Why To Exercise Today: Inspiration From Albert Camus

"In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer." — Albert Camus

This is a winter of such discontent it could turn anybody into an existentialist philosopher. But those Sartrean types weren't all gloom and doom — as witness that Camus quote. I thought of it yesterday when I came out into the ice and snow after a good cardio workout. I know, I know, this is a horrible trivialization of deep philosophy. But my body was still revved up from the cardio, and it felt like an engine running at high enough speed to provide extra warmth even when the air was frigid — and extra light even when dusk came early.

I couldn't find anything about existential joy or internal summer on my handy-dandy "101 Reasons to Exercise" poster, but here are a couple of possibilities:

91: Makes your heart a more efficient pump
and
44: Helps you to maintain your resting metabolic rate.