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There's few other negative responses to your comment, but there's plenty of research linking physical fitness with mental improvement. I recently went from morbidly obese to quite fit and even as a younger person I noticed a significant improvement in my cognitive abilities. I'm just less tired, less foggy, able to think for longer periods of time with less fatigue. It's been quite a nice side benefit.

Of course some people are unable to remain fit, but many more simply choose not to prioritize it. I suspect it the vitality you demonstrate helps sell your "brand", and also just helps you to be better than you would be otherwise.

Yeah it helps to get hired, HR likes it, but the team hates you because they think you are a goody two-shoes who is ruining the party by turning down donuts and beer, and making people feel bad about being unfit.

The average IT office is really not a sporty place, and people also really don't like if you dress well either. It makes people feel threatened and annoyed.

What people like is for you to be a partner in crime in neglecting your health, having no self control, making self deprecating jokes and join them in unhealthy activities so they can feel less responsible for it.

People save their best self for free time and social life, where it actually scores some points, and show their less positive side in the workplace, and that's a bit of an unspoken rule that you're supposed to really relax at work.

I don't know where you work/worked, but those were some seriously messed up places.

I have never encountered such ridiculous jealousy in an American workplace. If anything, I feel like people end up assuming a person is more athletic than they really are, leading to some funny conversations and questions.

> Personally, I think this gives me a giant advantage in my age cohort where most men waddle around like they are 11 months pregnant and you can hear their breathing from 60 feet away. I hear a lot of guys in this category counting down the days till retirement.

I guess I'd want to know where you live. Weight has turned into something of a class marker in the modern US.

I am 66, I could stand to lose maybe ten pounds, but am not overweight on the BMI scale. I run on the weekend, walk then and otherwise a fair bit. Most of the men in my neighborhood that I suppose to be of roughly my age seem to be in fair condition.

I’m also a photographer, though I’m in my 30s. I frequently run in to other local photographers at a nearby state park. One in particular is so overweight she can’t crouch down, so she just uses live view and holds the camera as low as she can.

I’ve seen another do basically an entire session in the parking lot on a beautiful fall day. It was clear she wouldn’t be up for going on even a mild hike to the prettier locations.

I stay in shape with a standing desk snd walking treadmill. Editing photos isn’t exactly mentally taxing so it’s pretty damned easy to do.

Personally, I think this gives me a giant advantage in my age cohort where most men waddle around like they are 11 months pregnant and you can hear their breathing from 60 feet away.

Of course you do. We all tend to think that we're living the right way (obviously, else we'd change). It's not really possible to evaluate whether you are actually living the right way by looking at things from your own reference frame though.

For what it's worth, I'm a bit overweight, I don't exercise much, and yet I don't seem to have trouble finding a job. In my current role I've never met anyone in the company I work for except over video calls. They have no idea what my level of fitness is, or how fat I am, or even how tall I am. Maybe I'd be better off if I went for a run more than three times a year, but I'm unlikely to ever find out.

You can easily tell a person’s fitness level just from face

>Of course you do. We all tend to think that we're living the right way (obviously, else we'd change).//

Do you think so? I'd imagine most people are like me and echo St Paul's position of (paraphrasing) "I do what I wish I didn't and don't do what I wish I did".

I guess you're able to always summon the motivation to make for any activity you wish, but I suspect that is very rare.

There are plenty of studies showing overweight people are discriminated against.

> Personally, I think this gives me a giant advantage in my age cohort where most men waddle around like they are 11 months pregnant and you can hear their breathing from 60 feet away. I hear a lot of guys in this category counting down the days till retirement.

Thanks to remote work. I have switched few jobs during covid. WFH interviews are awesome.

You don’t need to spend a lot of time working out. I highly recommend reading “Body by Science”. It is a big eye opener.

This is awesome! Haha

what is the difference between fitness training and exercise?

Exercising is doing physical exercise for the sake of it (health). Training involves planification to reach an objective: some personal record, a competition or aesthetic.

I find this attitude to be enormously, fatuously ableist. "We have control over fitness" except when we don't.

Many people live with restrictive medical conditions that limit or prevent any level of "hard" exercise. Those conditions are certainly not of their choosing, and the underlying implication that those people are "guilty" of a lack of "discipline and intellect" is offensive and deprecating. The unfortunate fact is that such conditions become increasingly likely as we all age, becoming a near certainty for most people as they approach and pass 60.

That the parent commenter has evidently managed to avoid (thus far) that sort of misfortune is wonderful for them. But it shouldn't be used to demean or belittle those who have not enjoyed that good fortune.

Many people do have conditions that restrict their ability to exercise and stay fit. However, in the US, the vast majority of people in poor physical shape have no such condition except for those caused by being overweight in the first place.

He's saying to exercise and eat healthy. He's not saying run a marathon every month.

Where did they demean those that weren’t able to stay fit? Not only does that seem like a small subset of people, but they’re obviously not the target of GP’s comment.

I see your comment as doing way more assuming. You’re policing the most basic health advice on account that it might not apply to everyone. Obviously.

I think it's fair to assume that gp meant "control over fitness" .. within physical capabilities.

The ability of a person (regardless of age) to manage their physiological or psychological limitations, against their capacity to do good or great things, is demonstrative of their ability to handle more complex situations in an executive or creative context, and is capably reflected in their demeanor on both video and audio interview calls. I'm willing to be convinced otherwise.

Out of all of the 60-70 year olds I know, I can’t think of one that has a condition that prevents them from exercising.

Also, the fact that you’re typing is ableist - think of the poor people without fingers that are also mute so they can’t use text to speech.

If we can’t talk in generalities then we can’t talk at all.