Inactive People With Injury Problems

My in-laws are fat-ass lazy people who do zero (and I mean zero, mowing their tiny lawn is like a marathon for them) physical activity, and they are always complaining about things being wrong with them.

They problem is that they will never exercise because it is a downward spiral of doom. They are lazy, the get unhealthy, they get lazier, they hurt more, so they do less, get lazier, hurt more, etc. Their lifestyle has resulted in significant health problems, and yet they do nothing. Sadly, I have trouble respecting them because of this... I don't expect other people to train like we do as runners, but to not even walk a few times a week and to basically create significant health problems for yourself before you turn 60...

Fat In-Laws wrote:

My in-laws are fat-ass lazy people who do zero (and I mean zero, mowing their tiny lawn is like a marathon for them) physical activity, and they are always complaining about things being wrong with them.

They problem is that they will never exercise because it is a downward spiral of doom. They are lazy, the get unhealthy, they get lazier, they hurt more, so they do less, get lazier, hurt more, etc. Their lifestyle has resulted in significant health problems, and yet they do nothing. Sadly, I have trouble respecting them because of this... I don't expect other people to train like we do as runners, but to not even walk a few times a week and to basically create significant health problems for yourself before you turn 60...

The beautiful part about all this is that we get to pay higher health insurance costs because the average person is more like your in-laws than anyone here.

How many of those people in your office are overweight?

Consider this information: http://www.howtobefit.com/weekend-warrior-woes.htm

By runner standards, they could all lose quite a bit of weight but only one of them is badly overweight. They're not slobs, mind you, they just don't live active lives.

well obviously if you are less active then you will have a weaker body, and naturally if you have a weaker body you are more prone to injury.

An Historian wrote:

Consider this information:

http://www.howtobefit.com/weekend-warrior-woes.htm

what does that website contribute to the discussion? evidence that the people in between fat slobs and active healthy people (aka "weekend warriors") are prone to minor injuries as compared to serious injuries for the slobs and no injuries for active people? not too surprising.

but that site also seems to imply that it is the activities themselves that cause the "overuse" injuries and that the solution is to "stretch more" or some BS like that. in reality the injuries are probably "misuse" injuries where people are exercising improperly (e.g. casual runners who clunk around in massive trainers resulting in terrible biomechanics) and are more prone to injury because they actually don't exercise enough. humans aren't made to be active only on Saturdays and Sundays and then slouch around in a desk chair the rest of the week; people need to be active EVERY DAY.

which brings me to my least favorite cutesy alliterative nickname in the entire world: the "weekend warrior." not only is it yet another example of Americans' disgusting penchant for cheesy alliterative descriptors, but using the word warrior is just absurdly demeaning to anyone who works remotely hard at anything, and especially to actual warriors.

The thing that I find weird about it is that these people all have serious injuries. Does my active lifestyle make me less like to, say, break my ankle slipping on the ice? Are their bodies just more fragile, top-to-bottom?