Body Fat Percentage
Your Econ teacher would give you an "F" for your analysis.
I might have been able to do the workout described by the physicians. Let's assume I could.
The opportunity cost would have been trading high odds of a self-supporting income (based on past performance) for extremely long odds at becoming a pro athlete (based on physical size, other physical attributes, lack of training, not attending a Div I school, etc.) able to commit time & energy to that lifestyle long-term.
Here's the thing: in sports and entertainment, opportunities are far rarer than talent. Assuming men with the raw physical gifts of Michael Jordan are 1 in 1 Million, you'd expect to see @ 3500 in the world at a time. Only a few of those ever made it to the NBA. And even if they all tried out, only 450 could make it.
And i'm no MJ (nor a basketball player): even with the genetic gifts I was given, my height and other factors diminished my odds of being a pro athlete to virtually nil.
Contrast that to the number of attorneys in the USA alone: over 1M and counting.
So, it is objectively unreasonable to incur an opportunity cost of a choice with odds of success many orders of magnitude greater than trying to live a pro athlete's lifestyle.
Cyclone_Joker
First Post
Nah, it'd be on you for failing to understand the analysis.
Irrelevant. You were more than capable of doing it. Just because you have other priorities, it doesn't change the analysis.
So? This statement is entirely irrelevant both to my and your original statement.
No, my original statement was that the goal was possible, but unreasonable.
The analysis from an economic viewpoint would examine all economic costs- of which opportunity costs are one- versus the probable ROI- return on investment.
The opportunity cost- which is what your Econ professor would look at- greatly outweighed probability of a meaningful ROI. Had I actually adopted the regimen doctors told me would be required, I would have gotten my 6-pack abs...and not finished college, not gone to law school or business school, and would probably NOT have been in any pro sport.
That is the definition of an unreasonable decision in economics terms.
Cyclone_Joker
First Post
If you desired to, you could have gotten it. Hell, I'd be willing to bet you could have done both the exercise and the school if you wanted, especially given your oh-so-precise statement of "pro athlete-level." You, however, chose to make the trade-off. You could have reasonably done it, but you elected to put other priorities in front of it. It's not my, nor anyone else's, problem.
The program that I was told would be required would have been an 6-8hr/day exercise commitment- the doctors did have slightly varied opinions- not something you can maintain while attending school and/or working like a normal person. There is zero point in doing that much exercise unless you're being paid to do so on some level. (At the time, I was getting @3hrs/day in weights, aquatics, & intramural sports participation).
Since I was not at a Div 1 school, that wasn't going to happen as a student.
Still, I was the same weight and BF% when I graduated. What about starting after college?
Well, the odds of a 5'7" male making a living as an athlete are slim, and the sports in which the probability is highest were ones that I didn't excel in (except soccer). Given that I would also lack the training to be competitive further reduce the odds. Mere fitness doesn't give you the hand/eye coordination to hit a curveball, the speed or mass to play football, the ability to shoot buckets. That takes training over time, building muscle memory and connections within the brain.
The odds of a 22 year old initiating such a program and succeeding are functionally zero.
IOW, unrealistic.
Bedrockgames
Legend
Putting in a full time workday of training, when you have other responsibilities and no interest or prostects of an athletic career, seems the definition of unreasonable to me. I have trained that much in the past, in times of my life when it was feasible, but I had also had bigger goals than a six pack. Spending 6-8 hours a day, six to eight hours you could be working, purely in the pursuit of abs, seems quite unreasonable (unless abs mean more to you than a stable job and healthy relationships).
Cyclone_Joker
First Post
IOW, excuses.
It's simple. You just didn't want it enough for it to be worth it to you. And that's totally fine, but let's be honest about it.
I disagree with you.
I believe he wanted it, he just didn't have the time to put into it. Hell, I would like a 6 pack too, but with my work schedule and responsibilities, there is no way I could spend enough time to get it, no matter how much I wanted it. Unless I want my wife and kids to starve, be homeless, and me be unemployed. There simply isn't enough time in a day.
Cyclone_Joker
First Post
Then you choose not to have a six-pack. This is one of the relatively few things that're pretty much completely under your control, all you have to do is work for it.
