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Comment by Grustaf | Hacker News Reader

This is a very American question, driving is not the only way to leave your house.

Obviously it's silly to drive to the gym only to run on a thread mill, but that's not what the article is about, it's about lifting heavy.

Lifting heavy can't be replaced with lifting a lighter weight many times, it trains very different things. And using rocks or branches is not a practical solution. If you can't get to a gym and can't afford to buy your own weights, a better way is to look into calisthenics. You'd really only need to buy a door post pull up bar or similar and you're set.

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> This is a very American question, driving is not the only way to leave your house.

...except that in many parts of the USA, effectively it is, after spending the past eighty years preferentially building exclusively infrastructure for private cars.

This is exactly why it's a very American question.

What is silly about driving to a gym if that is the way you will run? Not everyone likes to run on roads or trails. Some beginners want something more deterministic.

I'm curious, what's American to you in their reply?

All of the points from OP mentioning cars despite the article seemingly being about gym. US have a view of being focused on cars when most of the world travel by bike or foot in cities.

> most of the world travel by bike or foot in cities.

of course, I'm talking of rich countries, there's not just USA, (West Europe, ...) where the car usage is extremely high, and where fitness services flourish

Poorer countries have other priorities, and a better general health, low obesity level (but less public health, so a lower life expectancy

> calisthenics

that's what I meant with lifting your own weight, you can find many places for that outdoor, no need to buy anything

People in the rich world outside the US have a very different relationship to cars, not to mention public transport and walking/biking.

In fact, the car obsession in America is a poor world phenomenon, you'll see this in countries where car ownership is considered a luxury. In other rich countries people just use the most convenient mode of transport, which in cities usually is the metro - it's never the car.

I disagree, I live in western Europe, France, and the situation is unfortunately very US-like, people care a lot about their cars

> In other rich countries people just use the most convenient mode of transport, which in cities usually is the metro - it's never the car

No, other rich countries are converging to this US model https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_vehicles_...

It's not about car ownership, it's about car dependence and how you view the car. In Scandinavia most people have cars, but nobody would find it the least bit strange for a middle class or rich person to take the bus to work, and people don't think it's normal to drive 500 m to a shop.

I don't know if you are French or just live there, but you have probably noticed that most people have very small cars compared to the US. Most people don't feel the need to signal status through having a large car, it's much more pragmatic.

South of France, high proportion of SUV, many Teslas too, there are some small cars that probably don't even exist in USA, but still a large proportion of oversized vehicles, and 1 bicycle every 100 cars (roughly, when I'm bored and start counting on my bike or walking)

many SUVs: https://www.best-selling-cars.com/france/2022-full-year-fran...

You're kinda missing the point. It's not about number of cars or bikes per capita standing in a garage but rather how the cities are built differently. Everything is designed for walking and bikes. In the US, they are designed for cars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORzNZUeUHAM

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