Something is Better Than Nothing

There’s all kinds of gear and videos and crap out there so you can exercise while you sit at home, exercise with your baby, exercise while you do the dishes, exercise while you have a heart-to-heart with your teen about the dangers of using crack, and so on. Some of it is fine, but most of it is totally stupid. To be perfectly honest, I think the optimal set-up is to exercise while you, um, work out. I mean, I get that we have busy lives and multi-task the hell out of everything all the time, so god forbid you have a spare moment when you aren’t doing three things simultaneously, but I really think giving something your full attention is meaningful.  And I think it generally means working out harder.

This is starting to sound both pro and con for one of my cardinal rules of fitness: SOMETHING IS BETTER THAN NOTHING. (All caps means it’s profound and important, or that I my pinky has a tic and I accidentally hit the all caps button. Or that I’m yelling. One of those.)  I use this rule when I have only twenty minutes and I start thinking, “Eh, forget it, I don’t have time to run.” Then I remember that even a short run does more for me than not running at all. It really helps me regularly, because I’m not very bright (you know, the whole college thing) and I tend to forget something as simple as this.

See, I’ve been to the gym and seen the lines of people on treadmills reading or staring at a TV or talking on the phone even, and I understand. Distraction lessens the pain. If it works for you, then good, do it. But I think it can potentially lessen the intensity of the workout. For me, I can do music and that’s about it.  I like being focused and intentional whenever possible for exercise.  I’m simple and easily distracted too, so I have to do it this way or I’ll find myself reading People and going, “Oh that Britney is such a wildcat” instead of say, sprinting. I also rarely work out when I’m training other people, aside from racing them or jogging alongside or doing a few spur-you-on reps. I’m not that good at splitting my attention, and obviously my first responsibility is to the person I’m training, I need to check form and be rah-rah or grrr-grrr or whatever, and I’m not so much doing that if I start feeling my own workout. Perhaps that will be my answer to the comment I get often, “It must be so great to be a trainer because you get to work out all day when you train people.” No, I really don’t work out all day, which is why I can only do two reps of everything for demonstration purposes only.

Anyhow, stuff like this weighted bracelet thing or extra-tight slip so you get exercise while you dick around town just seems goofy to me. But I might be biased because they use the word “buns” in the copy, as in “tighter buns.” Really? Are we in the late 70’s-early 80’s? Like, “Oh that Magnum P.I., he has such nice buns.” Ick. Gross.  But whatever, maybe you can’t live without your ass-firming slip, and it’s just one more way to get fit for you. My idea if you want to work out all damn day long is to set a timer and every hour do ten push-ups. Your office mates will love it, no one will think you are a freak at all.

Rambling also burns calories, I believe, and that is one thing I practice often.

Tagged as: exercise, personal training, training