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The Great Fitness Scam
Bry_Fitness70
Posts: 2,480 Member
in Debate Club
In a nutshell, the US leads the world in fitness spending but is 143rd in the world in fitness participation. So we love our fitness gear, fitness trackers, and gym memberships, but don't actually care to use them to improve our fitness. 
The Great Fitness Scam
The United States leads the world in spending for health and fitness but still ranks lowest in measurements of actual health. How do we break the cycle?
https://outsideonline.com/2409177/america-health-fitness-spending?utm_source=sms&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=onsiteshare&utm_source=GetShift-dot-net#close
A new report from the Global Wellness Institute, a nonprofit focused on research in preventative health and wellness, found that Americans spent $264.6 billion dollars on physical activity in 2018, far more than any other nation. The United States leads the world in spending for every segment, including fitness classes ($37 billion), sports and recreation ($58 billion), apparel and footwear ($117 billion), equipment and supplies ($37.5 billion), mindful movement, such as yoga ($10 billion), and related technology ($8.1 billion). And yet, according to the academic journal The Lancet, for all of this spending, we rank 143rd globally for actual participation in physical activity. More than 40 percent of Americans fail to meet the global standard of 150 minutes per week of moderate physical activity (e.g., fast-paced walking, gardening) or 75 minutes per week of intense physical activity (e.g., running, strength training).
This data largely mirrors what we know about health care. The U.S. spends, by far, the most money of any developed nation on health care per person but ranks toward the bottom (if not last) on common measures of actual health, such as chronic disease, life expectancy, infant mortality, disability, and drug-related deaths. This is not surprising, given that insufficient physical activity, along with poor diet, is the second leading cause of preventable death, only behind smoking.
Underlying Causes
The Global Wellness Institute listed a few causes for the discrepancy between dollars spent on physical activity in the our country and actual participation: we don’t have enough sidewalks or bike lanes, youth sports have become too expensive and hypercompetitive, we lack a supportive and communal exercise culture.
In addition, the health and fitness industry has become obsessed with complexity. Sometimes this is warranted, but often it’s not. One reason people make things complex is so they can sell them. It’s hard to monetize the basics, but come up with an intricate and sexy-sounding approach to something and people will pay for it. So why are so many of us willing to fork over cash for often unnecessary services? Perhaps because complexity is a way to avoid facing the reality that what really matters for health and fitness is simply showing up and doing the work. Not thinking about it or talking about it. Just doing it.
The more complex you make something, the easier it is to get excited about, talk about, and maybe even get started—but the harder it is to stick with over the long haul. Complexity gives you excuses and ways out and endless options for switching things up all the time. Simplicity is different. You can’t hide behind simplicity. You have to show up, day in and day out, and pound the stone.
What We Can Do About It
It’s time to go back to basics. For nutrition, Michael Pollan famously offered the advice: “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.” For fitness, I’d like to add: move your body often, sometimes hard, every bit counts.
A common excuse is that people don’t have time to exercise. While this may be true if you’re working multiple jobs and struggling to meet your basic needs, it’s simply not true for the majority of people. A recent study of 32,000 Americans by the think tank Rand found that, on average, Americans have more than 4.5 hours per day of leisure time, the vast majority of which is spent sitting in front of screens. This finding was consistent across income, age, gender, and ethnicity.
Even if you insist that you’re too busy to exercise because you work some kind of important job, you ought to consider reframing exercise as an essential part of that important job. Research shows that regular exercise increases creative thinking and problem-solving, improves mood and emotional control, and enhances focus and energy. There is no line of work that doesn’t benefit from those attributes.
Physical activity is not rocket science, and it doesn’t need to cost billions of dollars. It’s actually quite simple—but simple doesn’t always mean easy. If you need more inspiration or information, below are some past columns of mine that can help you on your path. You can also follow me on Twitter, where I share daily tips and tricks backed by the latest evidence.
The minimalist strength workout that you can do at home with little to no equipment.
Fast-paced walking gets you 99 percent of the way there when it comes to regular exercise.
The best fitness tracker is not some fancy technology, it’s a training partner or community.
The latest psychological science on how to stick to a new training plan.
The latest science on exercise and depression.
Brad Stulberg (@Bstulberg)
The Great Fitness Scam
The United States leads the world in spending for health and fitness but still ranks lowest in measurements of actual health. How do we break the cycle?
https://outsideonline.com/2409177/america-health-fitness-spending?utm_source=sms&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=onsiteshare&utm_source=GetShift-dot-net#close
A new report from the Global Wellness Institute, a nonprofit focused on research in preventative health and wellness, found that Americans spent $264.6 billion dollars on physical activity in 2018, far more than any other nation. The United States leads the world in spending for every segment, including fitness classes ($37 billion), sports and recreation ($58 billion), apparel and footwear ($117 billion), equipment and supplies ($37.5 billion), mindful movement, such as yoga ($10 billion), and related technology ($8.1 billion). And yet, according to the academic journal The Lancet, for all of this spending, we rank 143rd globally for actual participation in physical activity. More than 40 percent of Americans fail to meet the global standard of 150 minutes per week of moderate physical activity (e.g., fast-paced walking, gardening) or 75 minutes per week of intense physical activity (e.g., running, strength training).
This data largely mirrors what we know about health care. The U.S. spends, by far, the most money of any developed nation on health care per person but ranks toward the bottom (if not last) on common measures of actual health, such as chronic disease, life expectancy, infant mortality, disability, and drug-related deaths. This is not surprising, given that insufficient physical activity, along with poor diet, is the second leading cause of preventable death, only behind smoking.
