[trose]

Stop ruining our fun! Seriously though, there seems to be some portion of the programming community that like to shit on people for enjoying exercise and caring about how they look. Doesn't bother me a whole lot. I know I'll always get opportunities to beat those people in an interview if I am just better dressed and more sociable.

[askafriend]

I don't understand what's so bad about being healthy and fit? You'll feel better all around and be sharper mentally too.

[pc86]

My armchair psychology says that the stereotypical programmer is physically small/weak, and may be unable to do much physical activity (I have asthma and definitely used it as a crutch in junior high and HS to get out of most any physical activity). On the flip side, the jocks in HS were often the cool ones. Think of the stereotypical football QB in any HS movie. Pretty much the exact opposite of the stereotypical nerd student, except maybe the QB isn't a total idiot.

I was told in HS that once I was out of college and had a job, it wouldn't matter how strong or popular someone was, but that how smart they were would determine their standing in life. Both turned out to be pretty blatantly wrong, but if you're told that, and if you're counting on that to be the case, it could be a pretty threatening thing to see that the jock who goes to Gold's Gym at 5 AM, tailors his clothes and pays a lot of money for a haircut actually knows what he's doing when it comes to programming or some other intellectual task.

Since college I've lost fat, put on muscle, started caring about how I look, and gotten married. The change in how I am treated by your stereotypical programmer is like night and day (for the worse), and the change in how I am treated by everyone else is just as severe (for the better).