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Ryan Chou
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@@ -6,101 +6,92 @@ slug: the-gym-is-where-my-labor-still-belongs-to-me
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I don’t think human beings hate labor. You always hear people complaining about work.
I think human beings hate stolen labor. I do not think human beings hate labor.
There is a difference. Just stolen labor. What is the difference?
A beaver builds a dam because instinct tells it to. A beaver builds a dam because instinct tells it to.
It does not sit there imagining a better dam, It does not sit there, imagining a better dam, sketching out its ideal version.
sketching out its ideal version of a dam, It does not compare different dam building philosophies,
comparing different dam building philosophies, willing that imagined structure into reality.
and then willing that imagined structure into reality. You know who does? We do.
Humans do.
That is one of the strangest and most beautiful things about us. That is one of the strangest but yet most beautiful things about us.
We imagine something that does not exist, We can imagine something that does not exist, and then act upon the world,
and then we act upon the world until it does. until it does. A house, a song, a garden, an idea, a relationship, a life.
A house, a song, a garden, a body, a relationship, a life.
We are not just creatures who exist in nature. We are not just creatures who exist in nature.
We transform nature. We transform nature.
We metabolize the world through labor and, in doing so, produce ourselves. We metabolize the world through labor, and in doing so, produce ourselves.
This is why I have never fully bought the idea that people are naturally lazy. This is why I have never really believed the idea that people are naturally lazy.
I think people are exhausted, alienated, underpaid, overmanaged, disrespected, I think they are exhausted, alienated, underpaid, over-managed, disrespected,
surveilled, and robbed of meaning. surveilled, and robbed of meaning.
But lazy? I don’t think so. But lazy? I do not think so.
People love doing things. People love doing things.
People love building things, fixing things, organizing things, decorating rooms, People love building things, fixing things, organizing things.
making playlists, cooking meals, tending plants, writing code, raising children, We love decorating rooms, making playlists, cooking meals, tending plants,
running, lifting, learning instruments, making art, making homes. writing code, raising children, running, lifting, making art.
Even when people are “doing nothing,” they are usually still producing something: Even when people are “doing nothing,” they are usually still producing something:
taste, identity, humor, community, fantasy, self-understanding. taste, identity, humor, community, fantasy, self understanding
The problem is not labor. (all things being commodified btw.) The problem is not labor.
The problem is that so much of our labor does not belong to us. Too much of our labor does not belong to us.
At work, you sell your time and energy, At work, you sell your time and energy,
but the value you create does not return to you in full. but the value you create does not return to you in full.
Someone else owns the product. Someone else owns the product. Someone else owns the platform.
Someone else owns the platform. Someone else owns the schedule, the metrics, the uniform, the customer experience,
Someone else owns the schedule, the metrics, the uniform, the customer experience, the profit. the profit. You give your body, your attention, your patience, your personality,
You give your body, your attention, your patience, your personality, your fucking all,
and in return you receive only a fraction of what your labor produces. and all you get in return is only a fraction of what your labor produces.
Everyone is trying to extract something. Everyone is trying to extract something. Your boss extracts productivity.
Your boss extracts productivity. Platforms extract attention. Schools extract performance.
Platforms extract attention. Mobile phone applications extract data. Even hobbies get turned into content.
Landlords extract rent. Rest becomes optimization. The self, a brand.
Schools extract performance. This is why weightlifting and bodybuilding feels different to me.
Apps extract data. Not because it is merely or aesthetic, or because I want to look good,
Even hobbies get metabolized into content. (though I do.)
Even rest becomes optimization. But because bodybuilding is one of the few places in my life where my labor
Even the self becomes a brand. still feels like it comes back to me.
No one can exploit my set and get bigger from me.
This is why bodybuilding feels different to me. No one can take my reps, my soreness, my recover,
Not because it is merely healthy. and deposit the gains into their own body.
Not because it is merely aesthetic. If I put in the work, the adaptation happens in me.
Not because I want to look good, though I do.
But because bodybuilding is one of the few places in my life where my labor still feels like it comes back to me.
No one can exploit my set and get bigger from it.