Underlying Causes
The Global Wellness Institute listed a few causes for the discrepancy between dollars spent on physical activity in the our country and actual participation: we don’t have enough sidewalks or bike lanes, youth sports have become too expensive and hypercompetitive, we lack a supportive and communal exercise culture.
In addition, the health and fitness industry has become obsessed with complexity. Sometimes this is warranted, but often it’s not. One reason people make things complex is so they can sell them. It’s hard to monetize the basics, but come up with an intricate and sexy-sounding approach to something and people will pay for it. So why are so many of us willing to fork over cash for often unnecessary services? Perhaps because complexity is a way to avoid facing the reality that what really matters for health and fitness is simply showing up and doing the work. Not thinking about it or talking about it. Just doing it.
The more complex you make something, the easier it is to get excited about, talk about, and maybe even get started—but the harder it is to stick with over the long haul. Complexity gives you excuses and ways out and endless options for switching things up all the time. Simplicity is different. You can’t hide behind simplicity. You have to show up, day in and day out, and pound the stone.
What We Can Do About It
It’s time to go back to basics. For nutrition, Michael Pollan famously offered the advice: “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.” For fitness, I’d like to add: move your body often, sometimes hard, every bit counts.
A common excuse is that people don’t have time to exercise. While this may be true if you’re working multiple jobs and struggling to meet your basic needs, it’s simply not true for the majority of people. A recent study of 32,000 Americans by the think tank Rand found that, on average, Americans have more than 4.5 hours per day of leisure time, the vast majority of which is spent sitting in front of screens. This finding was consistent across income, age, gender, and ethnicity.
Even if you insist that you’re too busy to exercise because you work some kind of important job, you ought to consider reframing exercise as an essential part of that important job. Research shows that regular exercise increases creative thinking and problem-solving, improves mood and emotional control, and enhances focus and energy. There is no line of work that doesn’t benefit from those attributes.
Physical activity is not rocket science, and it doesn’t need to cost billions of dollars. It’s actually quite simple—but simple doesn’t always mean easy. If you need more inspiration or information, below are some past columns of mine that can help you on your path. You can also follow me on Twitter, where I share daily tips and tricks backed by the latest evidence.
The minimalist strength workout that you can do at home with little to no equipment.
Fast-paced walking gets you 99 percent of the way there when it comes to regular exercise.
The best fitness tracker is not some fancy technology, it’s a training partner or community.
The latest psychological science on how to stick to a new training plan.
The latest science on exercise and depression.
Brad Stulberg (@Bstulberg)
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Replies
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I think one of the biggest obstacles to regular exercise for many people is the idea that good exercise will be consistently exciting and joyful and will never feel like work.
I watch a lot of infomercials for fun and with exercise programs, a frequent phrase is "It doesn't feel like a workout."
Which is a ridiculous way to think of exercise. I love exercise, it's a key component of my life. It brings me great joy. It's also sometimes hard. It's hard to get up at 5:30 AM on the days when that's the best fit for your workout. It's hard to keep going for another set or mile when you're tired. It's hard to turn down that extra drink at happy hour because you know you want to do a long run the next day.
Looking at popular culture, all the messages are "Find a workout that you love" with the idea that it won't feel like a workout. We should love our workouts. But they're still going to feel physically difficult sometimes (that's the point!). I'm not talking about pain or injuring ourselves, but if we expect to always feel motivated by our inner spark that makes each moment of every workout feel like pure joy, we are not going to be consistent. And when we're not consistent, it's hard to develop the level of fitness that makes exercise truly sustainable.
So now we've got all these boutique fitness places that trade on promising constant joy at each moment, we've got Beachbody-style workouts that promise you won't even notice you're exercising, we've got devices that make you think tracking your data will be so fun it will be sufficient motivation to get you exercising, we've got clothing ads that kinda make it look like putting on the clothes is enough to get you active somehow. It's ridiculous.
I'm not saying don't do boutique classes. If you find them fun and can afford them, knock yourself out! I have a Fitbit myself. I'm just saying that as a culture we seem to expect a trick that will somehow make exercise like not-exercise. I know I spent too many years thinking I hadn't found the right exercise technique or product because sometimes my exercise was dull or because I didn't bounce out of bed every morning full of excitement for my workout. There was nothing wrong with me. I'm just a person who finds push-ups dull and no product is going to "fix" that.
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janejellyroll wrote: »I think one of the biggest obstacles to regular exercise for many people is the idea that good exercise will be consistently exciting and joyful and will never feel like work.
I watch a lot of infomercials for fun and with exercise programs, a frequent phrase is "It doesn't feel like a workout."
Which is a ridiculous way to think of exercise. I love exercise, it's a key component of my life. It brings me great joy. It's also sometimes hard. It's hard to get up at 5:30 AM on the days when that's the best fit for your workout. It's hard to keep going for another set or mile when you're tired. It's hard to turn down that extra drink at happy hour because you know you want to do a long run the next day.
Looking at popular culture, all the messages are "Find a workout that you love" with the idea that it won't feel like a workout. We should love our workouts. But they're still going to feel physically difficult sometimes (that's the point!). I'm not talking about pain or injuring ourselves, but if we expect to always feel motivated by our inner spark that makes each moment of every workout feel like pure joy, we are not going to be consistent. And when we're not consistent, it's hard to develop the level of fitness that makes exercise truly sustainable.
