Stop Tuning Out, Start Tuning In
The prevalence of iPods, TVs, Walkmans and other entertainment gadgets in our society has found its way into the fitness world and it threatens to cause many unsuspecting health goers to fail in their attempts to reach their intended goals.
As I was leaving the Body Sculpt class I teach at a local gym, I began to notice the number of television sets that were in the facility. They were everywhere — hanging from the ceiling, on the walls, and even on some of the exercise equipment itself. The next thing I noticed was the number of people listening to something that involved the use of headphones. I began to count of the number of these people who were actually getting the full benefit of their exercise routine. The answer was a sad little if any at all.
Some were there before I started my class and were still there after it had ended. Three of them had not even broken a sweat! It struck me as funny and sad at the same time that I had just given 15 people a workout that required them to move their bodies through space, exercising the body as one unit and elevating their heart rate in that same hour that these people spent on the treadmill/elliptical machine. Whom do you believe got more from their time spent at the gym?