TV Workouts? Hey, If That’s What It Takes, Do It!

On a day like last Thursday, when I had an early morning flight to catch, I checked with my coach, and we rearranged my training for that day, so I could do my bike ride on my trainer at 4am, in order to not miss a workout.

This is something that comes so naturally to me; the idea of not moving my body, especially before I'm going to sit on a plane for six hours, is not even something that remotely crosses my mind.

I don't know why moving and exercise is really intuitive to some, and not to others.  This blog post is for you, if you feel like you DON'T enjoy it, so please read on!

Earlier in my career, when I was exclusively focused on private fitness training, I'd have to report that the most common reason clients would cite for wanting to work with a trainer was that they wouldn't exercise without one.  That they didn't have time, or it was too hard.

So…please do whatever it takes to make it less hard, to have less hurdles in your way, and then give it a go.

Thus, the them of my post- 'TV-Watching' while exercising.  Here's my take:

  • IF you feel like you don't have time to move, BUT you spend thirty minutes each morning watching the news, park your treadmill in front of your TV and at least expend some calories while you do it.
  • IF you're super pressed for time, but you somehow have a window in your schedule each evening for that favorite prime time show you watch from the couch, swap the love-seat for an elliptical and get your sweat on while you watch your favorite actors' plots unfold.
  • IF your nerves get the better of you and you know that you're eating the wrong foods for the wrong reasons, in addition to throwing out those wrong foods, extract yourself from the kitchen and move into the other room where you've set up a spin bike and, you guessed it again, watch your favorite flick that you've TiVoed as you spin  your anxiety away.

I hope that ultimately, you find something that you DO enjoy doing that requires physical exertion, and that you actually come to find the TV during a training session a huge distraction, as I do.

In the interim, however, if it takes the TV to get you moving- then go ahead and use it for all it's worth!