So now we've got all these boutique fitness places that trade on promising constant joy at each moment, we've got Beachbody-style workouts that promise you won't even notice you're exercising, we've got devices that make you think tracking your data will be so fun it will be sufficient motivation to get you exercising, we've got clothing ads that kinda make it look like putting on the clothes is enough to get you active somehow. It's ridiculous.
I'm not saying don't do boutique classes. If you find them fun and can afford them, knock yourself out! I have a Fitbit myself. I'm just saying that as a culture we seem to expect a trick that will somehow make exercise like not-exercise. I know I spent too many years thinking I hadn't found the right exercise technique or product because sometimes my exercise was dull or because I didn't bounce out of bed every morning full of excitement for my workout. There was nothing wrong with me. I'm just a person who finds push-ups dull and no product is going to "fix" that.
I agree with all of this.
"Find something you love and do it." is bad advice for most people. If getting in shape was that much fun, we would all be in great shape. Sure, you can do fun things that simultaneously increase your fitness, but in reality, most of the effective fitness things you do are rigorous and not that much fun. The gratification for me is always getting it over with - get out of bed, get to the gym / out on the street / in the pool / on your bike / etc., and just knock it out. Make it a habit, do it so often and so consistently that you don't entertain the idea of skipping it or quitting. It is up there with your job, taking care of your family, maintaining your house, etc. Just another mandatory thing you do.
The takeaway from this article is that we just want to throw money at something that is understood to increase fitness and hope that is enough. If I get that great looking workout outfit, that $400 Garmin, and join that cool gym, then I will certainly be compelled to get in shape. This clearly doesn't work.9 -
Bry_Fitness70 wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »I think one of the biggest obstacles to regular exercise for many people is the idea that good exercise will be consistently exciting and joyful and will never feel like work.
I watch a lot of infomercials for fun and with exercise programs, a frequent phrase is "It doesn't feel like a workout."
Which is a ridiculous way to think of exercise. I love exercise, it's a key component of my life. It brings me great joy. It's also sometimes hard. It's hard to get up at 5:30 AM on the days when that's the best fit for your workout. It's hard to keep going for another set or mile when you're tired. It's hard to turn down that extra drink at happy hour because you know you want to do a long run the next day.
Looking at popular culture, all the messages are "Find a workout that you love" with the idea that it won't feel like a workout. We should love our workouts. But they're still going to feel physically difficult sometimes (that's the point!). I'm not talking about pain or injuring ourselves, but if we expect to always feel motivated by our inner spark that makes each moment of every workout feel like pure joy, we are not going to be consistent. And when we're not consistent, it's hard to develop the level of fitness that makes exercise truly sustainable.
So now we've got all these boutique fitness places that trade on promising constant joy at each moment, we've got Beachbody-style workouts that promise you won't even notice you're exercising, we've got devices that make you think tracking your data will be so fun it will be sufficient motivation to get you exercising, we've got clothing ads that kinda make it look like putting on the clothes is enough to get you active somehow. It's ridiculous.
I'm not saying don't do boutique classes. If you find them fun and can afford them, knock yourself out! I have a Fitbit myself. I'm just saying that as a culture we seem to expect a trick that will somehow make exercise like not-exercise. I know I spent too many years thinking I hadn't found the right exercise technique or product because sometimes my exercise was dull or because I didn't bounce out of bed every morning full of excitement for my workout. There was nothing wrong with me. I'm just a person who finds push-ups dull and no product is going to "fix" that.
I agree with all of this.
"Find something you love and do it." is bad advice for most people. If getting in shape was that much fun, we would all be in great shape. Sure, you can do fun things that simultaneously increase your fitness, but in reality, most of the effective fitness things you do are rigorous and not that much fun. The gratification for me is always getting it over with - get out of bed, get to the gym / out on the street / in the pool / on your bike / etc., and just knock it out. Make it a habit, do it so often and so consistently that you don't entertain the idea of skipping it or quitting. It is up there with your job, taking care of your family, maintaining your house, etc. Just another mandatory thing you do.
The takeaway from this article is that we just want to throw money at something that is understood to increase fitness and hope that is enough. If I get that great looking workout outfit, that $400 Garmin, and join that cool gym, then I will certainly be compelled to get in shape. This clearly doesn't work.
And I think the exercise thing is just a symptom of a larger issue in our culture.
We think we can purchase our way into having a clean house. We think we can purchase our way to making a home cooked dinner each night. We think we can purchase our way into close family relationships.
We (speaking generally, of course) are losing the distinction between buying things that make routine tasks easier and being the kind of person who makes the time and effort to actually execute those routine tasks.10 -
Someone was just telling me at my gym has a membership of 13,000 but only 4,000 active attendance a year. That's 9,000 of free money. And my gym is expensive!!!8
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Not sure how well one can get a buy in if people never find a way to actually enjoy the workout. Extrinsic motivation seems to be a rather weak motivator.
If I'm overgeneralizing and it is just we need to have people realistically accept some workouts are going to suck, but you might need to get through them anyway, sure.
I think part of the problem for fitness routines is with weight being such a problem, exercise and weight loss are interlinked, but weight loss adds a big component to the suck of any exercise. In a deficit, jogging for a mile can be a grinding chore. At maintenance, it can quickly become surprising how doable 10k, then 10mi becomes, with a certain bit of that runner's euphoria at the end - that part never seems to show up in deficits.10 -
I found exercise I like and enjoy, most of the time. But there are hump days and rough patches. Some days, I'm in the zone and I'm loving it. Some days, I groan and malinger and thank Heaven that I've built up my 'discipline muscles' enough to shoulder through it.
