- Donald Trump – In a story in GQ Magazine (Willis 5/6/17) Trump reveals his unusual views on the significance of exercise in a healthy lifestyle. “He considers exercise misguided, arguing that a person, like a battery is born with a finite amount of energy … Apparently (he) believes that the billions of people around the world who regularly engage in some form of physical activity are idiots that are slowly and voluntarily killing themselves.” Trump says his friends that workout are going in for hip and knee replacements, calls them a disaster. Willis hopes Trump’s negative opinion about exercise is a humorous tongue in cheek line making light of his aversion to exercise. Hopefully, he is not serious, especially considering all the positive health benefits exercise research has shown over the years. Trump is 6′ 3″, and weighs 235, which is considered overweight according to BMI calculations – unhealthy.
- W.C. Fields the old comedian, and Robert Hutchins (Robert Maynard Hutchins, 20 January 2017) the president of the University of Chicago (1929 – 1945) were both quoted saying, “When I feel like exercising I just lie down until the feeling goes away”. Hutchins apparently was so against physical activities that he even eliminated the football program at U. of Chicago in 1939, which he saw as a campus distraction. The football program had been in the prestigious Big Ten Conference. Hutchins became president of U. of Chicago when he was just 30 years old. He lived to be 78, dying in 1977. So he evidently lived a relatively healthy, long life without being a fan of exercise.
- However, Mayor of Atlanta, GA in the 1990’s Maynard Jackson (Atlanta’s Mayor Leaves Hospital, 6/9/92) had a sextuple heart bypass surgery when he was 54. Afterward he said, “Anyone not exercising or eating right is playing Russian roulette”. Jackson further stated, “If I had continued on the path of neglect, I probably would have had a heart attack”. His early unhealthy lifestyle may have caught up with him in 2003 when he died of heart disease and diabetes at age 65.
- Also, in relation to living a healthy lifestyle, Dr. Donnie Batie, M.D., a geriatrician in Baton Rouge, LA says “Unfortunately, I am in a state where eating is celebrated … There is a segment of the population that says, ‘I would rather die eating something I enjoy than taking care of my health’. And that makes it very hard to diet and exercise” (Nobel, 8/9/2020, p. 67). Geriatrician’s patients are over 60 years of age. His oldest is 103. The South also is a region with the most physically inactive adults – 28% according the Center for Disease Control (Searing, 1/25/20). Thus, the combination of reluctance to adhere to a healthy diet and their lack of any exercise would predict an unfit lifestyle for that percentage of the South.
- John Daly (John Daly, ND) the professional golfer was asked why he never worked out at the gym. And his answer was “They won’t let me smoke in there!” Daly has had lap-band surgery, however it appears to have had little long term effect on his overweight problem. In 2020 Daly revealed he had bladder cancer and promised to improve his unhealthy lifestyle, which involved among other things smoking and drinking large amounts of Diet Coke. He remains very popular and fun to watch with his long drives and unpredictable actions, such as throwing clubs or walking off the golf course unannounced to his playing partners. One of the more enjoyable books I have read is his 2006 book titled My life in and out of the Rough.
- In a Get Healthy Living Newsletter: by Morrow (2013, 9/15) another infamous non-exerciser is quoted. After reading 10 exercise motivation quotes, such as one by motivational speaker Jim Rohn, “Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live”, the non-exercisers response is rather scary but humorous. “What I do to motivate myself is I sit down and start making a list of all the things I want to do tomorrow. It’s dull work, so I drink 9 or 10 beers as I’m doing it. Then I make a list of expenditures for the next day, too, which only takes a couple more beers. Then I wake up late in the morning and can’t read either list and I look at the clock and curse and race to work dressed as I am. It works for me!” He obviously needs a full exercise motivational seminar if he is ever to change his ways.
- Jim Gaffigan, the comedian has a funny video on exercise workouts – https://youtu.be/cGEXzI9wENU
- The latest on Jim Gaffigan’s fitness appears in Men’s Health, Nov-Dec 2024, p. 29, “The Lighter Side of Jim Gaffigan”, by Justin Kirkland. Gaffigan has a new stand up special called the “The Skinny” on Hulu TV that notes his drop in two pant sizes. Seems his weight loss method combined an appetite suppressor (Mounjara), more vegetables like eggplant, and gardening. “He went on a keto-esque diet (very low carb) and later added intermittent fasting.” He says “Most of our lives we’ve been told – just control your appetite … the reality is we can’t. Maybe our brains are a little wonky or whatever.” He states, “Weight loss drugs aren’t cheating …I’m just a fat guy trying to not die” (p. 32). Now that his is thinner, he wonders if he can still be funny without being fat.