Just kind of a random question I’ve had floating around in my head: should we be working out?
Like, naturally comrades who are disabled/food insecure/otherwise not able to consistently exercise shouldn’t feel required to do so, and should instead only do so if it is healthy for them and plausible for their current situation. However, those of us who are largely capable of undertaking consistent diet and exercise, I kind of have the question of whether we should be obligated to? The day the revolution comes, there will be many fascists who are in prime physical condition to actually fight a war due to the pervasive nature of gym culture and machismo patriarchy. Should we not do what we can to prepare in kind?
I understand that this isn’t Vietnam anymore, and most warfare (at least on the side of the bourgeoisie) will likely be done with drones against human targets. See NATO v. Russia in Ukraine and the genocide in Palestine to understand more of what modern warfare will look like, but I digress. When it comes time for us to pick up arms and storm capital buildings, how will our fighting force survive if the many of us aren’t physically capable of sprinting more than a short distance, dropping and rolling quickly, digging ditches, or scaling fences or walls?
This question may be more pointed to certain ‘comfortable’ demographics of the West, because many proletarians do not have the luxury of working soft jobs that do not harden their bodies; or they otherwise require some of these skills to survive. Then I suppose you can even extend the question to: should we start learning survivalist methods like foraging and fireplace building and such? Most of this warfare that will take place will be guerrilla warfare, and historically those have taken place in dense forests and mountains. I suppose there will also be urban warfare to an extent, but regardless clandestine operations of the vanguard party leadership will take place in secret places stored away from society. Even then, urban warfare will require its own host of resources and methods to survive. Is this supposed to be an issue that the vanguard party will solve during organization of the working class?
Someone here once posted, “A fascist worked out today. Did you?”
I’ve never forgotten it.
In a way that same image (not from here, I saw that shit in an anarchist subreddit months ago) is what led me to make this post. I’ve also never forgotten it. Currently I just am struggling with any form of motivation to get back in the gym, as my original motivations were rooted in patriarchal, insecure bourgeois nonsense, and now I struggle to do much except put flab on lol. I suppose this should be the sign to actually do something assisting the revolution, in some small way, and motivate me to do better.
Stay strong comrade 💪
Fuck the gym, start training a martial art.
Get over your ego.
Build practical skills, situational awareness, capabilities and comradeship.
I would love to train a martial art actually. I used to do combat sports way back when, but nowadays martial arts are so cost prohibitive. It’s nearly $200 a month for local martial arts classes in my area, and as a college student with no job I can’t afford that. I wouldn’t feel good putting it on my parent’s dime either, so the only option is my already extant home gym my dad bought many years ago.
Check and see if your college has martial classes through a club. If they do it will be much more affordable.
When I started Shotokan Karate in the early 90s (in Ohio) it was $25 a month through the university. Obviously that was 35 years ago, likely there’s clubs at most colleges still.
Locally (Southern Oregon) there’s schools that are in that $150 - $200 range and I was still able to find an old school kungfu school that is crazily only $45 a month, very family oriented but they have adult classes twice a week.
When I lived in LA (early 2000s) I was paying $150 a month (unlimited classes) at the Inosanto Academy, which even at the time was very worth it. They had classes from 8am to 10pm with two classes going on at a time (downstairs and upstairs) throughout the day covering 8 or 9 different systems, it was amazing. I was studying Jeet Kun Do, Silaat and Escrima in addition to kickboxing.
Don’t let the story you tell yourself get in the way of doing what you want/need to do. Rewrite the script, prioritize your finances, seek and ye shall find.
Good luck, good hunting.
I have to find new routines to adjust to personal material reality. I am kinda looking with one eye while keeping the other on other necessities.
Yes, of course; anyone who is able to exercise should be doing so. Not everyone has to be a soldier, but regardless of politics exercise and fitness is important to stave off disease and injury to live out a full life. I personally want to stay active until I’m 100.
It definitely wouldn’t hurt. I saw in another comment that you would like to do martial arts but cannot because it is expensive. The same can be said for gym: if you haven’t got a few hundred dollars to spare, then it’s basically out of the question unless you find it for extremely cheap.
But you can still do calisthenics at home/at the park and running! This will already make you much more fit than any sedentary person, and you will be ready for when you find a place for martial arts or anything else. I’d reccommend to keep doing that even after you find a place though 😉
Also, if you have a bit of money to spare: a kettlebell, dumbbells, an ab rollerwheel, or any other piece of equipment can already take you very far.
