Although exercise has clear benefits for both physical and mental health, for many people, “those are side effects of the aesthetic goal,” Xochitl Gonzalez wrote in 2023. People who grew up equating working out with trying to lose weight may ultimately need to find a new form of movement or a new community to rewire their brain’s associations. For Xochitl, it was running with her dog—and sometimes doing SoulCycle. For my colleague Julie Beck, it was weight lifting. For others, it’s a group fitness class.

Finding a form of movement that works for you can make you feel better in your body than you thought you could. “It turned out that picking up something heavy for a few sets of five reps, sitting down half the workout, and then going home and eating a big sloppy burger did far more to make me feel comfortable in my body than gasping my way through endless burpees and rewarding myself with a salad ever did,” Julie writes. Today’s newsletter explores movement and why we really do it.

• Inside the exclusive, obsessive, surprisingly litigious world of luxury fitness: How Tracy Anderson built an exercise empire
• A ridiculous, perfect way to make friends: Group fitness classes aren’t just about exercise.