Thomas Jefferson on the Value of Exercise

Right now I’m in the midst of studying for comprehensive exams for my master of English degree. As you can imagine, this involves plenty of reading, note-taking, and reflection. The semester will be one long mental workout, in a way. But it is important to me, critical, that I keep up with my physical exercise. Once a week, the weight room at my university is a refuge I cherish. Every other day or so, I walk around my neighborhood, in the park or along the lake. I have a handful of workout DVDs I rotate through. And so on.

There are those who exercise more than me and keep their lives in better order, but I still want to add my voice and example to the view many have expressed before about the value of mind-body balance. I am surrounded in my current situation by academic types: professors, graduate students, researchers, librarians, and administrators. Some of them maintain exercise routines, but there is a contrary mindset shared by others in academia that dismisses or even scorns such practices. This attitude elevates mental achievements above physical ones. “People with an average IQ can worry about their resting heart rate. I have more important lines of inquiry to pursue.”

Thomas Jefferson may be the ideal role model for someone like me, trying to find balance between the life of the mind and a physical vitality, and seeking reassurance that a true scholar can attend to both. Among other roles, Jefferson is famous as a statesman, writer, and bibliophile. In 1815, he wrote to John Adams, “I cannot live without books,” and indeed he read and collected a prodigious amount of books in his lifetime.¹

Yet by no means did Jefferson care only for books, reading, and writing. In some of his letters, he linked physical and mental health:

"If the body be feeble, the mind will not be strong. The sovereign invigorator of the body is exercise, and of all the exercises walking is best.” (1786 letter to Thomas Mann Randolph)

“Give about two [hours] every day to exercise; for health must not be sacrificed to learning. A strong body makes the mind strong." (1789 letter to Peter Carr)

 

Sculpture by Donald De Lue; Image source covertress.blogspot.com

In another, he actually placed the physical health gained through exercise above academic achievements:

"...leaving all the afternoon for exercise and recreation, which are as necessary as reading; I will rather say more necessary, because health is worth more than learning." (1790 letter to John Garland Jefferson)

Scholars disinclined to exercise might argue that as long as they are in basically good physical health, it doesn’t matter if they exercise or not. Or they might argue that physical health is worth sacrificing for the advancement of knowledge. To either argument, I take Jefferson’s position that regular exercise is very likely, if not quite guaranteed, to produce better academic work.² Even were this not the case, walking in the shadows of trees, stretching fingertips to toes, picking up heavy objects, and all manner of like things are valuable just for what they are and how they make the body feel.  

1. All quotations are from monticello.org.

2. For scientific support, one place to start is the website of John Ratey, author of Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain.

 

The Value of Weightlifting Journals

A recent daily email from the Writer’s Almanac reminded me of the great diarist Samuel Pepys, who began his diary on January 1, 1660, and kept it going for almost 10 years.¹ Today we value Pepys’ observations as a “delightfully detailed portrait of Restoration English,” as the Almanac put it—not only those describing historically significant events, but also those describing the daily experiences of Pepys himself. In his first entry, for instance, he writes, “Dined at home in the garret, where my wife dressed the remains of a turkey, and in the doing of it she burned her hand.” Hardly the stuff of legend, and yet taken together such tidbits form a fascinating window into the life of an individual dead for over three hundred years.

Like Pepys, I keep a consistent journal, though I limit its scope to weightlifting. Every time I lift weights, I record the type of exercise, the amount of weight involved, and the number of repetitions I do. I am now on my third journal, having started with a sparkly pink one in September 2004, moved to a plain black one in June 2008, and begun my current purple and gray plaid one in September 2012.

The value of a weightlifting journal, I have come to learn, extends beyond simple record-keeping. Of course referring to my previous entries helps me decide what weight to use on a given exercise and how many reps to shoot for, and were that its only function it would be worth toting around the gym and keeping carefully updated. But a weightlifting journal serves more functions than this. In different ways, it is a teacher, companion, and ally.  

Recent entries in my weightlifting journal

One great benefit of my journals is that they are tangible, detailed reminders of how far I’ve come since I first started lifting weights as a college undergraduate. Pull-ups have always been one of my most important targets at the gym, and my journals are records of how persistent I have been when it comes to this difficult exercise. I finally achieved my first pull-up on January 9, 2006—nearly two years after beginning the Weight Training for Women class that started it all—and wasn’t consistently doing two pull-ups until February 2008. Now I usually do six to seven, occasionally dipping down to five or rising up to eight and a half. Yes, in this pursuit I can confidently say I have shown persistence. It’s right there on the page. And it’s not just pull-ups—I have hundreds of pages proving I went to the gym week after week, sometimes when I would have much rather been doing something else.  

