Nonsensical World

Photo Illustration: Matt Mahurin

Matt, from SwimBikeRunStlouis.com, sent me this very good article the other day: Is Your Workout Wasting Your Time?

“The modern gym is a techno holiday with gadgets and lights. They’re trying to entertain people.” And this can be detrimental to exercisers who are trying to stick with their workouts. Performance psychologist Jim Loehr, EdD, author of The Power of Story and chairman and CEO of the Human Performance Institute, in Orlando, Florida, advises busy corporate executives on how to become more successful at sustaining their commitment to fitness. He has found that a primary component for making exercise sustainable is to stop tuning out during workouts. “We don’t want you disengaged while you are working out,” he says. “We tell ourselves that exercise is so painful that the only thing you can do to get through it is to watch TV. Watching television and working out is a form of multitasking. To me, however, real value lies in paying attention. It is an engagement practice, it gets your mind off work, and it aligns what you’re doing with what you’re thinking.”  ~Excerpt from article written by Paul Scott

Most of you who read this blog already know most of this stuff  - but I challenge you to take the time to read the article and share it with friends or family.  Maybe print it up and hand it to the people you see at the gym reading on the treadmills and elliptical.

Comments

[dan thacker]

Great stuff Laurie. It's tough to approach those people. The fact is most of them like reading, watching t.v, chatting while getting their daily dose of low output "cardio". I will pass it out to everyone I know.

[Brett]

That picture is freaking me out.

[overtime]

I think the best cure for tuning-out in the gym is to ask someone to overhead-squat or perform 50 wall-ball shots (or the like). Just try performing these without focusing on what you are doing.

That's the wonderful thing about the whole-body movements Crossfit employs. It's impossible to phone them in. You have to be completely present, in the moment, tuned-in.

Using your body as one integrated, powerful piece is a much better form of escapism than any TV show. Why would anyone want to tune that out? Such is human perversity...

[Milton Grasle]

Laurie picked a great topic to post, and Orie and Dan make a good point about tuning in or tuning out. I'm glad that exercise has heath benefits and makes me look better. But most enjoyable for me, is the realm I step into when I'm doing fully functional movements, and doing them at a level of intensity that makes me feel comfortably-uncomfortable, or even uncomfortably-uncomfortable. I am most in tune then with myself then. For me, it is heaven. But sometimes it's hard to explain that to someone plodding away at endless cardio on a treadmill.

[leeny hoffmann]

The article was great. It only reinforces what we all know about functional training. When I go to the "fitness room" at the MAC to work on pullups or overhead squats, I see the uninformed jogging away on the treadmills with magazines in hands and I wonder if they would change their regime if armed with the Crossfit philosophy. Or is it just more comfortable to stick with the 30 minutes of "cardio" and 20 min. of "weights" on the Nautilus? Low output= minimul returns. I like to work out smarter, not longer.

[leeny hoffmann]

oops...I mean minimal (typo)

[dan thacker]

You have to be willing to place yourself out of the comfort zone. We are all lucky enough to embrace useful and productive training. I come from an athletic background so high levels of output are nothing new to me. I do have to stop and remind myself that many people don't come from the same background. Some may have never exercised, period. I always say that something is better than nothing...so even walking to the mailbox is better than sitting on the couch. My hats off to anyone that chooses to exercise, no matter what it is. CrossFit can show you a better way, if you are willing.