Yeah im not saying exercise itself is pointless, just going to a gym and lifting is the most tedious way to exercise. To use your reading example, playing a sport like tennis or football, or riding a bike through a trail or something would be like reading a story book, whereas going to the gym would be like reading a dictionary or an encyclopedia.

If its what you enjoy, more power to you. but i really dont get it.

There are always ways to make it work. Like for me I have regularly scheduled volleyball for a couple hours twice a week. Which because its inside I never have to worry about the weather and theres enough people that other peoples schedules arent an issue. And while volleyball can be pretty niche you can find regular open invite football anywhere even in small towns. Then I also go to the skatepark twice a week too which doesnt rely on other and the weather rarely interrupts it, and if it does I go to the one under the overpass instead. Ive been doing this for years, extremely regularly, and the fact that its actually fun and I look forward to it has made it far more regular than when I went to the gym, plus ive made loads of friends, learnt actually skills and dont have to put up with gym bros. So to me there is really no downside.

I just dont understand. Its so incredibly boring. Like the physical equivalent of doing complex math problems for no reason.

Ive made the argument for years that working out in the gym is by far the worst possible way to work it. Its just so boring and depressing and take sup your limited time.

Why would I spend an hour at the gym working out when I can play football with freinds, or go to a skate park or go mountain biking, or even just go for a run through a park? Its like trying to learn something by just doing math problems over and over again instead of working through actual problems.