Afternoon at the gym or.... a pill?

[Michelle]

Someone sent me this article today: Drugs Offer Promise of Fitness Without Effort

 

Can you enjoy the benefits of exercise without the pain of exertion? The answer may one day be yes — just take a pill that tricks the muscles into thinking they have been working out furiously.

 

Researchers at the Salk Institute report they have found two drugs that do wonders for the athletic endurance of couch potato mice. One drug, known as Aicar, increased the mice’s endurance on a treadmill by 44 percent after just four weeks of treatment.

 

To me, this just seems like a bad idea.

 

Obviously, everyone here is going to be against using mice in the research, so that doesn't even need to be discussed... but what do you think about an exercise pill?

[hsorlando]

I think an exercise pill is a stupid idea! I really don't get it.

[Aaron]

I get it. But I'd miss the crazy pumped feeling I get from lifting weights at the gym.

[Dr. Pink]

Can someone please buy new pants for all the doctors. It appears as if there pockets are getting too big.

[cubby2112]

If that ends up legalized when developed for humans, I pretty much guarantee there are going to be horrendous side effects down the road.

 

If everyone can get fit via a pill, there is no pride to be had in being so.

[Dr. Pink]

Proof that humans are idiots.

 

“It’s a little bit like a free lunch without the calories,” said Dr. Ronald M. Evans, leader of the Salk group.

[hilary wright]

Cubby, you da man . . . drugs have side effects. Everyone wants something for nothing. Just say no.

[paulcats02]

Proof that humans are idiots.

 

Hey, I resemble that remark.

 

Actually without humor, especially self-defacing humor, I find life too heavy a weight to bear...

 

Humor aside, I think the appeal of a magic pill is high... but for the long term, it's about living a lifestyle that has both discipline (to stay active doing things hopefully we like or even better we love or we do just because, and to eat healthy & nutritious and delicious or just healthy & nutritious and edible) and mindfulness (for what when and how we go on and off that path).

 

I'll admit I have taken "substances" (such as coffee, protein powder, creatine, amino acids, chromium, garcinia, hoodia, etc) prior to working out for something extra but the idea of a pill that allows you to not work out and that allows you to eat with reckless abandon, imo, is kind of a hollow victory; it's like making a mega-huge salary for doing a job you really really can't stand; more likely it's a scam and or a sham (*you have to exercise & eat sensibly which on it's own may be enough or as above mentioned, by cubby, there are adverse side effects that aren't even known yet).

 

In any event, the former I'd do again (coupling nutritional supplements with exercise/eating style) but the latter (the "do nothing" magic bullet) ain't me; not today and probably not tomorrow, either.

[Marcina]

I personally like working out. It's therapeutic for me.

 

If they invent a pill like this it'll probably have nasty side effects.. Like bleeding ass blisters or something.

[DaN]

If they invent a pill like this it'll probably have nasty side effects.. Like bleeding ass blisters or something

 

 

That is brilliant!

[Gaia]

Now as a typical bodybuilder, I would wonder if I could increase my gains if I used the pill and worked out too? Oh yeah, they have that now, it is called anabolic steriods!

And nah, there isn't any side effects to those!