Bowflex survey: Political climate increasing exercise intensity

America’s toxic political climate has at least one benefit.

According to a recent survey conducted by Vancouver-based Bowflex, people are working out more intensely because of current news events. Out of 1,100 people surveyed, with an equal sample of men and women, 51 percent of respondents confirmed they work out harder because of current news.

Sixty-five percent of respondents ages 18 through 24 also came to the same conclusion.

John Fread, the director of global marketing communications for Nautilus Inc., the parent company of Bowflex, said the survey is timely with midterm elections and the holidays — a politically fraught time — rolling around.

The survey discovered that 55 percent of men say they are working out harder because of current news, with 48 percent of women also doing the same.

“I think it’s really a qualitative sum of things,” Fread said. “We found out that the overarching general summary is that more than half the Americans we surveyed are turning to fitness and exercise as a means to check out from the current happenings. … They’re using fitness as a way to relieve some of the stress that is being thrown everyone’s way right now.”

The rise of social media might also be intertwined with some of these exercise habits, Fread explained. More than 60 percent of respondents said they post about their workouts on social media. However, more than half of respondents admitted to not sending “sweaty selfies.”

“While we’re working out harder, we don’t necessarily want to show people what we look like when we’re a sweaty mess,” Fread joked.

Nearly 40 percent of people responded that they sometimes watch themselves work out in front of a mirror, with 39 percent of men responding affirmatively, and 36 percent of women.

Fread also explained that more people are doing shorter but more intense workouts and also switching up their exercise routines more frequently. Regardless of the methods, exercise is proven to be a helpful tool for decreasing stress.

“As long as you’re out moving and doing something,” Fread said, “we’re all going to get through the next upcoming election, holidays and the crazy weather.”