascinating 1958 CBC radio clip of a discussion between Byng Whitteker – a radio announcer entrenched in his belief that exercise is only good for children – and fitness advocate Lloyd Percival.
The world has changed a great deal in the past 50 years. In the clip, you get the sense that Lloyd was considered something of a wingnut with Byng being the rational one between them. Today, it’s pretty clear we’d have the opposite view of these gentlemen.
If you listen to the whole clip, you’ll be rewarded with a reference to something that seems ominously similar to the Atkins Diet. I don’t know about you but that seems freaky to me.
I was really impressed with Lloyd’s persistence and depth of knowledge. Listening to him makes me think that fitness wisdom has been around for a long time – the difficult part has always been to get people to hear the message.
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I kind of in favor of this – exercise is just for kids – because of some stories I’ve heard regarding exercise done by older people. For example, there was this man who died from heart attack after jogging for 30minutes in a nearby park. There was also this old man who bought a treadmill and had a severe stroke because he couldn’t go with the speed of a treadmill. Nevertheless, I also think that too much of something is always bad.
Yes, I agree as well, because it is better to die young and miserable than to die (possibly painfully) while working out in your old age after years of health and being happy.
A few years back, a man collapsed and died a few hundred yards from the finish of the Maine Marathon. When he was in his mid-50s, he had a heart attack and had been told that he had to get in shape or that he wouldn’t survive the next one. He averaged a race a week almost every year after that for 15 or 20 years until he died. Do you think that if he hadn’t started running and getting in shape that he would have lived an extra 15 or 20 years?
I love the photo – it is my ambition to be so joyful when I run. Who is it? Mark, she looks like you.
@self: I think the evidence has shown that the benefits of exercise (at any age) far outweigh the very small risks.
@Blaine: Thanks. You’re point is very well made.
@Diane: Yes, it is cute, isn’t it? It’s a young gal who was a participant of a race Aaron (from Team CRN) organized.
THe difference, I think, is that the 1958 clip reflected an era in which kids DID exercise, ‘cept it was just called “playing”. And, a large number of them did pretty strenuous chores.
50 years later, “playing” involves sitting on one’s rump, and physical labor is either not done, done by adults, or outsourced.