Sometimes I love the workout; sometimes I love the moment that the workout is done and I can stop for the day. But I do love the results over time, even if I sometimes hate the process.9 -
magnusthenerd wrote: »Not sure how well one can get a buy in if people never find a way to actually enjoy the workout. Extrinsic motivation seems to be a rather weak motivator.
If I'm overgeneralizing and it is just we need to have people realistically accept some workouts are going to suck, but you might need to get through them anyway, sure.
I think part of the problem for fitness routines is with weight being such a problem, exercise and weight loss are interlinked, but weight loss adds a big component to the suck of any exercise. In a deficit, jogging for a mile can be a grinding chore. At maintenance, it can quickly become surprising how doable 10k, then 10mi becomes, with a certain bit of that runner's euphoria at the end - that part never seems to show up in deficits.
Not to mention that many forms of exercise feel easier or are more enjoyable when one is within a healthy weight range and at a decent level of fitness, at least in my experience.
Running at 155 pounds feels a lot different to me than running at 115.
When you're new to fitness, it's sometimes hard to understand that the specific way that it's hard won't be that way forever. When your body isn't used to moving a lot, it feels so awkward to move. Now that my body is used to moving, I still have hard workouts but they're not hard in the same way that getting basic fitness is hard.11 -
I seem to be an outlier, so maybe I don't have great advice to give. I ride thousands of miles a year on a bike. I look forward to cross country skiing, which is like running with sticks on your feet. I hike uphill for hours. I take vacations to do these things in great places. I'd rather spend an hour biking uphill without a break than in a meeting at work. I don't enjoy lifting weights, but I enjoy the effect it has on my passions, and also on my looks. I wouldn't necessarily call skiing uphill enjoyable, but it's worth it to zip down the other side of that hill. On the whole I do these things because I love them, not for the health benefits or calories.11
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janejellyroll wrote: »I think one of the biggest obstacles to regular exercise for many people is the idea that good exercise will be consistently exciting and joyful and will never feel like work.
I watch a lot of infomercials for fun and with exercise programs, a frequent phrase is "It doesn't feel like a workout."
Which is a ridiculous way to think of exercise. I love exercise, it's a key component of my life. It brings me great joy. It's also sometimes hard. It's hard to get up at 5:30 AM on the days when that's the best fit for your workout. It's hard to keep going for another set or mile when you're tired. It's hard to turn down that extra drink at happy hour because you know you want to do a long run the next day.
Looking at popular culture, all the messages are "Find a workout that you love" with the idea that it won't feel like a workout. We should love our workouts. But they're still going to feel physically difficult sometimes (that's the point!). I'm not talking about pain or injuring ourselves, but if we expect to always feel motivated by our inner spark that makes each moment of every workout feel like pure joy, we are not going to be consistent. And when we're not consistent, it's hard to develop the level of fitness that makes exercise truly sustainable.
So now we've got all these boutique fitness places that trade on promising constant joy at each moment, we've got Beachbody-style workouts that promise you won't even notice you're exercising, we've got devices that make you think tracking your data will be so fun it will be sufficient motivation to get you exercising, we've got clothing ads that kinda make it look like putting on the clothes is enough to get you active somehow. It's ridiculous.
I'm not saying don't do boutique classes. If you find them fun and can afford them, knock yourself out! I have a Fitbit myself. I'm just saying that as a culture we seem to expect a trick that will somehow make exercise like not-exercise. I know I spent too many years thinking I hadn't found the right exercise technique or product because sometimes my exercise was dull or because I didn't bounce out of bed every morning full of excitement for my workout. There was nothing wrong with me. I'm just a person who finds push-ups dull and no product is going to "fix" that.
I feel like the complete opposite (-ish?) of this is also true: People often seem to think that if something isn't miserable and exhausting, it isn't actually beneficial exercise. They believe they need to go to the gym, and do some arduous, boring, gasping, mega-sweating thing, in order to get any decent results.
That, too, is a myth.
Sure, effort is important, and things can't be super-fun every minute. But it's rarely necessary to be literally exhausted and miserable on the road to reasonable fitness for an everyday person, in my opinion.14 -
I think there is a happy medium between doing an excercise and expecting it to be fun filled joy/excitement all the time and pushing yourself to do an excercise you hate because excercise is good for you.
So, find an excercise you enjoy isnt bad advice - the only bad part would be taking that advice to extreme and interpreting it as find an excercise that is non stop excitement/ joy
I find that the hard part is sometimes getting there, not doing the actual excercise - for example, I am in a walking group and we walk every Fri morning at 6;30.
The actual walk is always enjoyable - light excercise, good company - but the hard part is getting out of bed to get there and resisting temptation to press snooze too many times and oops its too late now.
I find what helps me is accountability or 'forced adherence' - I am in a group, they expect me to be there, I walk to work, there is then no other way to get home but walking back, team sports that you have to turn up for, a dog that needs a walk whether you want to or not.....
Disclosure: 56 year old woman who does not go to gyms.
but at least I know that and dont join one thinking I will go but then dont.
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janejellyroll wrote: »I think one of the biggest obstacles to regular exercise for many people is the idea that good exercise will be consistently exciting and joyful and will never feel like work.
I watch a lot of infomercials for fun and with exercise programs, a frequent phrase is "It doesn't feel like a workout."
Which is a ridiculous way to think of exercise. I love exercise, it's a key component of my life. It brings me great joy. It's also sometimes hard. It's hard to get up at 5:30 AM on the days when that's the best fit for your workout. It's hard to keep going for another set or mile when you're tired. It's hard to turn down that extra drink at happy hour because you know you want to do a long run the next day.
