There is a way to exercise as a Stoic. There is a way to eat as a Stoic. Literally every chosen action can be done, and is done, either in a Stoic way or in some other way. I bring this up because whenever a person enters an online Stoic forum and asks how Stoics exercise, or eat, or drive to work, it seems inevitable that mocking comments will soon follow. Unfortunately it is those who say, “this has nothing to do with Stoicism!” that are showing their ignorance of the philosophy.
Take our food choices. We know that the teacher Musonius Rufus, “often talked in a very forceful manner about food, on the grounds that food was not an insignificant topic and that what one eats has significant consequences. In particular, he thought that mastering one’s appetites for food and drink was the beginning of and basis for self-control.” That quote comes from notes on a lecture specifically about the Stoic diet. In that lecture the Stoic teacher proclaims that philosophers shouldn’t eat meat and that our food should take as little preparation as possible. He basically advocated for a lacto-vegetarian diet with a bit of raw food sympathy thrown in. The lecture is very interesting and through it, even within the quote I just gave, we can see that he focused on diet because our virtue is made manifest through our choices.
We also have thoughts from Musonius concerning physical exercise. That subject is found in a lecture we title, On Practicing Philosophy. Addressing new philosophers, he says, “how then and in what way must they be trained? Since a human being happens to be neither soul nor body alone but a composite of these two things, someone in training must pay attention to both. They should rightly pay more attention to the better part, namely the soul, but they should also take care of the other part, or part of them will become defective. The philosopher's body also must be well prepared for work because often virtues use it as a necessary tool for the activities of life.” We do not have a list of exercises that Musonius prescribed for his students. But we know that Stoic schools assumed philosophical training would include physical training.
I’ve covered all this before: food in You Shouldn’t Eat That: On Stoic Authority, and exercise in Good Fortune Ep 10: Physical Exercises. Running across yet another forum post that was met by some with dismissal rather than education stimulated me to address it again. Stoicism is found in our choices, all of which matter. Additionally, Stoicism is not separate from our bodies. Our choices may be generated in our brain but they are enacted through our muscles and sinew. If people are missing this, perhaps modern Stoic writings are doing us a disservice. Growth in Stoicism should make us more connected to the world, and to ourselves. If practitioners can’t see that connection, something is wrong. There is no Stoic way to deadlift, but there are Stoic reasons to deadlift. There are no Stoic recipes but our food choices matter. There is also, to be clear, no Stoic body-type nor Stoic level of health. But every choice we make is a philosophical practice. Virtue is enacted only in the moment at hand. So if a person asks you how Stoics exercise, you can make clear that our exercise goals are focused on virtue and not on body-fat percentages, but do not dismiss the question.
