Poll of the Day > C/D fitness is the ultimate status symbol

(+) Yeah! (+)

"Status symbols" are for shallow morons, so who gives a shit really

Idiot_Savant posted...

"Status symbols" are for shallow morons, so who gives a shit really

Weird how you mostly only hear that kind of talk from people who don't have any status symbols. It almost sounds like bitter jealousy.

Weird.

ItIsSoOver posted...

Weird how you mostly only hear that kind of talk from people who don't have any status symbols. It almost sounds like bitter jealousy.

It's very rare for anyone to have no status symbols at all, given that pretty much anything visible is a status symbol in some regard. It is, however, very common for people who don't care about status symbols to put no particular effort into acquiring them, so you've got a bit of a chicken-and-egg thing going on there. Automatically ascribing that apathy to jealousy just seems like you're insecurely trying to justify your own obsession.

ItIsSoOver posted...

You can't buy a fit body

You can, however, buy (or steal) quite a lot of things that can make it easier to get into and maintain good physical shape. Gym memberships, workout equipment, clothing (running shoes in particular are an inescapable cost, if that's your activity of choice), a healthy diet, supplements, personal trainers, steroids... Even just the simple time/energy requirement has an indirect financial component in that having the spare time and energy to devote to regular exercise relies on having the financial freedom to not have to work too much. Same with the educational resources needed to find and curate workout advice.

That's not to say that somebody who can't afford anything can't get in shape by finding a big rock and lifting that (though even that relies on having spare time/energy, which isn't free), but to act like money isn't an advantage when it comes to fitness is just straight-up dishonest. You may not be able to buy fitness directly, and you'll still have to put some effort into it regardless of how much you spend, but you can absolutely buy shortcuts.

adjl coming in with the facts, as usual

Greenfox111 posted...

adjl coming in with the facts, as usual

While I totally get that some people on this board conflate longwinded posts with smarts, I have adjl muted so I guess I'll never know.

ItIsSoOver posted...

I have adjl muted so I guess I'll never know.

you just can't handle getting truth-bombed :)

A genius admires simplicity, and an idiot admires complexity, what can I say

ItIsSoOver posted...

It almost sounds like bitter jealousy.

Yeah I'm jealous of shallow morons you got me dead to rights

$$$

If you got money you can afford to eat healthy and work out. Starts with money.

teddy241 posted...

$$$

If you got money you can afford to eat healthy and work out. Starts with money.

AFFORD to work out?
Who is charging you to go for a jog?
Who is charging you to do pushups, squats, or sit-ups?
I've seen gym memberships for as low as $10 a month, you dont need to be rich to afford that.
Eating less and eating healthy is barely more expensive than eating more and eating shit

Having money does not magically give a person the dedication required to keep up with a workout routine or healthy diet.

try again

Deny. Gauges are the ultimate status symbol since it shows you don't care that people can see through your earlobes and that they will be forever deformed and disgusting looking.

ItIsSoOver posted...

Having money does not magically give a person the dedication required to keep up with a workout routine or healthy diet.

It does, however, make it easier. The more barriers you can remove, the easier it is to find the motivation/dedication. Again, it's not impossible to exercise without money, but money absolutely makes it easier by enough of a margin that saying "you can't buy fitness" is oversimplified to the point of being wrong.

It also really can't be overstated what a difference it makes to not have to worry about work. If you've got 16 waking hours a day in which the most important thing you've got going on is trolling on GameFAQs, of course you don't have a problem spending 1-2 hours exercising. If you've got 16 waking hours a day in which you need to spend 8 working, 2 commuting, 1 cooking/eating, and 1 doing other household tasks, spending 1-2 of the remaining 4 on exercise very significantly cuts into your trolling time. If you need to spend 12 working, 2 commuting, 1 cooking, and 1 doing other household tasks, fitting in exercise means sacrificing sleep.

ItIsSoOver posted...

A genius admires simplicity, and an idiot admires complexity, what can I say

Nothing I'm saying is particularly complex. Just well-explained, for those who need more clarification or justification than the thesis statement that starts each paragraph. If you don't need clarification or justification, you can pretty safely skip the remainder of each paragraph. If you do need it, you shouldn't complain about having it provided to you.

ItIsSoOver posted...

You have to work to get it, and you have to work to maintain it.

I mean, that depends heavily on your genetics.

Like, I was lucky enough to be naturally very fit. I was always slim growing up, despite having an atrocious diet, I could run faster than ~80% of people in my class despite not having any hobbies that emphasized run speed, and when I started lifting weights as a teen I put on muscle pretty quickly. I would be lying if I said I "worked" for a fit body; I just got a good pull on the genetics lottery.

