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In Russia, you will soon be able pay for your subway ticket in squats — 30 of them for a 92-cent ride. Just squat down in front of the special vending machine enough times, and it will spit out a ticket free of charge.

The gimmick isn't just so that everyone can practice their best fake fart sounds and laugh, but is actually a promotion for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. It's all about fitness, supposedly. "The initiative is being carried out by the Russian Olympic committee and the vending machines will be available for the next month," USA Today reported.

If case you're wondering, that's about 3.6 Calories burned for that 92-cent ride (assuming you are an typical 160-lb. human like me). Russia's initiative got us thinking of a wonderful world where you could pay for all your transportation in exercise. Imagine paying for your next flight in Crossfit workouts, or your gasoline in jumping jacks. Americans could become the sturdiest people on the planet and possess the roundest bums.

Going with Russia's basic squat-currency conversion rate, here's our calculations of what various modes of transportation would cost:

A New York Subway Train ($2.25) = 73 squats

An Average Taxi Ride ($8.65) = 282 squats

A One-Way Amtrak Ride from New York to DC ($84) = 2,730 squats

A Round-Trip Amtrak Ride from New York to Boston ($208) = 6,780 squats

A Cross-Country Plane Ticket from New York to LA ($320) = 10,410 squats

A 7-Day All-Expenses Included Cruise ($3,995) = 130,260 squats

The Most Expensive First Class Flight We Could Find ($25,000) = 815,190 squats

You might have to enlist your kids to pay off your squats.

Here's a video of the squat machine in action:

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.