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Janelle rides an exercise bike at the gym several hours a week, but the thought of riding a real bike intimidates her. Even without traffic, the idea of dealing with wind and uneven surfaces makes her hesitant.

Max notices he’s stopped going to very large warehouse-style supermarkets. He increasingly prefers to do more frequent shops at smaller stores where he can just grab a basket or a small cart. The thought of pushing a big cart, possibly with janky wheels, up and down giant aisles and loading many grocery bags into the car has begun to feel like a supersized effort he's not up for.

Parker moved from a five-floor walk-up to a building with an elevator when she got a promotion. The more she's gotten used to that convenience, the more she avoids hopping up a few flights of stairs in general.

What Janelle, Max, and Parker have in common is subtle physical withdrawal.

Physical Avoidance Accelerates Declines in Confidence and Power

In psychology, many causal relationships are circular.

For example, we lose a bit of physical power. This could arise from aging or, equally, from de-conditioning that's happened because we've been focused on other things, such as career or pregnancy. Then, we pull away from physically challenging ourselves. As a consequence, we lose confidence in what our body can do, and we lose even more power and endurance.........

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