Also, Mao said:
In general, any form of exercise, if pursued continuously, will help train us in perseverance. Long-distance running is particularly good training in perseverance.
This is also a good reason to be working out.
us in the revolution when i accidentally foraged the wrong berries and killed everyone
Trying to determine whether this is the tasty and delicious mushroom of blood pressure regulation and joy or the anus bleeder 9000 of horrific hallucinations and death while the drones are closing in
Mushrooms don’t provide nearly enough calories to ever be worth foraging imo
I’d rather eat roots, young leaf shoots, acorns, beetles, or even risk berries than touch a wild mushroom.
Train in a martial art, walk your dog, grow and forage food, chop wood, help your neighbors, work the land, practice w your gear and firearms. Build community and self-resilience. Train hard. Daily.
Then if you have more time and energy go ahead and work out.
Physical fitness is something you should strive for in every aspect of life. You cannot help others if you can’t help yourself, keep moving. It helps regulate many of your biological processes, it helps recovery from injury, it allows you the physical ability to become independent rather than dependent.
As far as preparing for a revolution? The above is still good advice and while I think as others have mentioned a martial art but in a modern age this only helps so much. Learn how to use firearms and how to apply them in tactical situations. Studying police and military tactics will help here as well. Know how to use weapons like simple knives.
Always learn, do not ever stop! This allows you to become significantly more versatile in your day to day life and you’ll be amazed at what you retain. So, develop new hobbies, learn new fun little facts and investigate the world. As Mao says, if you do not investigate then you do not have a right to speak.
Finally, know your enemy as well as you know yourself.
if you have a genuinely free choice between being in shape and not being in shape there’s no reason not to
I try to stay in shape as much as I can, including healthy eating. The main reason being that I want to be as healthy as possible as I come from a long line of unhealthy living relatives. Also because of reasons you mentioned. My current work out routine is bouldering and some gym work at the boulder hall. I have experience in martial arts but I’m not training right now. Hope I can change that soon.
We should take care of our bodies for health reasons but I think every single one of us would do better dedicating our time to Agitation and Propaganda rather than martial arts or guerrilla survival training. If I am going in to a fight I know I would prefer more bodies over better training.
I was forced to do sports since I can think. After getting independent early this habit never ceased to exist and I continued doing so, actual for no reason. Had to train my body as best as I could. Sadly I managed to damage my knees, but I finally stopped after my job took more and more energy from me. For a while it went well to work and after that train your body.
But I tell you, I started to get so tired from working. Working like a mule the whole day, then doing laundry, cooking, cleaning, buying groceries. I just wanted to relax and do nothing at some point. Sometimes a came home and felt asleep after eating. This shitty ass system is taking your lifeforce and then workers get blamed as lazy, if they are “finished” after work. And I still needed to study for my job and let us not forget politics. This is the shitty thing, if you get to tired to grab a book and read something. With the little time you have after work, everything has to work somehow.
Knowing of experience, if working out won’t work, look at your diet if possible. However being poor limits what you can buy and did I mentioned cooking after work? Reason why convenient food is bought also, because it is so fast. I have the option to buy 1KG Lasagna for 3,99€. It tastes not good, is the opposite of healthy but its 3,99€ (Man, poor animal had to day for this shit). Put it into oven wait. In the meantime you can take shower or whatever. It is tiring. Tiring, tiring, soooo tiring.
If you have no family or friends to support you, shit gets even more bad. I can understand everyone who does not have any motivation under such circumstances. I am always pissed to read from shitlibs how it is a sign of weakness and even bad moral, if you are tired to do anything. People have families to, children will consume more of your time.
I am happy, that I know how to start again, that working is not unknown for me and that I practised boxing as a teenager (Most typical far east-europe thing imho. I admired Valujev).
So, if you can, do it, don’t damage your knees or joints. It will get painful if you age more and more. If you can learn boxing or similar things, do it (I was once told that boxing is reactionary, because it involved violence… Yeah). And at least try to look at your diet. The last is such an effective way to loose weight and make your physical constitution better.
Everything of course only if possible. Some are disabled or disabled etc. So don’t shame yourself or feel bad, if you don’t have the possibility.
No wonder the professional revolutionary is a thing.
