I had an observation last night. Seems to me that most people in this country, actually, the world for that matter, don’t work out regularly. I live in Indianapolis where the guts are maintained with deep fried pork tenderloin that gets washed down with a milkshake. My wife and I are trying to curb the spread before we end up with diabetes and heart trouble. I know that ESPN used to have many “fitness” related tv shows and now just have “Bodyshaping”. Outside of T-mag, it’s hard to find quality information on health and exercise. Basically, I guess that at the most about 5% of the U.S. population works out regularly, and that figure includes the obvious like all military, police, fire/rescue, and student athletes. I guess that if most people in this country worked out regularly, that Gold’s and Powerhouse would be as prevalent as McDonald’s and Burger King. Any thoughts? Flames?
We are the minority. If 5% workout 99% of the 5% are big people who are still fat asses. Those of us who are big AND lean (or strive to be) are REALLY MINORITIES!
Your thoughts are no revelation to me. I agree.
I’ve noticed that on the coasts people workout more, and are leaner. When I travel to middle America I’m always surprised at how many overweight people there are. I too, would like to hear other t-people’s opinions, or flames, on this.
Move to Southern California, home of the Body Beautiful (and egos to match).
Not to split hairs, but I “train” and “lift.” Normal people who spend all day on the hip adductor machine “work out.” Working out implies a social aspect and that everything is always fun and games, always yielding positive results. As we all know, training does not always yield positive results; one can overtrain, undertrain, or regress from a previous session’s accomplishments. And, yes, most people don’t even get around to working out, let alone training. That’s why they’re fat.
Agreed. America is very, very fat. And because they do not know what we know they can’t change, even though they really hate the way they look/feel. Interestingly, I only recently discovered this fact during this past year. Because of a stressful new business venture and 911(excuses, excuses), I quickly balloned up to 285(6’3") which is the heaviest I have ever been. So,Ya know when you buy something, like a car, and all of a sudden you see that brand car everywhere. Well, I see fat people-everywhere, all the time. Now, lucky for me I have some schooling (a four year degree!) in physical fitness, I have t-mag and you guys, and a will to change my behavior. Tell you what though, if I didn’t have all these things, then the 20 lbs I’ve already lost would have been very hard, or even plus 20 instead. So, and this is something that motivates me because I used to sell memberships in a gym when I weighed 215 and couldn’t understand why people couldn’t stick to their plan/goals, this lifestyle that we choose is a better way of life, and those people that don’t have my “advantages” most times aren’t even aware that it exsists. Now when I talk to anyone who is out of shape (they think I’m in shape because I have big arms-luckily my height hides the 18%BF) I can understand how they really don’t like it but don’t have a clue, so I point them in this direction and say that once they learn the real skinny, all they have to do is follow through-or not.
Very well said, Eric C!
Where are you at in Indy? I’m on the Northwest side. My thoughts on your post are that if you ask people if they workout, you would have a much higher percentage than 5% that would say yes. The percentage of people that are actually getting results or training properly would be around 5%. I would say many people are just going to the gym and spinning their wheels.
Your observations are correct and not limited to the United States alone. Your neighbour to the north (ie. Canada) is in the same boat.
No kidding. I’m on the far NW side of Indy. My wife and I started going to the Powerhouse on North Georgetown a few months ago. We both have VERY far to go, for sure, but we’ve both become stronger and have started making wiser food choices. I started this thread because we’re both new to training and while I was doing research before we joined the gym, I quickly discovered that most if not all of the Weider stuff is junk, and besides T-mag and maybe also Dragondoor there isn’t much quality information available and it’s been frustrating.
LMAO, good ol’ Indianaoplis. Lived there for about 6 years, my dad was from Anderson (which I think may be even worse). We both have the saying “Only God can help you if you get between a fat man in Indy and his buffet bar.”
i have to agree with cressy. most people i see at my gym, including a lot of my friends, go there for the social aspect. a few sets of bench, a curl or two, shoot some basketball, and call it a day. i also think that people just have disclipline in other things. while its a “chore” to exercise for most people, i look foward to every day i get to spend with the iron. and to add to that, a lot of people are just plain stupid.
Ah yes, the buffet. The worst buffet here is of course the cheapest, CiCi’s Pizza. I think they’re nationwide. For $5 you can have salad, pop, and pizza that’s mostly crust. Very popular for lunch and church outings. People look at me weird when I start with a salad and scrape off the meager toppings and throw away the crusts.
Not only do most people not workout, the majority of the ones who do have laughable workouts. I will give you an example, I was invited to a women’s camp in LA recntly to do some kettlebell classes. As I demonstrated the classes, the women were shocked and left the room. They wanted spinning and bodyshaping with 2lb dumbbells and were afraid of a real workout. Most gyms I vist are the same story. People reading the newspaper between sets, talking to their training buddies while benching, and doing the butt cruncher machine. I know that some exercise is better than none, but come one, how about a little intensity.
Props from Patricia? Gosh, are my cheeks red:)
As most of you know,there are those that work out,and those who TRAIN. The people that work out usually don’t use the word train in a sentence.
E.C…Well Said!
Just a few thoughts!
- Obesity is now the “Official” number one health hazard in America. (It becomes official by edict from the Surgeon General). Obesity has now surpassed smoking).
- To Mike Mahler: Your experience brought up something I was thinking about the other day as I was watching the new “BowFlex Ultimate” commercials. As I stated on a previous thread, the hardbodies on there were UNBELIEVABLE. We’re talking about physique “perfection” by most anyones measure. As I looked at the woman they had on there (who in my opinion had that perfect mix of muscle and femininity), I bet a lot of women would kill for that look, BUT wouldn’t want to do the things she MOST LIKELY did to get it. (i.e. diet, hard cardio and pushing iron…and I guarantee that she didn’t get her physique via a “BowFlex”…but that’s another thread!)
Hey…this stuff we do is HARD…and most people either want a pill, an “ab vibrator” or something that will give them results in “8-minutes”. It ain’t gonna happen…
Agree w/Mahler, Mufasa, etc. There’s no question that there’s a general lack of discipline in the U.S. With convenience foods and granted, time pressures, getting regular w/o s is hard. But, there are a ton of excuses that “I just don’t have the time” That’s BS…also, I’m impressed by the strength on this board; for the majority, I’m not judging but they’re just unwilling to gut out a tough w/o.