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Good morning, fam! May your days be merry and bright, as Friday is the longest day of the year. 🌆 

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🧘 Exercise is all made up

The exercise we know and love (or hate?) today is infantile relative to human history.

Most forms of exercise you may see performed and prescribed today have only been around for a number of decades—not even centuries. So why and how has it become so integrated into modern society? We talk about cardio and resistance training like they’re absolutely mandatory for health. And they are for most of us. But it hasn’t always been this way.

Because when you think about it, for the vast majority of human history, our daily activities were enough to keep us fit and healthy. Think about the things our ancestors were doing even a few generations ago that we have no need for today:

• Walking long distances to fetch water and carrying it back in heavy jugs/barrels

• Hunting for food, either by chasing it down on a long run or using weapons that require physical force

• Climbing, jumping, swinging, crawling, lifting, etc. to harvest food, collect building materials, and more

• Farming—whether animals or crops—with tools, hay bales, etc.

• Playing physical games to entertain ourselves (rather than looking at screens) and dancing/exerting ourselves in rituals, spiritual or secular

Nowadays in the modern world, hardly any of that persists. Most of us sit for most of the day. Even if there’s a decent amount of standing or walking in your job, it’s probably barely above your resting metabolic rate unless you explicitly perform tough physical labor.

If left to our own modern devices, our now-sedentary lifestyles lead to chronic diseases and pain that are the primary killers of our lifetime. Simply put, we consume too much and move too little. And the result is a breakdown of our miraculous bodies that were made to move.

And thus, the necessity for structured physical exercise was born.

We can no longer count on our necessary activities of daily living to keep us in tip-top shape. Simultaneously, an explosion of exercise science in the past ~70 years has led to a revolution in how we understand the myriad benefits of various kinds of movement—even beyond what our ancestors were able to do.

So... where did exercise come from, anyway?

Though humans have always moved, the concept of exercise—purposeful movement to improve health or performance—is surprisingly new.

In ancient civilizations, movement was formalized only in select contexts. The Greeks, obsessed with physical perfection, trained in gymnasiums and competed in the Olympic Games as early as 776 BCE. Hippocrates and later Galen preached about the health benefits of daily movement—but even then, it was mostly for soldiers and athletes. Meanwhile, ancient Indian yogis were practicing physical postures and breathwork, and in China, Tai Chi and Qigong emerged as moving meditations tied to longevity and harmony.

Still, for most people in most places, life was exercise. This continued well into the pre-industrial world.

It wasn’t until the 19th century that modern exercise began to take shape. In Europe, systems of gymnastics emerged—especially in Germany and Sweden—as tools for military readiness, moral development, and national pride. Physical education was introduced in schools. In the U.S., it became a tool for shaping young bodies and minds in the image of discipline and productivity.

Then came the 20th century—and with it, the modern fitness boom. Wartime training emphasized strength and stamina. In the 1950s, researchers like Dr. Kenneth Cooper began to study and promote cardiovascular exercise. In the decades that followed, jogging became a craze, bodybuilding exploded, and the aerobics era (hello, Jane Fonda) turned movement into a pop culture phenomenon.

Today, exercise is a global industry—complete with boutique studios, wearable tech, online coaching, and enough jargon to make your head spin. It’s a far cry from hauling water or chasing deer.

Exercise as we know it today is a modern solution to a modern problem—and one we’re still figuring out, generation by generation. I wonder how our great-grandchildren will exercise in ways we couldn’t imagine right now.

So yes, exercise is made up. But so are chairs, calendars, and coffee breaks—and we still rely on them every day. The trick is to treat movement not as punishment, but as permission. Permission to play, to build, to feel good.

Made up or not, it still works. 💪 

✅ Take Action

Every newsletter's Take Action section will invite you to take small steps to improve your health. Recognizing that we all have different capabilities, I'll offer three different levels of action you can choose to take.

Level 1: Swap one sedentary hobby or activity in your life for something a little more active (like walking around while on the phone).

Level 2: Think about ancient forms of movement and training. What can you incorporate into your training today that you’ve been missing out on?

Level 3: There’s nothing more satisfying that tapping into your full potential. Set a goal many months out from now based on ancient movements (or physique), and put your whole heart into making it happen!

✍️ Drew's Picks:

• Sorry, guys! I actually don’t have anything new for you this week. If you’ve got any cool articles, podcasts, or purchase recommendations, send them my way to feature in a future newsletter!

Have a great rest of your week and Juneteenth tomorrow. Move like you were made for it, cuz you were!

Keep moving,

Drew

The content in Move to Improve is meant to be informative in nature, but it should not be taken as medical advice. It is always a good idea to consult with a trusted health professional before making any major lifestyle changes that could have a significant impact on your health. This is not a medical resource, and any opinions and articles are not intended for use as diagnosis, prevention, and/or treatment of health problems. They are not substitutes for consulting a qualified medical professional. Please think critically and take what I say with a grain of salt (aka don’t sue me).