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Secret gyms and the economics of prohibition

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601–610 of 1001 posts

Re: Secret gyms and the economics of prohibition

#601

There is a crossfit gym that I pass by every morning on the way to work. It is full, and never stopped during this pandemic. Even at 7AM, it is full of patrons. I would call the "proper authorities", but since there is a State Police car parked outside every morning, and he is in there working out, just like before the pandemic, I doubt calling anyone would do anything. Adding to the post, I read it earlier... it is…

Introverts vs extroverts. Humans are social animals. Socialization is a basic human need. It is much harder for some people to stay inside and not socialize than others. We are now on month 7 of being told to not socialize or see or do anything. I continue to obey the orders, but I totally get why some people are starting to crack.

Month 7? I thought lockdowns, shelter-in-place, etc. largely began in March. That would make this month 5.

Re: Secret gyms and the economics of prohibition

#602
post #358

I think a lot of people in this discussion are pitting the argument at people prioritizing their individual choices over the collective health of the community. I think that is a very singular framing from one side. A lot of people I know just believe that the virus itself is not as deadly as the reaction warrants. The infectious mortality rate of Covid is at best twice that of the normal flu, which isn't nothing and…

Best data I've seen is 6x (.63% IFR). And due to lack of existing immunity from the Flu which keeps the flu at less than 10% of the population/yr, we're looking at a dramatic death toll. That people don't want to believe it, without evidence to the contrary, just makes them solidly into the wishful thinking category - and likely spreaders that will inevitably get someone killed.

Do you have a link to the data you're looking at?

Re: Secret gyms and the economics of prohibition

#603
post #269

That's fascinating, and I had wondered if it were happening. I guess I was right. Due to the timing of the last 6 months or so, I haven't been making it to the gym as much. I started focussing more on mountain biking, I broke my hand, then my clavicle, traveled to Japan, and then the pandemic showed up. With all this more focused time during lockdown, I was tempted to buy my own equipment and toyed with the idea of l…

There is a suprising amount of work you can do with resistance bands. That used to be the powerlifting equipment of choice before dumbbells and barbells became fashionable in the bodybuilding community a century ago. You can hit everything olympic lifting hits. Great reading here, along with tons of examples of workouts and movements:

https://yoga-horizons.com/pdfs/Fatmans-Guide-to-Cable-Traini...

Re: Secret gyms and the economics of prohibition

#604

Wow with these comments. You going to the gym is not saving the economy. Yes, we can't shut everything down but you'd think the article was about shutting down grocery stores or the stock market. And by not doing your part, your whole community could be stunted for 2 years. Also congratulations for not caring about a 1 in 200 chance of death (pretty high by the way) because you're healthy and passing on the risk to s…

> 1 in 200 chance of death (pretty high by the way) The fatality rate of a car crash is also about 0.5% [1], but that doesn't prevent us from driving. That means there's a piece of the puzzle missing here, right? Note that I'm not concluding this means we should go to gyms (or whatever). I'm just pointing out your analysis is missing an important factor, making it faulty/unconvincing. Edit: Changed the statistic sour…

That's over your entire lifetime, not a few weeks after getting infected. You don't have a 1% chance of dying in a car accident every time you drive.

Re: Secret gyms and the economics of prohibition

#605

Wow with these comments. You going to the gym is not saving the economy. Yes, we can't shut everything down but you'd think the article was about shutting down grocery stores or the stock market. And by not doing your part, your whole community could be stunted for 2 years. Also congratulations for not caring about a 1 in 200 chance of death (pretty high by the way) because you're healthy and passing on the risk to s…

This post is precisely the issue. The risk for everyone is not 1 in 200. That's what makes this complicated. I'm really struggling with this. How can we reverse all the fear that has damaged our society and given people a sense that they need to exaggerate the danger? Folks don't have capacity for risk analysis or understanding basic statistics, even on a message board like hacker news.

Re: Secret gyms and the economics of prohibition

#606

Wow with these comments. You going to the gym is not saving the economy. Yes, we can't shut everything down but you'd think the article was about shutting down grocery stores or the stock market. And by not doing your part, your whole community could be stunted for 2 years. Also congratulations for not caring about a 1 in 200 chance of death (pretty high by the way) because you're healthy and passing on the risk to s…

The question I've never found a reasonably answer for is this:

Whats the exit strategy? What has to happen for this to end?

For what I've read there's a good chance this virus will stay with us for the long term, just like the flu. Waiting for the vaccine is kind of like hoping for a miracle, as it might not even work. So when will all this madness end?

Re: Secret gyms and the economics of prohibition

#607

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think more and more people are tired of having their jobs, educations, and social activities toyed with like they are trivial things.

Nobody thinks those things are trivial, but they do think stopping the pandemic is more important. If I told you to leave your house because it was on fire, would you accuse me of trivializing your daily routine?

False equivalence

Re: Secret gyms and the economics of prohibition

#608

Wow with these comments. You going to the gym is not saving the economy. Yes, we can't shut everything down but you'd think the article was about shutting down grocery stores or the stock market. And by not doing your part, your whole community could be stunted for 2 years. Also congratulations for not caring about a 1 in 200 chance of death (pretty high by the way) because you're healthy and passing on the risk to s…

Well the lockdowns were intended to "flatten the curve" in the short term not impose China style draconian limits on personal movement until there is a vaccine 18 months later.

Re: Secret gyms and the economics of prohibition

#609

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A German study found that even asymptomatic COVID patients have inflammation and damage to heart tissue that’s more than what you’d expect to see. We don’t know whether this will heal or affect the heart long term. People only looking at fatality rates and so on are taking unknown risks. Many people who have healed from COVID including younger people cannot even climb a flight of stairs. People suffer from fatigue an…

I wish we started a campaign of "you don't have to die for it to suck". I don't know why we're stuck in the dichotomy of death or survival. Permanent damage isn't great either.

There was an article about a quite healthy looking PCA in his 30s who was intubated and essentially wasted away to a startling degree during his COVID convalescence that really drove that home for me.

Re: Secret gyms and the economics of prohibition

#610
post #369
post #352

I could never understand the point of a gym. Just a pair of running shoes. Some dumbbells. I picked up slacklining and bosu ball training during the lockdown. Why does one need a "gym" ??

Because a barbell, olympic weight set, squat rack takes up half a room and costs $10k vs. a <$30 monthly gym membership.

You don't need all that equipment to work the same muscle groups. Honestly, a $45 set of resistance bands is a great buy and these haven't experienced the same supply runs that heavy, more obvious equipment has experienced.

Some great reading:

https://yoga-horizons.com/pdfs/Fatmans-Guide-to-Cable-Traini...

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