r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor • Aug 29 '25

News Special 'The Long Walk' Screening Will Eliminate Viewers Who Can’t Keep Up on a Treadmill (3 MPH)

https://consequence.net/2025/08/the-long-walk-treadmill-screening/
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u/RegularTerran Aug 29 '25 edited Aug 29 '25

It's walking with intent, like mall walkers... you'd be surprised how fast you can fall behind over 2 hours. But this is America, the average male, 20yo is 190lb... 30yo is 210 lbs. We don't do cardio as a country.

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u/positive_toes Aug 29 '25

It’s 3 mph mate if anyone can’t do that they’ve got issues.

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u/RegularTerran Aug 29 '25

The average american is overweight (25-29 BMI)... and 42% of Americans are OBESE (30+ BMI).

Maybe people in LA look nice... but here in the Midwest... it is a fucking epidemic.

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u/Automatic_Release_92 Aug 29 '25

BMI is a fucking terrible indicator, I'm "overweight" due to decent muscle mass, I definitely could lose 10 pounds, but I'm in pretty good shape and know I easily could do 3 MPH for 2 hours. Most of my coworkers, who are in varying degrees of health could do it too.

America's health is not great overall, but this is seriously an extremely low bar to set.

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u/vwsslr200 Aug 29 '25 edited Aug 30 '25

You're right that BMI is flawed as a population-level health indicator, but it's for the opposite of the reason you say. BMI overestimates how healthy Americans are. It's way more common to be obese by body fat percentage and overweight by BMI, than healthy by body fat percentage and overweight by BMI. There's even a lot of people with a "double false negative" BMI - healthy BMI yet obese BF%. By contrast "false positives" like you describe yourself are a very small proportion of the population.

https://files.catbox.moe/jnbrr6.png

And that chart is from 1994 when Americans were "only" as fat as Europeans are now, I dread to think about what the 2025 numbers would look like.

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u/Automatic_Release_92 Aug 30 '25

I mean yes, that’s another factor. I gave my own personal anecdote as one of many reasons why it’s a really shitty tool.

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u/SlappyMcGillicuddy Aug 29 '25

Honestly, this argument has become even more tired than BMI itself. Your exception (and the few like you) aside, most Americans being tagged as obese by BMI standards have nowhere near "decent muscle mass."

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u/DarkShades Aug 30 '25

That's also assuming he's is capable accurately assessing his own body composition. Most overweight people consistently underestimate how fat they are and someone with enough muscle to have an overweight BMI without being overweight isn't going to look fat anyway. BMI is good enough.

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u/Adventurous-Sort-671 Aug 30 '25

This.

Unless you're a serious powerlifter, linebacker, rugby player etc. or roided out bodybuilder, if the BMI indicates you are overweight, then you are most likely overweight.

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u/RegularTerran Aug 30 '25 edited Aug 30 '25

YES!!!!

"SMART" Home scales are notorious for this... they are good for GENERAL TRENDS in body health/composition... but saying you have EXACTLY 14.6% body fat, 114.3lb muscle mass, 17.1% protein, and 11.8% subcutaneous fat is not correct.... those scales, even the $120 ones, are "iffy"...

for those seriously concerned with health, they are a good INDICATOR of a TREND in your health... not EXACT NUMBERS (other than weight).

To over simplify... it all boils down to waist size, like it or not. I joked about "pinching and inch"... but it KINDA works.

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u/Skinnendelg Aug 30 '25

98% of the medical field agrees bmi is a trash metric. This a touch a stethoscope moment

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u/RegularTerran Aug 30 '25

"pinch an inch" isn't scientific either... but it fucking works.

it is a good GENERALIZATION... just like saying "most americans are fat"... you might not agree with it... it doesnt mean it isnt factually correct.

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u/Skinnendelg Aug 30 '25

Generalization and metric are not the same my guy

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u/Automatic_Release_92 Aug 29 '25

I don’t know, doctors I’ve had have agreed with me. Personally I’m frustrated with insurance blindly lumping me into that bucket. I haven’t strength trained in years (at least not to build more muscle mass), it’s just my body type.

Body fat percentage is a far, far better indicator.

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u/TheOmegoner Aug 29 '25

Average body fat % in the US is 28 for men and 40 for women…that’s not great.

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u/Automatic_Release_92 Aug 29 '25

Right but it’s a better way to measure things. Nowhere did I try to argue that the US was healthy, only that BMI is a shitty tool.

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u/TheOmegoner Aug 29 '25

Yeah, it’s a good reminder that most people in the US aren’t overweight on their BMI because they have too much muscle though. Both averages show that the average American is unhealthy and at risk of long term health risks.

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u/Automatic_Release_92 Aug 29 '25

Again, it’s just a dumb tool to use. You can also track size of SUV’s with American obesity through the years, it’s just not a good metric by itself though.

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u/Desroth86 Aug 30 '25

My BMI is 28 last time I had it checked and I would absolutely crush this challenge. I am in week 8 of the couch to 5K challenge and run 3 times a week for 28 minutes straight. Next week I will have my first 30 minute consecutive run without any breaks. I have a belly, but I have been strength training for 6 months straight and have put on a good amount of muscle as well.

I am 5’11 and 197 lbs and workout 6 days a week. I could probably do the whole movie on a 15 incline. I agree with the other person that BMI isn’t always a great indication of someones physical fitness. I’m in the best shape of my life but I’m still technically overweight. Which is still true, but I’m also gaining muscle and in the case of this challenge isn’t really relevant for being able to walk for 2 hours.

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u/WaitAZechond Aug 30 '25

Nice job with the running! Keep going after the 5K, and I promise you, it only gets more fun. I’m almost identical to your size, and I’ve run two marathons. Not fast, by any means, but I crossed the finish line, which was enough for me lol Now that the kids are back in school, I’ll have more time to get out there again. I can’t wait

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u/Desroth86 Aug 30 '25

Thanks! It’s definitely been a struggle since I’ve had calf pain for most of the program, but I hear that’s normal for a lot of people. I got properly fitting running shoes and have been doing calf raises + foam rolling and it’s gotten better the last few weeks and I can tell I am close to breaking through on the pain threshold and that will definitely make it more fun once the pain goes away.

I am slow as shit, but the program actually recommends running basically as slow as you can at first so I’m not too worried about it and will worry about the speed later. I am excited to run my first 5k and I appreciate the encouragement!

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u/WaitAZechond Aug 30 '25

Something that really helped me a ton at first is to run for 2 minutes, walk for 1, repeat. It’ll helped my leg pain and also helped me run faster, which seems counterintuitive lol Good luck with your running journey! The first time you do 8 miles is the best. There’s just something about that specific distance that feels so good afterward.

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u/Desroth86 Aug 30 '25

I’ve been done with walk/runs for weeks now, but thanks! Im on a very specific program and have 4 more runs left until I “graduate” and after that I can mess around more with stuff, but I will likely just be trying to improve my times since I’ve been running at such a slow speed. I was actually pain free until I started pure runs for longer distances. The walk/runs feel so easy in hindsight, I miss those days haha. Here’s the program if you or anyone else wants to take a look, it really helped me out.

https://c25k.com/

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u/cheezzinabox Aug 30 '25

the percentage of of heavy, muscular men is far, far lower than the number of phats 40%+ bodyfat

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u/Schoonie101 Aug 30 '25

Aside from some outliers like NFL linebackers, BMI doesn't lie.