1 Hour at the Gym Does Not Make You Active

The inactivity problem that has nothing to do with your workouts

A few weeks ago, I noticed something off. I was going to the gym consistently. Making progress—muscle growth, strength gains. Despite the gains, however, I felt lethargic. Dragging. Heavy.

Was I overtraining? Was I undertraining? I’ve been consistent. I show up. I do the work. Hormones, maybe?

What really changed?

A different kind of tired

I started thinking about times when I felt 100% powered-up in my body. Backpacking trips in the Sierra Nevada came to mind—even over 10,000 feet, exhausted at the end of a long day, I felt alive. My legs were tired. My shoulders were sore from the pack. But I had energy. I slept well. I woke up ready to move again.

The difference wasn’t intensity. It was movement. Continuous, low-level movement throughout the day.

On those backpacking trips, I wasn’t just hiking for an hour and sitting the rest of the day. I was moving for hours—getting from Point A to B, setting up camp, filtering water, walking to check out a view, breaking down camp in the morning.

Now? I work out in the gym for an hour and sit for the rest of the day. That’s the pattern. And that’s the problem.

What I discovered about NEAT

I looked up ‘feeling drained despite working out’ and discovered something called NEAT—Non-exercise Activity Thermogenesis.

NEAT is not about workouts. It’s about all the movement you do outside of formal exercise.

• Walking your dog

• Taking the stairs

• Standing while you work

• Pacing while you think

All the small, unremarkable movements that add up across a day.

And here’s what matters: NEAT can account for hundreds, sometimes thousands, of calories and hours of movement.

In 2023, NPR reported that even among people who exercise regularly, NEAT usually plays a bigger role in calorie burning than working out. That caught my attention.

An hour at the gym matters, but the other 23 hours matter more.

And, as we get older, NEAT tends to drop. Not because our bodies fail us, but because life gets heavier. More responsibilities. More mental load. More reasons to sit still and “focus.” We’ve designed modern life to require less movement.

Our ancestors didn’t move dramatically—they just moved consistently throughout the day. Gathering, walking, building, maintaining. Not workouts. Just life that required movement.

We’ve engineered that out. And we feel it.

The experiment

Last week, I changed my approach.

I put an under-desk treadmill below my standing desk, and walked on it while I worked at my computer. I also wore my rucksack with weight plates in it for extra gravitational resistance.

I walked an average of 1.5 mph, sometimes doing 2 mph, other times doing 1 mph. I took breaks when I needed to focus on something that required stillness. I didn’t push. I just moved.

By the end of the day, I’d walked 5-6 miles. It happened in the background while I worked, while I read, while I took calls.

And here’s what I noticed: I felt better. Not sore-tired. Not workout-tired. Just... better. More clear. Less lethargic. The fog lifted.

Movement became background instead of event.

My recommendation

NEAT isn’t just about moving more—it’s about moving smarter. Most people optimize for convenience. I optimize for compound advantage.

NEAT Principle 1: Do what everyone avoids

• Take the stairs when others take the elevator

• Walk when others drive

• Stand when others sit

• Park far when others circle for the closest spot

• Trade the leaf blower for a rake and the herbicide for a weed-extractor

NEAT Principle 2: Stack the benefits

• Standing desk? Add a treadmill

• Walking the dog? Add a weighted vest

• Gardening or other chores? Wear a rucksack with weight in it

When you carry sustained weight over distance at slow speeds, your body adapts differently than it does to high-intensity bursts.

You’re building load-bearing capacity, strengthening connective tissue, training for real life—not just gym performance.

The question

Are you mistaking lethargic for tired?

Your body doesn’t want more intensity. It wants more movement woven into your actual life. And if you’re strategic about it, you can stack benefits that most people walk right past.

On Friday, I’ll share the specific strategy I’m using: rucking.

• How to start rucking

• Why rucking works

• How it fits into a life that’s already full

But for now: Where can you add movement today?