I hear a lot of people tell me they hate to exercise, or they hate running, or they “can’t” run, or they used to exercise before their knees started to complain, or they aren’t coordinated enough to play sports, or any number of excuses.
It makes me sad, because I think exercise is fantastic and I think that all the excuses serve only to build a wall between “exercisers” and “non-exercisers” for no good reason.
When I meet someone and they learn I run marathons, some eventually come around to saying “I should run a marathon.” My response to that never changes: “you have to WANT to do it; don’t even try if you don’t want it or you will be miserable every [literal and figurative] step of the way.”
And when someone says they don’t like to exercise, I think to myself that they just haven’t found an activity they enjoy. Like the saying goes: “love your work and you’ll never work a day in your life;” so goes exercise.
Make it fun.
On the off chance that you might be inspired by some visuals, I took a gander through the Power Systems catalog that came in my mail today. The catalog is designed for athletic trainers, gym owners, personal trainers and the home exerciser and they have more equipment and gadgets than you can even imagine.
Some look like a ton of fun.
Some not so much.
Some look downright dangerous.
Some look like I should start saving up to purchase for bootcamp.
Each one shows someone exercising for a different purpose, and yet the goals are the same: improving their lives through exercise.
Which ones strike YOUR fancy?
I want the weighted helmet!!
Great story on the Slide! When Reebok comes out with a new product like this, they create a team of “master trainers”, people who visit health clubs and train the trainers, and basically do marketing for the new thing.
When I belonged to Clubsport, we got the equipment first, and we totally loved it– were totally into the classes (except for the fact that I have no balance and was pathetic at it and fell. a LOT!)
So we are going to classes, and finally the master trainers show. We’re all excited to meet them, and they walk in— thighs like TREE TRUNKS. OMG. Will never forget that.
We went back to Step the next day Which was taught by — for real– a Nike leg model.