Another benefit of journaling is the opportunity to write sporadic remarks venting frustration or sharing pleasant thoughts with my future self. On November 2, 2005, I was apparently exasperated enough by my squat sets to note, “I hate these!” A few times I have jotted down “Yes!” next to a feat of strength and determination. Smiley faces are slightly more frequent, though still uncommon (most days have no descriptive comments or doodles at all), and the occasional workout prompts a frowny face or “Ow!” Looking back at these remarks weeks, months, and years later is an amusing and every so often poignant activity.

I would love to get comments on these thoughts from any readers who keep their own weightlifting journals. For any weightlifters reading this who don’t journal, I advise you to start. You’ll be glad you did. For readers who don’t lift weights or do similar strength training routines, I hope the ancillary but meaningful gains you would experience from keeping a journal can help convince you to start.

1. London-based web designer Phil Gyford has put the entire text of Pepys’ diary on www.pepysdiary.com.

Dig Well, Carry Water: Exercise as Survival Strategy

There are many reasons to exercise: cardiovascular health, pride in your personal appearance, treating depression, weight loss, endorphin highs, enjoyment, and more. Since I began studying the global water crisis, I can’t help but think that this looming catastrophe deserves a place on the list as well.

Though the causes and solutions are complex, the core problem is simple: our planet is running out of fresh water. Before explaining how this might relate to exercise, let me summarize the situation.

When I turn on the tap, clean water comes out. It’s straightforward. Dependable. In fact, this has never not happened for me, apart from the rare power outage-related event. No doubt the same is true for most of my readers. Yet depending on how humanity addresses the global water crisis in the next few years, potable water may become an increasingly precious resource in nearly every part of the globe. In 2010, water activist Maude Barlow stated, “By 2030, global demand for water will exceed supply by 40%—an astounding figure foretelling of terrible suffering.”¹ She described the crisis as “the greatest ecological and human threat humanity has ever faced.”

Maude Barlow

Source: http://www.georgiancollege.ca

Pollution, unsustainable groundwater withdrawals, and forest and wetland destruction have all contributed to the global water crisis.² Preventing the further diminishing of our water supply is also a multifaceted issue, and an urgent one for everyone who relies on water—that is, the entire world.

But here I want to examine how the water crisis relates to physical fitness. As potable water decreases in availability, it will require more and more energy to obtain. In many parts of the world, people already have to go to extreme lengths to get water. Often, due to a lack of technology and infrastructure, these extreme lengths involve what more privileged people regard as exercise. 

Source: http://maynardsonmission.blogspot.com/2011/06/

howfar-awarded-water-grant.html

I am not arguing that everyone needs to get in shape right now because our water supplies will undergo drastic change in the next few months. What I am suggesting is that exercise may prove to be a survival tactic in coming years. Chances are exceptionally small that any of us will go from getting water from the tap one day to hauling buckets of water over several miles the next. Yet considering all the other crises our planet could face—nuclear war, pandemics, rising sea levels, a global food shortage, natural disasters of enormous scope—water supply chains, among other things we rely on to survive, could change suddenly and rapidly.

In addition to securing water for yourself, in the event of such changes, perhaps you will need to provide for loved ones—elderly parents, young children, or family members with physical limitations. Or perhaps you are already in one of these categories and will need someone to provide for you. Do you have a caregiver who should be taking more steps to be physically fit? If so, what action is appropriate for you, the receiver of care, to take in order to make this happen? These are not easy questions.

Maude Barlow, a tireless advocate for water justice and activism, has said that “the hard work of those fighting environmental destruction and injustice must continue.”³ Whether or not you feel called to help prevent the global water crisis, it is worth asking yourself these questions:

• Could I carry water over long distances? (Water weighs about eight and a third pounds per gallon. It’s heavy.)
• Could I dig a well? 
• Could I install and maintain rainwater collection and storage devices?
• Could I chop or saw ice into blocks?
• Could I carry blocks of ice over long distances?
• Could I water fields of crops without machinery?

If your answers are no or maybe, then perhaps you’ve found some new motivation for getting in shape.

1. Maude Barlow, “Our Commons Future is Already Here,” On the Commons, Oct. 19, 2010, accessed Nov. 15, 2012, http://onthecommons.org/our-commons-future-already-here.

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.