Looking at popular culture, all the messages are "Find a workout that you love" with the idea that it won't feel like a workout. We should love our workouts. But they're still going to feel physically difficult sometimes (that's the point!). I'm not talking about pain or injuring ourselves, but if we expect to always feel motivated by our inner spark that makes each moment of every workout feel like pure joy, we are not going to be consistent. And when we're not consistent, it's hard to develop the level of fitness that makes exercise truly sustainable.
So now we've got all these boutique fitness places that trade on promising constant joy at each moment, we've got Beachbody-style workouts that promise you won't even notice you're exercising, we've got devices that make you think tracking your data will be so fun it will be sufficient motivation to get you exercising, we've got clothing ads that kinda make it look like putting on the clothes is enough to get you active somehow. It's ridiculous.
I'm not saying don't do boutique classes. If you find them fun and can afford them, knock yourself out! I have a Fitbit myself. I'm just saying that as a culture we seem to expect a trick that will somehow make exercise like not-exercise. I know I spent too many years thinking I hadn't found the right exercise technique or product because sometimes my exercise was dull or because I didn't bounce out of bed every morning full of excitement for my workout. There was nothing wrong with me. I'm just a person who finds push-ups dull and no product is going to "fix" that.
I feel like the complete opposite (-ish?) of this is also true: People often seem to think that if something isn't miserable and exhausting, it isn't actually beneficial exercise. They believe they need to go to the gym, and do some arduous, boring, gasping, mega-sweating thing, in order to get any decent results.
That, too, is a myth.
Sure, effort is important, and things can't be super-fun every minute. But it's rarely necessary to be literally exhausted and miserable on the road to reasonable fitness for an everyday person, in my opinion.
Yes, you're so right. We see that opposite (and also, with diet, people feeling that anything less than a punishing deficit won't do when trying to lose weight).
Fitness should rarely be literally exhausting, painful, or miserable.5 -
I think exercise backfires more than we think too. It can be used to justify additional eating or it can cause additional eating for a person who doesn't satiate themselves well.
We know that too many people think that exercise is a necessary component of weight loss. They start their weight loss effort by hitting the gym and then their weight goes north on the scale or fails to go down which they misinterpret. They either get frustrated or double down on eating even less and/or exercising even more until they can't keep it up any longer. I have fallen into this trap.
I definitely agree that even the exercise you love doing you will hate some days. I often tell myself that if I do not feel like doing it that is when I should definitely do it. This does not apply to sickness or days where rest is physically necessary.
I also think that finding something you love may not always be realistic. I have bad knees. To knock out my cardio requirement most days I use the elliptical. I do not love doing it but I like getting it done and avoiding knee replacement as long as possible. There are other things I do love doing like walking and hiking but the elliptical is inside where the weather is never a factor.
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The concept of spending a lot of money on fitness items that you never use seems related to ordering a McDonalds super-sized Big Mac value meal and having a diet coke with it. It makes you feel like you are doing something to further your wellness, even though you are actually doing very little to actually benefit your wellness.
Ideally, your fitness regimen is a combination of things you enjoy and things that are very effective, in the sense that you get the most return for your time and effort. If I only have an hour, I want the maximum benefit from exercising in that hour - I believe that running and weight lifting are the top exercises that provide this. These are also the least amount of fun. There are days when I need to prioritize recovery and do activities with less impact, so I do the elliptical, cycle, or swim. These are more enjoyable and easier to find motivation for.
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Bry_Fitness70 wrote: »The concept of spending a lot of money on fitness items that you never use seems related to ordering a McDonalds super-sized Big Mac value meal and having a diet coke with it. It makes you feel like you are doing something to further your wellness, even though you are actually doing very little to actually benefit your wellness.
Ideally, your fitness regimen is a combination of things you enjoy and things that are very effective, in the sense that you get the most return for your time and effort. If I only have an hour, I want the maximum benefit from exercising in that hour - I believe that running and weight lifting are the top exercises that provide this. These are also the least amount of fun. There are days when I need to prioritize recovery and do activities with less impact, so I do the elliptical, cycle, or swim. These are more enjoyable and easier to find motivation for.
I think you and I are very different in outlook. (I also think you're likely more fit
).
I'll admit that I buy quite a few fitness and self-care things, most of them not terribly expensive, that I use only occasionally. (It's a "do it once in a while, for a while, for a reason" thing, usually, not a "try for a while, then put it away forever" thing. Variety is good, rehab is a thing sometimes, etc.)
I completely can't imagine devoting myself to the "most efficient" exercise. As a pretty hedonistic person, I'm mostly motivated to do things that are fun (though I'll do other non-fun things to stay in better condition or improve capabilities for the fun ones). But I'm not looking for "most return for time and effort" if "return" is defined in fitness terms.
I mostly row, on-water when I can (4 times/week in season), machine when I must (Winter); and go to spin class twice a week year 'round. I fall in and out of lifting, which I know is good for me; but at my age (64)/condition the recovery demands don't play well with the rowing that's my clear priority, so I rarely lift in prime rowing season, or the Thanksgiving-to-Christmas Holiday Challenge period. This is not a new thing; this has been routine for me for 15+ years, even while obese.
So, my relatively more expensive fitness toys (boats, rowing machine, hybrid bicycle, weights) get pretty regular use, though somewhat seasonal. Other things (various fitness bands, hula hoop, kettle bell, foam roller, that sort of thing) go in and out of rotation. (Well, not all the boats get regular use. But some boat routinely does. ).
