Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do is Healthy and Rewarding

• If we are born to walk and run, why do most of us take it easy whenever possible?• Does running ruin your knees?• Should we do weights, cardio, or high-intensity training?• Is sitting really the new smoking?• Can you lose weight by walking?• And how do we make sense of the conflicting, anxiety-inducing information about rest, physical activity, and exercise with which we are bombarded?In this myth-busting book, Daniel Lieberman, professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and a pioneering researcher on the evolution of human physical activity, tells the story of how we never evolved to exercise—to do voluntary physical activity for the sake of health. Using his own research and experiences throughout the world, Lieberman recounts without jargon how and why humans evolved to walk, run, dig, and do other necessary and rewarding physical activities while avoiding needless exertion.Exercised is entertaining and enlightening but also constructive. As our increasingly sed