Fitness and the Left
I really, really, dislike that video circulating which, in essence, argues that being unhealthy is somehow a form of resistance. It strikes me as a particularly American argument, despite being thoroughly infected with the Foucault mind-virus: bodies this, bodies that, as though the physical consequences of poverty, exhaustion and shitty food are a "radical political praxis"
Actually, we should want to be healthy. While, of course, within the confines of our ability, we should always have the time, money, and space to run, exercise, eat decent food, sleep properly, rest, and take care of our bodies as well as we can. A progressive government would build more gyms, more outdoor spaces for exercise, and more legislation to prevent food from being filled with noxious fattening agents.
The fact that so many people don’t have those things isn’t an argument against fitness. It is an argument against the conditions that make fitness inaccessible.
Being too exhausted to exercise, too time-poor to cook, or unable to afford good food is -- obviously! -- not resistance to capitalism. It is one of the ways capitalism exploits us; it makes us sick. Why should we defend this as a virtue?
Your body is not a machine whose purpose is to maximise your economic output. It has needs of its own. And taking care of your body isn’t "submission to the logic of productivity". It can be a refusal of it: insisting that your body belongs to you.
tl;dr: give me socialism, fresh air and state-funded sanatoriums.