I also don't find it particularly difficult to stay fit these days. Granted, I'm a dedicated martial artist and I train a solid five nights a week, but not all of that training is geared towards physical fitness. I've seen people who put way more work into physical fitness than myself and wound up with way less to show for it. Genetics sucks sometimes.

Never seen fitness as a status symbol, though. Maybe that's the circles that I run in. Honestly, most of the time I find those who hyper-fixate on fitness as a status symbol to usually be masking some pretty deep insecurities.

darkknight109 posted...

Honestly, most of the time I find those who hyper-fixate on fitness as a status symbol to usually be masking some pretty deep insecurities.

I highly doubt TC has any deep seeded insecurities. They seem pretty well grounded and in touch with reality.

It's very rare for anyone to have no status symbols at all, given that pretty much anything visible is a status symbol in some regard. It is, however, very common for people who don't care about status symbols to put no particular effort into acquiring them, so you've got a bit of a chicken-and-egg thing going on there. Automatically ascribing that apathy to jealousy just seems like you're insecurely trying to justify your own obsession.

You can, however, buy (or steal) quite a lot of things that can make it easier to get into and maintain good physical shape. Gym memberships, workout equipment, clothing (running shoes in particular are an inescapable cost, if that's your activity of choice), a healthy diet, supplements, personal trainers, steroids... Even just the simple time/energy requirement has an indirect financial component in that having the spare time and energy to devote to regular exercise relies on having the financial freedom to not have to work too much. Same with the educational resources needed to find and curate workout advice.

That's not to say that somebody who can't afford anything can't get in shape by finding a big rock and lifting that (though even that relies on having spare time/energy, which isn't free), but to act like money isn't an advantage when it comes to fitness is just straight-up dishonest. You may not be able to buy fitness directly, and you'll still have to put some effort into it regardless of how much you spend, but you can absolutely buy shortcuts.

Solid response from this poster.

darkknight109 posted...

I mean, that depends heavily on your genetics.

This whole post is good, too.

darkknight109 posted...

I mean, that depends heavily on your genetics.

This is also true. I'm in the same boat as you: I put very little effort into maintaining my physical fitness (I eat pretty well and either walk or bike to work when I go in, but I rarely go into the office and am largely sedantary otherwise), but I remain a stable, healthy weight and as strong as I feel I need to be. Meanwhile, my long-time friend who's been twice my weight for pretty much our entire lives has had several periods where he's put serious effort into exercising that weight off, but hasn't accomplished enough with those efforts to keep his motivation up. I'm not doing anything special to "earn" my physique, I just got lucky with genetics.

marthalies posted...

I highly doubt TC has any deep seeded insecurities. They seem pretty well grounded and in touch with reality.

I'm pretty sure I could count on one hand the number of posts she's made that haven't either been seeking validation or insulting others for the sake of feeling better about herself. Virtually the entire personality she presents to us is one of insecure vanity, and it's kind of sad.

adjl posted...

I'm pretty sure I could count on one hand the number of posts she's made that haven't either been seeking validation or insulting others for the sake of feeling better about herself. Virtually the entire personality she presents to us is one of insecure vanity, and it's kind of sad.

My post was dripping with sarcasm.

Well then carry on.

marthalies posted...

My post was dripping with sarcasm.

It wasn't.

One of my nicknames at work is Hercules and the last time I saw in the inside of a gym was my high school senior year. It also helps that all the jobs I've had in the last 8 years have been very physically demanding.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


classic schmen!

speedpunk posted...

It wasn't.

Eh, I'll trust that he was trying to be sarcastic. It didn't come across very well, but if he says it was supposed to be sarcastic, I see no reason to belabour the point. Textual sarcasm is an art form that many have not mastered. I'm not going to hold a failure in that regard against him.

BDE

adjl posted...

Eh, I'll trust that he was trying to be sarcastic. It didn't come across very well, but if he says it was supposed to be sarcastic, I see no reason to belabour the point. Textual sarcasm is an art form that many have not mastered. I'm not going to hold a failure in that regard against him.

Anyone who has been paying attention to TC and noticed how they interact with others, including myself, should be able to tell how "tongue in cheek" my post was.

marthalies posted...

Anyone who has been paying attention to TC and noticed how they interact with others, including myself, should be able to tell how "tongue in cheek" my post was.

I'm not reading every post of every topic. This site is a bit of a circus, so if someone's acting like a clown, I'm gonna assume clown. Regulars might know but most won't.

/s is great for sarcasm imo.

marthalies posted...

Anyone who has been paying attention to TC and noticed how they interact with others, including myself, should be able to tell how "tongue in cheek" my post was.

It was easy to tell that it was not a true statement. It was less easy to tell whether or not you were aware of that.

