Ryan Holiday

He says you can be immoderate even when it comes to exercise, just as you can be when it comes to eating and drinking and other sort of primal functions.

He said, this stuff should be incidental to our main pursuit.

The main strength, the main place to apply ourselves is to our reason.

And Seneca said that when it comes to exercises, it should be short and simple.

It should tire the body rapidly.

It shouldn't take up the main chunk of our day because that time is better spent on other things.

He says, whatever you do, come back quickly from body to mind.

And Epictetus ultimately makes the best point when it comes to this.

He says, don't show me the weights.

Don't show me your exercises.

He says, show me your shoulders.

And by that, he doesn't mean show me how good your shoulders look.

He's saying, show me what your shoulders can do.

He's like, how much weight can they carry in the world?

Again, getting really strong, being able to set some record in the gym, unless that's your job, it's meaningless, right?

What matters is can you bear the weight of life?

Can you bear the weight of your responsibilities?

Can you be a contributing member of society?

The idea is get some upper body strength so you can throw your kids around and so you can shovel your neighbor's walk.

Develop some endurance so you can endure what life requires.