Exercised cover art

Exercised

Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding

Preview

Audible Standard 1-month free trial

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo + applicable tax after 30-day trial. Cancel Anytime
Try for $0.00
More purchase options
Buy Now for $28.19

Buy Now for $28.19

About this listen

If exercise is healthy (so good for you!), why do many people dislike or avoid it? These engaging stories and explanations will revolutionize the way you think about exercising—not to mention sitting, sleeping, sprinting, weight lifting, playing, fighting, walking, jogging, and even dancing.

“Strikes a perfect balance of scholarship, wit, and enthusiasm.” —Bill Bryson, New York Times best-selling author of The Body

• If we are born to walk and run, why do most of us take it easy whenever possible?
• Does running ruin your knees?
• Should we do weights, cardio, or high-intensity training?
• Is sitting really the new smoking?
• Can you lose weight by walking?
• And how do we make sense of the conflicting, anxiety-inducing information about rest, physical activity, and exercise with which we are bombarded?

In this myth-busting book, Daniel Lieberman, professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and a pioneering researcher on the evolution of human physical activity, tells the story of how we never evolved to exercise—to do voluntary physical activity for the sake of health. Using his own research and experiences throughout the world, Lieberman recounts without jargon how and why humans evolved to walk, run, dig, and do other necessary and rewarding physical activities while avoiding needless exertion.

Exercised is entertaining and enlightening but also constructive. As our increasingly sedentary lifestyles have contributed to skyrocketing rates of obesity and diseases such as diabetes, Lieberman audaciously argues that to become more active we need to do more than medicalize and commodify exercise.

Drawing on insights from evolutionary biology and anthropology, Lieberman suggests how we can make exercise more enjoyable, rather than shaming and blaming people for avoiding it. He also tackles the question of whether you can exercise too much, even as he explains why exercise can reduce our vulnerability to the diseases mostly likely to make us sick and kill us.
Biological Sciences Diets, Nutrition & Healthy Eating Fitness, Diet & Nutrition Science Physical Exercise Health Nutrition Exercise Science
All stars
Most Relevant
Whether you’re interested in exercise or not, this is such an interesting book. One of the few books I will read again!!’ 👏

Great book!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

very comphrehenaive and well rounded book. Daniel Lieberman did a great job promoting the benefits of physical activity. Still, i think the positive effects of having more muscle mass as well as regular resistance training was definitely under emphasized.

well done

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Excellent account of exercise from an anthropological and scientific perspective. This book was non-blaming and motivating.

Informative and Entertaining

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Just like his other two books, this book was also entertaining and informative. Because of his knowledge about human evolution he is able to provide evolutionary evidence.I recommend his other two books as well.

I am in my 20s and I consider exercise as a long term investment to my health and my future children’s health. In fact, I owe it to my older self. It got me out of depression and restored my self esteem.

Things I am going to change going forward after reading the book:
I got an exercise ball as office chair.
I intend to reduce heavy lifting and focus more on cardio.

To the author, i have read all three of your books. Next topic to consider is change in our diet.



Reinforces the message why we should exercise

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Highly recommend this book. Explains so much of human behavior especially regarding physical exercise.

An edifying and fascinating read.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

See more reviews