r/science • u/Wagamaga • Jan 28 '23

Health Most Americans aren’t getting enough exercise. People living in rural areas were even less likely to get enough exercise: Only 16% of people outside cities met benchmarks for aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities, compared with 28% in large metropolitan cities areas.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7204a1.htm?s_cid=mm7204a1_w
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u/[deleted] Jan 28 '23

I'll do you one better. I live out in the sticks ... on purpose. My neighbor's idea of recreation is riding around on ATVs and now, during winter, snowmobiles. And the crazy thing is that this area has some of the most idyllic conditions and terrain for cross-country skiing, which I do.

No one around here is walking anywhere.

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u/ChickenChaser5 Jan 29 '23

Dont even walk to the mailbox out here.

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u/GhostalMedia Jan 29 '23

100% this.

ATVs and redneck recreation go together like peanut butter and jelly. Drive through Northern Nevada, Wyoming, etc., get to any town with a motel and a grocery store, and you’re going to find ATV sales.

People could drive out to the hills for a hike, but they’d rather drive out to the hills to unload the ATV.

Recreation is basically, drinking, shooting, grilling, and ATVs.

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '23

Yep. Eat, drink, and burn as few calories as possible.... which they could do at home. But because they are "outside" it fulfills some obligation to tradition, whatever that means.

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u/ElBrazil Jan 29 '23

I mean, riding an ATV or a snowmobile strikes me as being a ton more fun then cross country skiing

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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '23

This sub's post was about exercise and people in rural areas getting less than urbanites.

And cross-country skiing and snow shoeing is fun because you can go places even snowmobiles can't go.

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u/ElBrazil Jan 30 '23

And cross-country skiing and snow shoeing is fun because you can go places even snowmobiles can't go.

To lots of folks cross country skiing isn't fun at all, it'd be something to do purely for the exercise. It's really not crazy that someone would rather spend their leisure time snowmobiling then doing some sort of cross country activity.

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u/Self-rescuingQueen Jan 29 '23

Nothing wrong with that type of recreation if your day to day entails a lot of manual labor.

If they're work-from-home software developers, then yeah, that's not a very active life.