No one can take my reps, my soreness, my recovery, my progression,
and deposit the gains into their own body. If I train, eat, sleep, and repeat,
the adaptation happens in me.
The labor becomes flesh. The labor becomes flesh.
The product is not abstracted away from the worker. The product is not abstracted away from the worker.
The worker is the product. The worker is the product.
That is the addictive part. That is the addictive part.
In the gym, cause and effect feel unusually honest. In the gym, cause and effect feel unusually honest.
It is simple, really.
I apply effort to the world, and the world responds. I apply effort to the world, and the world responds.
I pick up the weight. I pick up the weight, and move it through space.
I move it through space. I fail, adjust, return and try again.
I fail, adjust, return, and try again. And over time, something changes.
Over time, something changes. My body becomes the record of work performed.
My body becomes a record of work performed. No more manager or shareholder or institution standing between me and the thing
There is no manager claiming credit for my shoulders. I produced, sucking out all the surplus value from my squat.
There is no shareholder taking surplus value from my squat. The transformation is mine and mine alone.
There is no institution standing between me and the thing I produced.
The transformation is mine.
But this is also where the simple individualist story falls apart, I am not painting the gym as some fantasy of total self sufficiency.
because the gym is not actually some fantasy of total self-sufficiency. It is collectivist.
The gym is collectivist.
Most of us could never afford to own all the equipment we use. Most of us could never afford to own all the equipment we use.
The squat racks, cable machines, leg presses, benches, dumbbells, plates, The equipment, maintenance, down to the space itself.
mirrors, lights, bathrooms, flooring, maintenance, space itself — all of it would be absurdly inefficient for one person to privately own just to use for a few hours a week. All of it would be absurdly inefficient for one person to privately own just to
So we pool resources. use for a few hours a week. So we pool resources.
Everyone pays a small amount, Everyone pays a small amount,
and suddenly each of us gains access to far more than we could have alone. and suddenly each of us gains access to far more than we could have alone.
The same bench can serve hundreds of people. The same bench can serve hundreds of people.
The same barbell can be used by beginners, powerlifters, bodybuilders, The same barbell can be used by anyone:
older people trying to stay mobile, teenagers discovering themselves, older people trying to stay mobile, teenagers discovering themselves,
exhausted workers trying to feel human again. exhausted workers trying to feel human again.
The gym is shared infrastructure. The gym is shared infrastructure.
And yet the result remains personal. And yet the result remains personal.
That is the beautiful contradiction. That is a beautiful contradiction.
The means are collective. The transformation is individual. The means are collective.
The transformation is individual.
The equipment belongs, in some sense, to all of us. The equipment belongs, in some sense, to all of us.
But the labor cannot be collectivized in the same way. But the labor cannot be collectivized in the same way.
@@ -122,20 +113,16 @@ But inside that contradiction, there is still something real.
For an hour or two, I get to labor in a way where the product does not leave me. For an hour or two, I get to labor in a way where the product does not leave me.
I get to consciously transform the world, even if that “world” is my own body. I get to consciously transform the world, even if that “world” is my own body.
I get to imagine a version of myself and then participate in making him real. I get to imagine a version of myself and then participate in making him real.
That does not feel like vanity to me. That does not feel like vanity to me.
It feels like proof that I am alive. It feels like proof that I am alive.
Maybe what we want is not a life without labor. Maybe what we want is not a life without labor.
Maybe that would not satisfy us at all. Maybe that would not satisfy us at all.
Maybe we are not trying to escape work in the deepest sense. Maybe we are not trying to escape work in the deepest sense.
Maybe we are trying to escape alienated work. Maybe we are trying to escape alienated work.
Maybe we want labor that returns to us. Maybe we want labor that returns to us.
Labor where we can recognize ourselves in what we have made. Labor where we can recognize ourselves in what we have made,
something to be proud of in its entirety.
Labor where the process itself has dignity. Labor where the process itself has dignity.
Labor where the product is not stolen, abstracted, or turned against us. Labor where the product is not stolen or turned against us.
That is what bodybuilding gives me, or at least what it lets me feel.
The barbell is shared. That is what bodybuilding gives me, or at least what it lets me feel.
The labor is mine.
The body remembers.