alt Hacker NewsPut that block on a shelf at the same height. 0 work.
The fact that your muscles burn ATP just fighting gravity is a feature of biology, not fundamental to the physics involved.
If you want to read about another similar example, Google for rocket launch gravity losses.
I think you're missing the point. A lot of basic mechanics actually isn't especially intuitive because things like work simply do not map well to everyday experience. I'm not suggesting that work is defined incorrectly or something.