Thank you to the publisher for my eARC copy of this book. Unfortunately I didn’t love this book and therefore didn’t finish, I just didn’t connect with this one. Not for me, sorry.

Daniel E. Lieberman is best known for his research on the evolution of the human body. He is one of the best in his field, and he is an avid marathon runner. I thought his book would be amazing to learn about exercise, and I was right. This book is well-researched, highly informative and fun. It covers an evolutionary and scientific perspective on exercise; answering a lot of questions on the way.

Do you want to exercise but don’t know what to do? Do you think exercise is overrated and we don’t need it? Want to know if exercise helps lose weight? How does exercise affect our health? Can it prevent diseases? This book answers all these questions and a lot more. It is easy to read, informative, fun, and it makes you want to move. You can only gain from this book.

3.5 stars.

Exercised is a well-balanced and comprehensive book that does not preach but instead presents a wealth of evidence from various researches into the benefits of physical activity, which in our modern lives mean exercise.

The subject of exercise is something close to my heart, and that is why I was interested in reading this book. While I found it to be quite well-written, I might not be its targeted audience as I'm already an avid believer of the benefits of exercising. What I've never thought of was the idea that we've never evolved to exercise form a biological perspective, as our ancestors spent more than enough energy on a daily basis just to survive. Without the conveniences of modern lives and the abundance of easily accessed calories, hunter-gatherers remain sedentary while they were not out hunting or gathering. However, for most of us who are not employed in jobs which require a lot of physical activity or manual labour, we spend most of lives sitting in front of our desks. Not only are we not expending a lot less calories, we're also consuming a whole lot more. However, it does not take a lot of vigorous exercise for the modern humans to be as active as the hunter-gatherers; moderate levels of aerobic exercise interspersed with some high-intensity workouts seem to be the order of the day.

The sections in this book which evinced the benefits of exercise contained advice that I've read before. What made this book a bit different is that it also talks about how there may be some outliers of people who still seemed fine without ever exercising. Personally, I've benefited from running regularly and I even practice the running form that was advocated in this book. I used to have recurrent sinus problems when I get up in the morning; this completely stopped a few months into my running habit. Going for morning runs also energizes me for the rest of the day, and keeps me sane during stressful periods in my life.

From speed, strength, endurance to ageing, the book comprehensively covers the effects of exercise on all these aspects of health and fitness. The final chapter was even a sort of compendium that informs on the effects of physical activity on certain conditions, such as Alzheimer's disease, respiratory tract infections, cancer, mental health issues and obesity.

A good and informative read as a whole, albeit a bit repetitive at time. Recommended for those who either already wanted to embark on an exercise regime (there's some valuable advice in here), or needed a kick in the butt to do so.

The mantra of this book is that nothing about the biology of exercise makes sense except in the light of evolution, and nothing about exercise as a behaviour makes sense except in the light of anthropology.

This examination of history is by a paleoanthropologist Professor – something of an expert both on the evolution of the human body and the study of hunter gatherer societies, both which an emphasis on how they have led to the evolution and development of human physical activity. He is perhaps best known for his work on endurance running which was adopted by the barefoot-running movement. He himself is a reluctant exerciser (albeit a marathon runner) and this book represents his study of exercise i.e. planned, sustained, structured and (most crucially) voluntary physical activity undertaken for health and fitness. A key aim to the book is to examine why we find this activity so difficult and why in fact we are so exercised about it.

The first section looks at physical inactivity and how rather than being evolved to exercise we are actually evolved to exercise as little as possible and rest frequently. One reason is the need to conserve our energy for body maintenance – one very interesting observation that the author makes (which I think matches the surprise you probably have when you first wear a calorie counting smart watch) is how much of your calorie use is involved simply in being awake and how little incrementally is added by exercise. Hunter gatherers would also conserve energy for long hunting pursuits and reproduction. I have to say I was reminded of the professional cyclists (I think Churchill inpsired) mantra around the economy of effort – Don’t walk when you can stand, don’t stand when you can sit, don’t sit when you can lie down, don’t lie down when you can sleep. But whereas for professional cyclists this is more about conserving their legs, for hunter gatherers it was more about conserving their meagre and uncertain supplies of calories. While not condemning rest he does point out the issues with modern sitting which is simply too comfortable and passive – and at the very least recommends fidgeting (something which encouraged me as an inveterate jiggler and fidgeter). This section finishes with a section on sleep which while interesting is I think is better passed over for a more dedicated book on the topic (such as “Why We Sleep” by Matthew Walker).

The second section is on strength exercises such as sprinting, lifting and fighting. The section draws heavily on biomechanics (as well as evolution and anthropology) and was not always of such interest to me, and I found the lengthy discussion of the evolution of fighting both lacking interest and slightly gratuitous to the book’s main thrust (although my very use of that phrase shows how ancient hunting techniques are embedded in our language as well as our physiology. His overall conclusion on strength is that for hunter gatherers being overly strong carried too high a cost and that for modern man the key is to stay just strong enough for normal activities (but that this likely requires deliberate exercise as you age as our labour saving world means day to day living simply does not provide enough muscle stress).