Genes do play a role in it, in not saying everyone can't get in better shape but a guy like Gronk might have an easier time than most guys

I'd argue that literally the only people who consider "fitness" to be a status symbol are people who've wasted way too much of their lives focused on fitness.

I don't think the average person gives a shit compared to all the actual status symbols people aspire to and admire.

Though from your post, I'm not sure you know what a "status symbol" actually is in the first place.



ItIsSoOver posted...

You can't buy a fit body

You absolutely can.

It's one of the reasons why you can see incredible improvements in physique in cases where an actor (who can afford a personal chef, a personal trainer, and who have a direct financial interest in maintaining a physique) is tapped for a specific movie that requires a specific body type (see also Chris Pratt, Christian Bale, etc). It's almost entirely fueled by money.

Money gives incredible advantages for fitness, by both allowing for positive improvements (having the money to afford high-level training, facilities, supplements, food, and food prep) as well as eliminating negative impediments (not working full-time to support yourself allows for more time to exercise). Not to mention even more indirect effects (people who can afford better health care are generally less likely to suffer setbacks that impede exercise, people with less financial stress will be healthier in general, etc).

You can't buy a better body in the sense that you can just pay and have someone drop a new body off for you (though if the transhumanists get their way, that might be possible eventually), but your level of wealth absolutely plays a huge role in your ability to maintain a healthy physique and how much effort you have to put into it.

It's one of the things a lot of people complain about when it comes to the Olympics - American athletes tend to train with state of the art tech and perfect nutritional plans to maximize their potential, but poorer nations that can't afford those things are inherently fighting a much worse uphill battle just to be on parity. The playing field is anything but level (even if poorer nations can occasionally produce competitive paragons).

Idiot_Savant posted...

"Status symbols" are for shallow morons, so who gives a shit really

Agreed so the TC gets the D....

marthalies posted...

One of my nicknames at work is Hercules and the last time I saw in the inside of a gym was my high school senior year. It also helps that all the jobs I've had in the last 8 years have been very physically demanding.

This is a sunny alt right? Cus if so...

ItIsSoOver posted...

Weird how you mostly only hear that kind of talk from people who don't have any status symbols. It almost sounds like bitter jealousy.

Weird.

Funniest poster here by far.

Fitness whole pizza in my mouth lmao

wwinterj25 posted...

This is a sunny alt right? Cus if so...

I could carry you out of a burning building.

marthalies posted...

I could carry you out of a burning building.

I expect that's going to depend on a very significant number of factors that are entirely out of your control.

If you care about status, money is easily the biggest symbol. It literally runs the world.

PMarth2002 posted...

If you care about status, money is easily the biggest symbol. It literally runs the world.

Brute force > money

Money means nothing if someone too powerful for you to stop takes it all

No, because the poors can have it. In fact, a lot of poors do have it and some of their poorness comes from wasting time working out.

If most people can have something AND everybody can have it at the same time, it's not much of a status symbol.

To me, personality is the ultimate status symbol. Sorry, but I take personality and justice served very seriously. If anyone has a bad personality (mean, rude, arrogant, narrow-minded, deceitful, improper, irresponsible, etc.), they go on my list of hatred.

money is the ultimate status symbol because money is power

Muscles posted...

Brute force > money

Money means nothing if someone too powerful for you to stop takes it all

you need money to have brute force

Carl Weathers, ultimate male status symbol, has just passed away

lmfao who is this guy

FatalAccident posted...

lmfao who is this guy

It's goofy, old Schmen

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/573081-hellhole/80682326

Muscles posted...

Brute force > money

Money means nothing if someone too powerful for you to stop takes it all

Money can buy you brute force.

Count_Drachma posted...

If most people can have something AND everybody can have it at the same time, it's not much of a status symbol.

That too. All of this "you can't buy/steal/be given fitness" rambling actually demonstrates why fitness is a very poor status symbol: It doesn't actually indicate anything about any status other than itself. As the name suggests, status symbolize symbolize status. Seeing somebody display one allows you to make inferences about various aspects of their status (usually socioeconomic, the way the term is typically used). In the case of fitness, though, the only thing you can infer from seeing a physically fit person is "that person is physically active," which makes it quite useless as a status symbol in the broader sense (and therefore very much not "the ultimate one").

Muscles posted...

Brute force > money

Money means nothing if someone too powerful for you to stop takes it all

There is no one in the world who has sufficient brute force to straight-up take money who isn't already loaded. Those two go hand in hand.

Kind of hard to rally people to fight for your cause if you can't pay them.

marthalies posted...

I could carry you out of a burning building.

Buy me dinner first shesh...

Its much, much easier to have a healthy lifestyle if you have time and money to spare.