Like I said, I think you're more fitness motivated than I am, and almost certainly more fit. Still, I'm not in terrible condition (especially for my age and history, frankly), so I don't think your "buy things to feel like you're doing something, but not use them" is necessarily a universal. May be common; don't know.7 -
Bry_Fitness70 wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »I think one of the biggest obstacles to regular exercise for many people is the idea that good exercise will be consistently exciting and joyful and will never feel like work.
I watch a lot of infomercials for fun and with exercise programs, a frequent phrase is "It doesn't feel like a workout."
Which is a ridiculous way to think of exercise. I love exercise, it's a key component of my life. It brings me great joy. It's also sometimes hard. It's hard to get up at 5:30 AM on the days when that's the best fit for your workout. It's hard to keep going for another set or mile when you're tired. It's hard to turn down that extra drink at happy hour because you know you want to do a long run the next day.
Looking at popular culture, all the messages are "Find a workout that you love" with the idea that it won't feel like a workout. We should love our workouts. But they're still going to feel physically difficult sometimes (that's the point!). I'm not talking about pain or injuring ourselves, but if we expect to always feel motivated by our inner spark that makes each moment of every workout feel like pure joy, we are not going to be consistent. And when we're not consistent, it's hard to develop the level of fitness that makes exercise truly sustainable.
So now we've got all these boutique fitness places that trade on promising constant joy at each moment, we've got Beachbody-style workouts that promise you won't even notice you're exercising, we've got devices that make you think tracking your data will be so fun it will be sufficient motivation to get you exercising, we've got clothing ads that kinda make it look like putting on the clothes is enough to get you active somehow. It's ridiculous.
I'm not saying don't do boutique classes. If you find them fun and can afford them, knock yourself out! I have a Fitbit myself. I'm just saying that as a culture we seem to expect a trick that will somehow make exercise like not-exercise. I know I spent too many years thinking I hadn't found the right exercise technique or product because sometimes my exercise was dull or because I didn't bounce out of bed every morning full of excitement for my workout. There was nothing wrong with me. I'm just a person who finds push-ups dull and no product is going to "fix" that.
I agree with all of this.
"Find something you love and do it." is bad advice for most people. If getting in shape was that much fun, we would all be in great shape. Sure, you can do fun things that simultaneously increase your fitness, but in reality, most of the effective fitness things you do are rigorous and not that much fun. The gratification for me is always getting it over with - get out of bed, get to the gym / out on the street / in the pool / on your bike / etc., and just knock it out. Make it a habit, do it so often and so consistently that you don't entertain the idea of skipping it or quitting. It is up there with your job, taking care of your family, maintaining your house, etc. Just another mandatory thing you do.
The takeaway from this article is that we just want to throw money at something that is understood to increase fitness and hope that is enough. If I get that great looking workout outfit, that $400 Garmin, and join that cool gym, then I will certainly be compelled to get in shape. This clearly doesn't work.
Not sure I agree with that or that something has to be rigorous to be effective and improving health and fitness. I love...love...love riding bikes. It makes me feel like a kid all over again. Nothing is more fun than flying around mountain trails on my mountain bike (which is usually a pretty vigorous workout with all of the climbing) or hauling *kitten* on a road bike. I also love hiking in the mountains and doing some rock climbing either outdoors or in a rock gym.
I pretty much think the opposite...I think people by and large fail in their fitness endeavors regardless of best intentions because they think they need to do this class or that or drone away on stationary equipment, etc. Finding things that I love to do that involve being physically active was pretty much a game changer for me, as I was always one of those that signed up for the gym in January and was gone by March. Outside of winter, I pretty much only use the gym for the weight room (I do spin classes and whatnot in winter)...everything else is me having fun on bikes.
The only thing I really need to put energy into is getting into the weight room because I'd rather be out riding...but the benefits are great and I do a full body program, so it's only 3x per week, so not that big of a deal. Spin is hard af, but it's hella fun and love the energy...but I'd still rather be on the trails or the road if I could have it my way all the time.6 -
Bry_Fitness70 wrote: »The concept of spending a lot of money on fitness items that you never use seems related to ordering a McDonalds super-sized Big Mac value meal and having a diet coke with it. It makes you feel like you are doing something to further your wellness, even though you are actually doing very little to actually benefit your wellness.
Ideally, your fitness regimen is a combination of things you enjoy and things that are very effective, in the sense that you get the most return for your time and effort. If I only have an hour, I want the maximum benefit from exercising in that hour - I believe that running and weight lifting are the top exercises that provide this. These are also the least amount of fun. There are days when I need to prioritize recovery and do activities with less impact, so I do the elliptical, cycle, or swim. These are more enjoyable and easier to find motivation for.
There is merit to this theory. It is a common problem when establishing a new habit or engaging in a new enterprise to mistake doing the support work for doing the actual work. An example would be if I wanted to learn how to paint I might spend money getting the necessary equipment and I might even get some books and read them but none of it is actually painting a picture.
It is kind of like that guy you know that is constantly talking about opening a new business. He discusses his ideas with you at length. He goes on fact finding trips. He makes contacts in the necessary industry. It always sounds like he is a couple of months from opening it but years go by and it is all sizzle and no steak.3 -
I think of it like this: my day-to-day fitness may not always be fun (I didn't particularly enjoy my three miles on the treadmill at 6 AM), but keeping up with it allows me to do the things I do find fun (the run alongside the river this weekend).
