I agree that having pretty muscles and having a physically capable body are quite different things. I do not agree that having a physically capable body is useless in our times.
Physical capability does not equal picking up heavy things, it is not even close. Speed, balance, accuracy etc. just imagine an ancestral hunter or any animal really. A fast, limber, precise, situationally aware guy who can dodge a spear and throw one in return. Our modern weight lifter would be the pack mule of the hunting band, who is too stiff and slow to do anything useful but he can carry the deer carcass home. OK...
I am not arguing that weightlifting is the best thing ever. I am arguing against your assertion that, except for looking pretty, contemporary people do not need physically capable bodies.
Okay, but how to define physical capability? What kind of capability matters most?
I’d like to have better cardio and better muscle endurance in the legs, for example, dancing for hours or walking sight-seeing all day without having to sit down would be awesome.
Yes, the other extreme : be able do everything, even though you probably don’t want to do everything. It takes so much time that you probably won’t have enough time left do the activity you wanted to become fit for.
It takes as much time as you are willing to commit. You asked what is physical capability, not whether you can afford trying to become physically perfect.
I agree that having pretty muscles and having a physically capable body are quite different things. I do not agree that having a physically capable body is useless in our times.
Physical capability does not equal picking up heavy things, it is not even close. Speed, balance, accuracy etc. just imagine an ancestral hunter or any animal really. A fast, limber, precise, situationally aware guy who can dodge a spear and throw one in return. Our modern weight lifter would be the pack mule of the hunting band, who is too stiff and slow to do anything useful but he can carry the deer carcass home. OK...
I am not arguing that weightlifting is the best thing ever. I am arguing against your assertion that, except for looking pretty, contemporary people do not need physically capable bodies.
Okay, but how to define physical capability? What kind of capability matters most?
I’d like to have better cardio and better muscle endurance in the legs, for example, dancing for hours or walking sight-seeing all day without having to sit down would be awesome.
That’s how.
Yes, the other extreme : be able do everything, even though you probably don’t want to do everything. It takes so much time that you probably won’t have enough time left do the activity you wanted to become fit for.
It takes as much time as you are willing to commit. You asked what is physical capability, not whether you can afford trying to become physically perfect.