The Fitness Robot Invasion

This week, I'm going to tackle Holly's question, which might one that you've been dealing with as well...

Holly writes:

"Kevin, Here's my problem: I need to make the time between raising my 22-month old & 2 teenagers & working full time. I am gaining weight and feel tired and weak. I want to get into shape and really need help in doing so. I can't seem to get started! Help."

My response:

It's no secret that people are busy.

"Not having enough time" is the most common concern I hear from the people I come into contact with everyday.

The most common question I have for that concern is this: "Do you feel like you have to exercise for 30 minutes a day 6-7 days a week?"

Most likely the answer is "yes".

So here I am to bust a few myths.

You don't have to exercise 30 minutes a day, 7 days a week to be in great shape.

First off, many people aren't exercising at all... so just 5 minutes a week is better than none, right!?!

Second, many of the exercises that I love to teach are economical. What do I mean by that? Well, they save you time by working as many muscle groups as possible. The more muscles you workout in an exercise, the less time you have to spend working out. I'm sure this is a dream to hear... and guess what... it's TRUE! You can find a bunch of these exercises in our points program.

And third, you can break up your workouts throughout the day so that you do 5 minutes here, ten minutes there and maybe a walk after dinner. You don't have to be so rigid.

Much of the fitness industry is filled with fitness robots. You've seen them in the gym. They are the trainers that live and breathe the bench press or the aerobics classes. What they know and what they do invades our fitness routines. But it does us no good. We're not all mechanical like those freaks of nature!

I just spoke to a woman on the phone yesterday who was on a weight loss program that was so regimented that she was eating the same foods on a 3 day cycle. Talk about boring AND unsustainable.

My ultimate goal is to save my faithful from those drill sergeants. They don't understand that we are humans. We have schedules, people to meet, children to take care of... we need to make exercise a PART of our day, not a scheduled chunk.

Most of you (I hope!) have made showering a daily routine, right? Why can't it be the same for exercise? Wouldn't it be nice to think that you could just get up and exercise, just like you get up and hop in the shower?

It's possible... and this is how you do it. You start by just doing one or two exercises a day. Don't worry if it is enough or that it's not worth it. Eventually, you'll want to do more, because you'll start to feel more energy, which is the ultimate benefit of exercise.

I want you to start in a backwards sort of way. I want you to just feel it out yourself. Don't rush into anything. How many of you have rushed, gotten results, then seen yourself a year or so down the road in worse shape than you were before. The reason is because you never made the exercise part of your day... like showering, like brushing your teeth, like getting up in the morning.

So Holly, here's my first bit of advice... when you get up tomorrow, touch your toes. That will be your first step. Don't think that you aren't doing enough... just be happy you did something. Then do it again the next day... then the day after that. You'll get yourself moving, you'll even find the time to workout in a few weeks. It's just how it happens, I guarantee it!

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