Yeah, I could just do the fun stuff . . . but then it wouldn't be as fun, as I wouldn't have the training base for the longer runs that I really enjoy.
I think there are (at least) two groups of people. There are people who see fitness as something purely functional. It wouldn't be surprising that these people would want to focus on the most efficient exercises. And there are those of us who get great personal satisfaction from certain fitness activities (runners and cyclists come to mind, among others). Even though running may not be the absolute best use of my fitness time, that doesn't matter to me because it's like a hobby that I do for the love of it, it just has the bonus of keeping me fit.
For some other aspects of fitness (like resistance training), I am way more functional. I do the exercises that I believe will support my running and those that support overall muscle mass for my health. I'm not like some of these people here who truly enjoy resistance training, so it gives me some insight into how those that don't have a favorite cardio activity are approaching that.3 -
janejellyroll wrote: »I think of it like this: my day-to-day fitness may not always be fun (I didn't particularly enjoy my three miles on the treadmill at 6 AM), but keeping up with it allows me to do the things I do find fun (the run alongside the river this weekend).
Yeah, I could just do the fun stuff . . . but then it wouldn't be as fun, as I wouldn't have the training base for the longer runs that I really enjoy.
I think there are (at least) two groups of people. There are people who see fitness as something purely functional. It wouldn't be surprising that these people would want to focus on the most efficient exercises. And there are those of us who get great personal satisfaction from certain fitness activities (runners and cyclists come to mind, among others). Even though running may not be the absolute best use of my fitness time, that doesn't matter to me because it's like a hobby that I do for the love of it, it just has the bonus of keeping me fit.
For some other aspects of fitness (like resistance training), I am way more functional. I do the exercises that I believe will support my running and those that support overall muscle mass for my health. I'm not like some of these people here who truly enjoy resistance training, so it gives me some insight into how those that don't have a favorite cardio activity are approaching that.
Very much this.
The recipe for feeling your best and doing the things you truly enjoy has some ingredients that by themselves are not always pleasant. I hate being on a cholesterol med. Many mornings it makes me really feel bad. Sometimes that lasts all day. I require myself to do 30 minutes of cardio each morning in hopes that I can get rid of that medication finally.
Being perpetually out of shape for a very long time I can tell you there is not even a vacation spot that is so great that being out of shape won't still dampen the experience. Alternatively now that I am starting to be in better shape I went to a kind of meh vacation spot not long ago and I had a blast because I could do everything much more easily than before. Exercise ripples outward through so many areas of our lives.
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janejellyroll wrote: »magnusthenerd wrote: »Not sure how well one can get a buy in if people never find a way to actually enjoy the workout. Extrinsic motivation seems to be a rather weak motivator.
If I'm overgeneralizing and it is just we need to have people realistically accept some workouts are going to suck, but you might need to get through them anyway, sure.
I think part of the problem for fitness routines is with weight being such a problem, exercise and weight loss are interlinked, but weight loss adds a big component to the suck of any exercise. In a deficit, jogging for a mile can be a grinding chore. At maintenance, it can quickly become surprising how doable 10k, then 10mi becomes, with a certain bit of that runner's euphoria at the end - that part never seems to show up in deficits.
Not to mention that many forms of exercise feel easier or are more enjoyable when one is within a healthy weight range and at a decent level of fitness, at least in my experience.
Running at 155 pounds feels a lot different to me than running at 115.
When you're new to fitness, it's sometimes hard to understand that the specific way that it's hard won't be that way forever. When your body isn't used to moving a lot, it feels so awkward to move. Now that my body is used to moving, I still have hard workouts but they're not hard in the same way that getting basic fitness is hard.
I wouldn't know, if I ever ran at 155, it was before I was a teenager.
I do remember the worst run of my life was trying to get under a 10 minute mile and I was still around or over 200. I think I was 5-15 seconds off. I was sure I was going to puke in the bathroom at the store I went to after, and just barely kept it in.
In the 160s I didn't feel anything like that running a faster pace for 13 miles.2 -
janejellyroll wrote: »I think of it like this: my day-to-day fitness may not always be fun (I didn't particularly enjoy my three miles on the treadmill at 6 AM), but keeping up with it allows me to do the things I do find fun (the run alongside the river this weekend).
Yeah, I could just do the fun stuff . . . but then it wouldn't be as fun, as I wouldn't have the training base for the longer runs that I really enjoy.
I think there are (at least) two groups of people. There are people who see fitness as something purely functional. It wouldn't be surprising that these people would want to focus on the most efficient exercises. And there are those of us who get great personal satisfaction from certain fitness activities (runners and cyclists come to mind, among others). Even though running may not be the absolute best use of my fitness time, that doesn't matter to me because it's like a hobby that I do for the love of it, it just has the bonus of keeping me fit.
For some other aspects of fitness (like resistance training), I am way more functional. I do the exercises that I believe will support my running and those that support overall muscle mass for my health. I'm not like some of these people here who truly enjoy resistance training, so it gives me some insight into how those that don't have a favorite cardio activity are approaching that.
Very much this.
The recipe for feeling your best and doing the things you truly enjoy has some ingredients that by themselves are not always pleasant. I hate being on a cholesterol med. Many mornings it makes me really feel bad. Sometimes that lasts all day. I require myself to do 30 minutes of cardio each morning in hopes that I can get rid of that medication finally.
Being perpetually out of shape for a very long time I can tell you there is not even a vacation spot that is so great that being out of shape won't still dampen the experience. Alternatively now that I am starting to be in better shape I went to a kind of meh vacation spot not long ago and I had a blast because I could do everything much more easily than before. Exercise ripples outward through so many areas of our lives.
