Motivation to Exercise

Why do we exercise?

Let's see if we can come up with a list of reasons to get up off the sofa and break a sweat:

1. Can't see my feet. (C'mon!-if you wanna see your feet, put up the footrest on the La-Z-Boy!)

2. Want to look better for the ladies. (Or the wife, for all the fat married men out there)

3. Having a hard time breathing after zipping up those jeans. (I can too fit into the same size I wore in high school!!)

4. To keep up with the toddler in the family. (Uhh...which way did he go?...)

5. To feel better. (Without the Ben & Jerry's ice cream buzz..)

6. To help our health insurance companies save money - if we're healthier, they cut costs and lower our premiums, right? (Wait a minute, why are you laughing?!)

7. You've recently noticed ominous creaking sounds emanating from the floorboards of your living room.

8. You start sweating on a walk to get the mail.

9. A co-worker estimates your gut to be 'at least' as big as the belly on the seven-months-pregnant lady in the office.

10. To avoid being one of the "holy smokes look at that guy" people that get talked about at the fair...

Reasons it's hard to exercise:

-You really want me to put down this pint of Ben & Jerry's?

-It's hard to reach your sneaker's shoelaces.

-Physics - an object at rest will remain at rest unless acted upon by an outside force.

-It's too early.

-It's too late.

-It's too hot.

-I don't have the time.

-I don't have the right equipment. (Um hello - pushups, situps, and running require no equipment and are free!)

-I'll look stupid/people will laugh at me. (Hey, goober! - we're already laughing at how tent-like that polo shirt is on you!)

I could come up with a whole bunch more, but it's pretty clear: we want to exercise in order to look better or feel better. We tend to not exercise because it's work and we're lazy.

Me? I want to exercise because I want to be a badass. I want to be able to do incredibly crazy feats of strength and agility at work (I work in a warehouse moving heavy things - if you work in an office, well, picking up a three-ring binder might qualify as a 'crazy feat of strength'! - we toss 70lbs mowers overhead on a daily basis. I'd like to be able to do the same with the 90lbs mowers!) I want to feel good every day and feel like going rock climbing or hiking or bicycling or whatever with my family. I want to look like one of those Men's Health models - the ripped, muscular freaks with steel-cable abs and a "PERFECT" stamp on their forehead. Um....hold it a sec....no, I don't want to look like one of those guys. They're not real: working nine hour days and raising a family and taking care of a house - you can't maintain four percent bodyfat doing those things! I'll take somewhere in between my fat butt now and one of those cover model dudes.

The main thing for me to remember is to GET UP AND EXERCISE!

Let's see if I can do that for a few days in a row....