Working at Harvard is a guarantee, going out at Harvard is likely, but “working out” and “Harvard” almost don’t sound right together.
On this campus, exercise— if we exercise at all—typically only occurs in extremes. There are athletes who devote so much time to their sports that they travel days at a time and forgo other extracurriculars, and law school students who use the elliptical as they read law cases, each task with a measured intensity that I frankly don’t think I’d be able to devote to either task, much less both at the same time.
Then there are the rest of us, the undergraduate NARPs: non-athlete regular people, a term I can tolerate because it reminds me of the concept of muggles, which makes me think of Harry Potter which is of course never a bad thing. For us NARPs, there is often a flurry of gym activity at the beginning of the year. We claim that this year we will go to the gym every day at seven. The throwaway line “We should grab a meal sometime!” is briefly replaced by “We should work out together sometime!” directed at anyone who claims that they are getting in shape this year, training for a race, or looking for a work out buddy. Flyers with classes offered at the MAC are hung on walls, and maybe even a few are attended. But quickly, as everyday demands begin, we use psets and papers as an excuse for not exercising. We deny ourselves something that could actually better the humdrum of school life, but it doesn’t feel that way. In fact, skipping exercise feels like a reward.
Why do we stop exercising? Or, perhaps the better question is this: What about Harvard promotes a culture where working out is not something to be sought after for the sake of relaxation, but instead yet another goal to be achieved?
Harvard’s Bureau of Study Counsel offers a list of relaxing and stress-reducing activities on their website, which suggests “Exercise moderately (to experience strength, release, pleasure, or challenge, but not to lose weight or perfect my body)”. Whoever wrote this tip clearly understands work out culture at Harvard. The reason that working out at Harvard is experienced very intensely, or regarded as a new school year’s resolution that quickly falls by the wayside is that exercise is seen as a means to an end. Like we do for our Harvard comps, we work furiously, then either give up or make the choice to invest more time in the activity because we feel that we will get something out of it. And like comps, there is nothing particularly wrong or bad about the ends that exercise might allow us to achieve. However, if the ends are the only thing that keep us working out, we are likely to quit in favor of other demands on our time, energy, and motivation.
Many Harvard students played sports in high school. When my friends mention the sport they used to play, there is an initial satisfaction (“Oh, yes, you do look like a soccer player”) followed by dissatisfaction caused by the reminder that none of us really exercise anymore. In high school, we played sports because in the short term we enjoyed the release and the fun, but also, ultimately, because of the balance they brought us. However, I’m not simply feeling nostalgic for high school sports (actually I’m not quite sure how I ran during summer afternoons in Texas and don’t want to do that again anytime soon). Rather, I think our pre-Harvard work out styles can and should be applied here. Running and intramurals and yoga and biking and going to classes at the gym can and should be regarded not simply as another daily to-do or accomplishment, but as rewarding recreational activity.