Yes, I have a family member who is no longer able to do some of the things that she loves due to her weight and the impact to her joints over the years. They were things I'd never connected with fitness previously. For example, she loves art but she can no longer spend hours walking through a museum.
Until you're in a position to experience it or witness it in someone close, I don't know if you really contemplate it (at least I never did).
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Interesting there seems to be at least a few people that found a cardio that was fun, but view weights as purely functional.
I'm about the opposite. I've found running fun at the times I've done something new in it, but even the scenic outdoors stuff, I still just get the most out of whatever I'm listening to and the health.
Weights I tend to find a way to keep pushing at, even at times I know my current deficit means practical advancement is not possible. Even for all the time I was stuck using just barbell routines by the limits of working out at home.2 -
Bry_Fitness70 wrote: »The United States leads the world in spending for every segment, including fitness classes ($37 billion), sports and recreation ($58 billion), apparel and footwear ($117 billion), equipment and supplies ($37.5 billion), mindful movement, such as yoga ($10 billion), and related technology ($8.1 billion). And yet, according to the academic journal The Lancet, for all of this spending, we rank 143rd globally for actual participation in physical activity.
Not so fast. Almost half the spending was "apparel and footwear", which lots of people buy simply to wear, not to increase their fitness. It's misleading to include sneakers, yoga pants, baseball hats, and other dual-purpose products in their numbers.
Second, it's false to assume that those who don't get enough activity are the same subset of people who spend on classes, sports, devices, etc. Those who spend on fitness are probably more likely to be meeting the activity guidelines than those with little to no spending. So if less was spent on fitness, even fewer people might meet the guidelines. And conversely, more might be meeting the guidelines if more people invested in their fitness.
I agree with his solutions, just not the cheap shot at the fitness industry, which overall, is helping the problem, not causing it.15 -
Bry_Fitness70 wrote: »
"Find something you love and do it." is bad advice for most people. If getting in shape was that much fun, we would all be in great shape. Sure, you can do fun things that simultaneously increase your fitness, but in reality, most of the effective fitness things you do are rigorous and not that much fun. The gratification for me is always getting it over with - get out of bed, get to the gym / out on the street / in the pool / on your bike / etc., and just knock it out. Make it a habit, do it so often and so consistently that you don't entertain the idea of skipping it or quitting. It is up there with your job, taking care of your family, maintaining your house, etc. Just another mandatory thing you do.
The takeaway from this article is that we just want to throw money at something that is understood to increase fitness and hope that is enough. If I get that great looking workout outfit, that $400 Garmin, and join that cool gym, then I will certainly be compelled to get in shape. This clearly doesn't work.
This is a great topic. Thanks for sharing.
To me, your bolded comment above hit the nail on the head regarding what works and what doesn't in determining long term fitness success. Fitness must become a habit. What's the saying? "We are what we habitually do." Motivation comes and goes (just read the forum posts!) but those who are physically fit have made fitness a habit that is part of their lifestyle.
With that said, does that mean that I shouldn't be looking at a new Garmin, a new spandex race kit and fancy carbon wheels for my bike?
1 -
I think this goes beyond just fitness related spending. Pretty much all products are marketed with the proposition that they will make your life easier and solve your problems without you having to put in any effort. You see the same thing with kitchen appliances, cleaning supplies, cosmetics, etc. I'm sure the US also leads the world in spending on those areas, too. We're just conditioned to think that spending money is in some way going to improve our lives and make us happier, and that possessing objects is an indicator of success.7
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I think this goes beyond just fitness related spending. Pretty much all products are marketed with the proposition that they will make your life easier and solve your problems without you having to put in any effort. You see the same thing with kitchen appliances, cleaning supplies, cosmetics, etc. I'm sure the US also leads the world in spending on those areas, too. We're just conditioned to think that spending money is in some way going to improve our lives and make us happier, and that possessing objects is an indicator of success.
Yeah, that was my thought too, as well as that the US likely leads the world in lots of different kinds of spending.1 -
I think this goes beyond just fitness related spending. Pretty much all products are marketed with the proposition that they will make your life easier and solve your problems without you having to put in any effort. You see the same thing with kitchen appliances, cleaning supplies, cosmetics, etc. I'm sure the US also leads the world in spending on those areas, too. We're just conditioned to think that spending money is in some way going to improve our lives and make us happier, and that possessing objects is an indicator of success.
Yeah, that was my thought too, as well as that the US likely leads the world in lots of different kinds of spending.
and that's probably directly related to the fact that the US is the richest country in the world.3 -
"In addition, the health and fitness industry has become obsessed with complexity..."
^^^This...0 -
IMO, a big part of it is also the reality that people need to manage their expectations. It isn't a linear process and it takes time. You did not get fat and out of shape overnight, so getting lean and fit won't happen overnight either.
3 -
IMO, a big part of it is also the reality that people need to manage their expectations. It isn't a linear process and it takes time. You did not get fat and out of shape overnight, so getting lean and fit won't happen overnight either.
So many infomercials or "weight loss systems" promise that it will be fast and you will not have to change anything else about your life.0 -
IMO, a big part of it is also the reality that people need to manage their expectations. It isn't a linear process and it takes time. You did not get fat and out of shape overnight, so getting lean and fit won't happen overnight either.
Well it is a linear process but we have no easy way of measuring/perceiving it. Trusting the power of incremental change is not always easy.3
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