A new study has found that the more extreme your political beliefs are, the more likely you are to engage in physical activity. Does that mean that every American who firmly believes Texas should be its own country has a six pack and biceps that could crush a trailer? Maybe.

A new study has found that the more extreme your political beliefs are, the more likely you are to engage in physical activity. Does that mean that every American who firmly believes Texas should be its own country has a six pack and biceps that could crush a trailer? Maybe.

Researchers from the University of Sydney’s School of Public Health made the discovery that those who identify as either strongly liberal or conservative are more likely to exercise than those with no political affiliation. Mental and physical apathy, it turns out, could be related.

Participants surveyed in the study were asked to asked to rate their political orientation on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being very liberal and 10 being very conservative. They were then asked to record how many minutes per week they engaged in "vigorous" physical activity, as well as "moderate" physical activity such as walking, and sitting. Those with extreme political preferences participated in about an hour more moderate physical activity and 30 minutes more vigorous physical activity per week than those suffering from political apathy.

“Busy people at both ends of the political spectrum do not seem to have as much time for idleness,” wrote lead researcher Adrian Bauman in the report in the British Medical Journal.

The study points out that "If a person's apathetic nature can apparently extend across several aspects of their life, it makes sense that the conviction of the more fervently minded among can also manifest itself in both thought and action. But to those with a more blasé attitude toward the goings on in Washington don't get any bright ideas."

“Centrists and the politically uncommitted may be at greater risk of non-communicable diseases because of their inertia,” continued Bauman. “The politically uncommitted and centrists could consider adopting a stronger political stance for their health.”

So does this mean that aligning yourself with the general milieu of hippedom will help turn your flab into fab? Please. It's more likely that there's a connection between being a hot-blooded-ass individual who gets heated and ancy and has to exercise to not self-implode than there is between certain political beliefs and buns of steel.

Plus, this study ignores the fact that you can be "fervently minded" in millions of other ways outside of politics. You might have no interest in Obama's plans to blah blah blah, but might think rabidly and with extreme viewpoints when it comes to science or religion or German Shepard breeding as well, and that energetic thinking might also manifest itself in the form of exercise. It's not just politics that would have this effect then. But it sure sounds marketable to make it seem that way, don't it!

To be fair, this study was conducted in Europe, where obesity is 100% less of an issue than it is stateside. Ain't a person here among us who doesn't know a dangerously rotund political extremist or five.

Clearly, this study isn't the most legitimate one ever done. But, since the most exercise we've done in the last year squish our butt muscles once in the mirror, we'll definitely be looking into aligning ourselves with some politically extreme cause. It's almost bikini season for Christ's sake.