The sections on Endurance (walking, running and dancing) I found more interesting. He is particularly strong on humans being almost perfectly designed for long distance walking interspersed with jogging (something I found interesting as it matches my COVID era daily dog walks – or at least my aspiration for them). For example our all body sweat glands and lack of fur make us perfectly adapted to avoid over heating when running long distances – unlike say dogs (and many other quadrapeds) whose panting mechanism fails when they break into a gallop. He also makes it clear that walking can lead to weight loss but it needs both lengthier and faster walking than most people manage and regular persistence over a long period – a key reason being that (like with most exercise) it is so much easier for us than earlier societies to simply cancel out exercise by extra unhealthy eating – his key point seems to be to diet to lose really excessive weight and use endurance exercise for longer term and more sustainable weight loss. The section on the importance of tribal dance as a mechanism for maintaining fitness initially seemed interesting but of little application – but I think this came later.

I enjoyed the section on ageing and felt this was perhaps the real key to the book. He shows how in earlier societies the vital role of grandparents to support pregnant and nursing mothers meant that endurance and light-strength fitness persisted much longer as a basic necessity, leading to the paradox that while our bodies require lifelong physical exercise to stay fit into old age, our minds did not need to evolve to seek this exercise voluntarily (in fact quite the opposite – as above we are mentally evolved to avoid any immediately unnecessary exercise). The real aim he says for us and for society is to find ways to make exercise both necessary and fun in some way. On the necessary point he is a fan of nudge theory and likes for example an app which sends your money to your least favourite cause if you don’t exercise. On the fun side one of the issues he points out is that the much heralded dopamine/serotonin/endorphin benefits of exercise only really accrue to those already exercising sufficiently. This is where among other ideas he draws back on the idea of dance – using sport and group activities to help with exercise (as well as rewards and variety) and a number of other nudge ideas.

He concludes looking at optimal amounts of exercise – and agrees that the common prescription for adults of a minimum 150 minutes per week moderate (50-70% of maximum heart rate) or 75 minutes vigorous (70-85%) exercise makes a lot of sense – mixed up with possibly some high intensity training (although not without doctor advice) and some weights/resistance.

The last chapter would I think be better as an appendix – it goes through a series of “modern” diseases, looks at how each arose at least partly from an evolutionary mismatch between our bodies and the modern world, and then what type of exercise can most prevent them.

Overall I found this a very interesting read, which while very much not a prescriptive self-help book, does have a clear conclusion.

Make exercise necessary and fun. Do mostly cardio, but also some weights. Some if good, but more is better. Keep it up as you age.

If exercise is healthy (so good for you!), why do many people dislike or avoid it? If we are born to walk and run, why do most of us take it easy whenever possible? And how do we make sense of the conflicting, anxiety-inducing information about rest, physical activity, and exercise with which we are bombarded? Is sitting really the new smoking? Can you lose weight by walking? Does running ruin your knees? Should we do weights, cardio, or high-intensity training?  In this myth-busting book, Daniel Lieberman, professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and a pioneering researcher on the evolution of human physical activity, tells the story of how we never evolved to exercise—to do voluntary physical activity for the sake of health. Using his own research and experiences throughout the world, Lieberman recounts without jargon how and why humans evolved to walk, run, dig, and do other necessary and rewarding physical activities while avoiding needless exertion. His engaging stories and ex­planations will revolutionize the way you think about exercising—not to mention sitting, sleep­ing, sprinting, weight lifting, playing, fighting, walking, jogging, and even dancing.
 
Exercised is entertaining and enlightening but also constructive. As our increasingly sedentary lifestyles have contributed to skyrocketing rates of obesity and diseases such as diabetes, Lieberman audaciously argues that to become more active we need to do more than medicalize and commodify exercise. Drawing on insights from evolutionary biology and anthropology, Lieberman suggests how we can make exercise more enjoyable, rather than shaming and blaming people for avoiding it. He also tackles the ques­tion of whether you can exercise too much, even as he explains why exercise can reduce our vul­nerability to the diseases mostly likely to make us sick and kill us. Lieberman pens a comprehensive guide to exercise and provides answers to questions many of us have long ruminated on, as well as the extensive myth-busting spree he embarks on. It may not look it from the fairly bland cover, but this is a fascinating read filled with solid and intriguing information and I felt I had truly been schooled by a professional who had imparted lots of accurate tidbits that I am not likely to forget anytime soon. Many thanks to Allen Lane for an ARC.

Such a interesting read - Have learnt a lot about the science behind fitness and some great take-aways from this book - particularly about HIIT and diet vs Exercise. I've learned a lot about running form too.

Surprisingly, interesting read, lots of facts including from many years ago. I think this would be a good book for someone who is dieting as well because it really explains calories going in versus calories going out and how your body uses those calories.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.