{"id":8968,"date":"2026-04-13T03:01:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T02:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/?p=8968"},"modified":"2026-04-13T03:01:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T02:01:13","slug":"palabras-casi-intraducibles-workout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2026\/04\/13\/palabras-casi-intraducibles-workout\/","title":{"rendered":"(Almost) untranslatable words: workout"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As you already know, every once in a while, I like to write on this blog about a word or expression I find particularly accurate in English (or Spanish) and which I think loses strength and meaning when translated into Spanish (or English, depending on the case).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today, we\u00b4re adding one more word to our list of <a href=\"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/category\/intraducibles\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/es_es\/category\/intraducibles\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">untranslatables<\/a> ; an English word that\u00b4s very widely used, and I\u00b4d say not only among English-speaking folks: <strong><em>workout<\/em><\/strong>. The dictionary translates it as \"ejercicio\" (exercise) or \"entrenamiento\" (training), but those two words, in my opinion, are a bit vague and generic, while <em>workout<\/em> conveys something a lot more tangible: <strong>each specific training session, each period of time dedicated to exercising<\/strong>. And that involves a certain amount of work, which is implicit in the word itself, as it derives from the verb -<em>to work<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_20251204_112505-e1776031171929.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"676\" height=\"521\" data-attachment-id=\"8967\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/img_20251204_112505\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_20251204_112505-e1776031171929.jpg?fit=2580%2C1987&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2580,1987\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;1.75&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;AC2003&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1764847501&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;4.745&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;250&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.02&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"IMG_20251204_112505\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;Drawing of a stick figure walking up a set of steps, with an arrow pointing upwards, and the message \u00abBurn calories, not electricity. Take the stairs.\u00bb&lt;\/p&gt;\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_20251204_112505-e1776031171929.jpg?fit=676%2C521&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_20251204_112505-e1776031171929-1024x789.jpg?resize=676%2C521&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8967\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_20251204_112505-e1776031171929.jpg?resize=1024%2C789&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_20251204_112505-e1776031171929.jpg?resize=300%2C231&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_20251204_112505-e1776031171929.jpg?resize=768%2C591&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_20251204_112505-e1776031171929.jpg?resize=1536%2C1183&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_20251204_112505-e1776031171929.jpg?resize=2048%2C1577&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_20251204_112505-e1776031171929.jpg?resize=16%2C12&amp;ssl=1 16w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_20251204_112505-e1776031171929.jpg?resize=676%2C521&amp;ssl=1 676w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_20251204_112505-e1776031171929.jpg?resize=600%2C462&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/IMG_20251204_112505-e1776031171929.jpg?w=1352&amp;ssl=1 1352w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(Photo of a sign in my office building, encouraging people to take the stairs instead of the elevator: \"Burn calories, not electricity. Take the stairs.\")<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Indeed, exercising takes effort, and not only in the sense of being physically tiring (which, once you show up and get started, is probably not that big of a deal). <strong>The hardest part is staying consistent<\/strong>, and keeping up the progress without waiting to feel like doing it, because, let\u00b4s be realistic, you\u00b4re almost never going to feel like doing it... (By the way, in case you didn\u00b4t know, that\u00b4s completely normal; elite athletes don\u00b4t feel like going out for a run every day either, and they do it anyway. That\u00b4s why it\u00b4s so important to create routines to make things easier for ourselves and help us achieve our goals).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The good news is that all that work done over the weeks, months, and years finally has its rewards: <strong>when we work out regularly, we keep ourselves in better shape, we feel better, and are able do more things<\/strong>. In other words,<strong> our quality of life improves<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, what if we could apply the same reasoning to other types of exercise, not only physical? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This all came up because I heard a phrase the other day that I believe is worth sharing. I\u00b4m not sure whether it\u00b4s original from the person I heard it from, a coach called Alexias Anderson;  it was part of a talk on Adaptive Intelligence (a key topic given the times we\u00b4re living in, accelerated and ever changing, so I\u00b4m I\u00b4ll be posting more about this for sure):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>Every unfamiliar experience is a workout.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I really like the parallel this lady draws here: <strong>in the same way exercise is uncomfortable and tiring for your body, but beneficial in the long term, having to figure things out in an unfamiliar environment is uncomfortable and tiring for our brain, but also beneficial in the longt term<\/strong>. It allows the brain to learn to adapt to different situations, become more flexible, and develop a wider repertoire of strategies, responses, and actions depending on the scenario. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And, as it is the case with physical exercise, <strong>the key is to do it often, even if it\u00b4s in small doses<\/strong>. There\u00b4s no need to do anything too radical, <strong>the idea is to progressively get exposed to experiencies and activities where our auto-pilot is of no use<\/strong>, so we need to figure things out in order to keep going. It may be something as simple as using a different route to get back home (with no Google Maps!), starting a new hobby or learning a new skill that has very little to do with what we\u00b4re naturally good at.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A silly example I can think of is related to the songs we sing in our workplace choir: I\u00b4m usually in the soprano group, but lately we\u00b4ve been having very low attendance, so for some of the songs, I\u00b4ve had to move to the Alto line... It\u00b4s astounding how much extra energy it takes me to learn these new versions of the songs; I find it super hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But as we said before, the good news is that all this extra energy expense has its rewards, and in my opinion, the reward is twofold. On the one hand, <strong>by intentionally putting ourselves in situations that are somewhat uncomfortable, we progressively increase our tolerance to discomfort<\/strong>, and this can give us a lot of freedom, and also open up options in our daily life. And on the other hand, <strong>when life <a href=\"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2024\/10\/21\/transiciones\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">inevitably<\/a> brings us big moments of change<\/strong> with the capacity to shake our world and knock us out of place, <strong>we will be a lot better prepared<\/strong>, with resources to better weather the storm and even take advantage of the circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What do you think of this idea? In which ways do you give your body, and your mind, a workout?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Como ya sab\u00e9is, de vez en cuando en este blog me gusta hablar de alguna palabra o expresi\u00f3n que me parece especialmente acertada en ingl\u00e9s (o en espa\u00f1ol) y que creo que pierde fuerza y significado al traducirla al espa\u00f1ol (o al ingl\u00e9s, seg\u00fan el caso). Hoy a\u00f1adimos a nuestra lista de intraducibles una palabra &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2026\/04\/13\/palabras-casi-intraducibles-workout\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">(Almost) untranslatable words: workout<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":3116429,"featured_media":8967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"BinaryWords: Palabras (casi) intraducibles: workout \/ (Almost) untranslatable words: workout","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Empezando fuerte la semana \/ Starting the week strong","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4990,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiracion-inspiration","category-general","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3DPtR-2kE","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9327,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2026\/06\/22\/planificacion-trimestral\/","url_meta":{"origin":8968,"position":0},"title":"Quarterly planning","author":"binarybea","date":"22\/06\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Una vez m\u00e1s, llegamos al momento del a\u00f1o en el que, en el hemisferio norte, disfrutamos del d\u00eda m\u00e1s largo y de la noche m\u00e1s corta: es el solsticio de verano. 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La verdad es\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Herramientas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Herramientas","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/category\/herramientas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_20250621_201655.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_20250621_201655.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_20250621_201655.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_20250621_201655.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_20250621_201655.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9425,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2026\/07\/13\/15-segundos-para-imaginar\/","url_meta":{"origin":8968,"position":1},"title":"15 seconds to imagine","author":"binarybea","date":"13\/07\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Ya estamos casi a mediados de julio; \u00bfqu\u00e9 tal llevas el verano? \u00bfMucho calor? (Si est\u00e1s en el hemisferio norte, claro... No s\u00e9 si tendr\u00e9 muchos lectores en el hemisferio sur, pero me gusta mencionarlo por si acaso.) Yo este fin de semana me lo he tomado con muuuuucha calma,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Personal&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Personal","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/category\/diario-journal\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_20260621_211215.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_20260621_211215.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_20260621_211215.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_20260621_211215.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_20260621_211215.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9392,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2026\/07\/06\/bienvenida-mar\/","url_meta":{"origin":8968,"position":2},"title":"Welcome, Mar!","author":"binarybea","date":"06\/07\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a1Ya soy t\u00eda abuela! :-) Esta semana ha nacido Mar, la primera sobrina-nieta de la familia, y hoy hemos podido verla un ratito por videoconferencia. 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