The Gym of Life

I used to write other stuff in the description that introduced the video, but hardly anybody reads it anyway, especially now that YouTube has made it even harder to find in the new UI. At least you can come here for references if you're really determined.

NJB Live (my bicycle livestream channel):

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Credits, References, and Additional Information

The part of "My Brother" was played by my brother.

Large-scale physical activity data reveal worldwide activity inequality
Nature, 10 July 2017

COUNTRY COMPARISON :: OBESITY - ADULT PREVALENCE RATE
CIA World Fact Book

For this video, "Developed Country" was considered any country with a Human Development Index over 0.9:

What can we learn from the COVID-19 pandemic about how people experience working from home and commuting?
University of Amsterdam Centre for Urban Studies

People are missing their daily commute in lockdown – here’s why

Walking and cycling to work makes commuters happier and more productive

Global views on sports: 58% globally would like to practice more

Do the Health Benefits of Cycling Outweigh the Risks?
Epidemiology, January 2011

Includes licensed stock footage from Getty Images

[HangoDang]

Never thought I'd be radicalized on urban planning but here I am

[shatterquartz]

Good on you for popularizing the term "car-dependent". It helps dispel the twisted view that needing a car to go anywhere is somehow a form of freedom rather than a form of dependence.

[inflorire]

The first time I traveled outside the US I went to china and I was shocked that at night and in the morning all the elderly people came outside to dance, do taichi, walk, and play in the park. Most elderly people in my part of the US had homes, stayed inside, and watched the news. Parks were only for kids and usually empty at night aside from maybe some teenagers messing around, but in China the public parks would be full of people of all ages, but especially the elderly, well into the night. That completely shocked me.

[Awkward_Rogue]

I tried to explain to my parents a few years ago that I liked biking to work partly because it was good exercise. They weren't really a fan of me biking. They thought it was too dangerous and that it took too long so I would be constantly late to work. So they tried to convince me to get a gym membership. Even at the time I knew that was a bad option. I already had my bike, I didn't have to pay a monthly membership to take it to work in the morning. I also knew how my brain worked. If my daily exercise has to be a separate event from the rest of my day, I'm never going to do it. Ever. Eventually having the argument every day was too exhausting so I ended up driving almost every day over the summer months.

They asked why I even had a bike if I wasn't going to take it out. 😒

[o.s.h.]

I strongly sympathize with the point on the elderly. Often, Americans come to me and say “Well, my grandma can’t bike, she’s too frail!” Here in Europe, my grandmother bikes 3 hours a day, and she’s 74 years old. People wouldn’t be so frail if they had just biked their entire life, it’s a preventative measure.

[OnnoS]

My (Dutch) grandpa is 101 years old, and he still bikes 60km per week. He had to start using a tricycle, as his lowered reflexes made it difficult to balance on a normal bike, but he's still going strong and enjoying life!

[vowgallant]

The older people thing is critical actually in that it doesn't just give them exercise, but freedom and socialization! My grandma never goes anywhere because she can't drive anymore. She is just trapped, alone, at her house, completely dependent on her daughter coming by occasionally to bring her groceries.

[Earth]

Your speaking tone and the pace is so clear, sharp, and easy to follow. And the fact that you don't use any background music makes it even better. Please don't change this

[realityDUBSTEP]

My last job was in a newly built walkable mixed use area. I would spend my 1 hour lunch break walking around instead of eating lunch most of the time because it was enjoyable. I can definitely see those obesity stats being spot on.

[DavidS-jiqv]

I’ve been craving that dopamine hit of good urban planning and walkability, thanks NJB.

[maaikees]

My grandma cycled until she was 82. She took a fall into her home that broke her hip and didn’t dare to cycle anymore after. This was the beginning of her decline, both physically and mentally. RIP grandma, but I’m glad she was able to stay healthy that long in NL. The bike sure played a role in it.

[millicentduke]

I’m really glad you fixed the video for Australia and New Zealand so they’d be able to see it right way up. This is the kind of thoughtful accessibility practice you don’t get on just any old channel. 👌

[kofinater]

I've always been puzzled we never talk about obesity as a systemic problem like this. Study after study says that telling people to workout doesn't work but we don't talk about the built environment.

[LexYeen]

To anyone who has concerns about cycling with physical disabilities: Recumbent bikes and trikes are a thing and they can be adapted to suit specific needs, and electric assist upgrade kits are also a thing.

[camlin]

"The pit of laziness." This is a spot-on metaphor. Please don't mind me as I assimilate this into my self-awareness and my understanding of the world at large. And thank you so much for your videos!!!

[EggTamago]

I'm taking a risk commenting without even watching, but I'm so confident I know exactly where this is going that just gonna go for it: My last several years of school involved a combination of walking and transit for my daily commute. Throw in a stop in at the grocery store on the way home, and I'd get between 45 minutes to 1.5 hours of walking in every day. Literally as soon as I started an internship that required me to drive to work and back, I gained about 25 pounds within a few months. No diet change or anything else - just the free exercise that was built into my day was removed. The idea of having to pay money to flail about either at home on expensive equipment or go to a gym, all so I can not be fat but still drive everywhere... no.

[timpauwels]

I went to a British school in the Netherlands- when learning about the heart and lungs in a Biology lesson (we were 16 or 17), we took a cardio test that involved doing jumping jacks and measuring heart rate before and after. This test was described in the course material and data for the UK population from a study was included.

All of those who cycled to school (so, most students), “sporty” or not, scored above average for our age group in the study.

When I was a kid, I always preferred cycling to school because it made me happy.

[clomino]

This is one of the things that gets me the most. Have have to make exercise a whole nother part of my day and its infuriating. Love the focus on studies in this video!

[Mcha]

This is the very reason why I moved from my hometown Houston TX to Oregon to obtain a master's in Urban Planning, I wanted to learn the in and outs of how to create a healthier city and I knew that getting rid of car dependency IS the core of the solution. Thanks for this video, you reinspired me before my final days of graduation.

[khalidalali]

I lived in Leiden from January 2018 to January 2020, before going back home to Abu Dhabi. I lost 30.5kg during my time in the Netherlands, and I’ve never set foot in a Gym over there. As soon as I came back to Abu Dhabi, I started gaining all that weight back. Why? Because it’s a car-dependent city. I drive here everyday. Be it to work, be it back home, or anywhere else for that matter. Whereas in Holland. I was only in a car twice. A taxi cab when I landed In Schiphol, and another one when I flew back home from Schiphol. In two whole years, I never drove a car, and was only in one twice. Oh, and I still have my health history on my i-phone from back then, and the daily average was 25, 000 steps. With it going up to 32-35, 000 steps during weekends. Now I workout, go to the gym, try to walk as much as I can, and I can barely make 3, 500 steps during the week, and 7, 000 steps on average during the weekend.