The Fitness Adviser

Nowadays, there doesn’t seem to be anyone who doesn’t know just how important exercise is. So if everyone knows how important it is, why aren’t more people dedicated to exercising? Here are the top 10 excuses people use not to workout and why the excuses don’t hold water:

[We should never say to ourselves that we can't do something. Because if we put our mind to it, we can do anything. Even if that means defying gravity.]

#10 – Exercise Makes Me Tired

You’re not working out because exercise makes you tired? My first response is that if you’re used to exercising, it gives you energy throughout the day. My second response is that it’s good it makes you tired, since who doesn’t want to get a good nights sleep?

#9 – I’m Not Trying Out For The SAS For 6 More Years Anyway…

This is a shout out to my man Henry who often comments here. Yeah, it’s 6 years off, but the sooner you start training the better you’ll be prepared once you have to try out. Besides, you should be working out for your own enjoyment and not just for the army.

#8 – Exercising Isn’t as Important as Dieting

It’s true that your diet is important, but exercise has been shown to have huge benefits for health and fitness. Besides, it just feels good. If you’re serious about being healthy and want to look good, then you have to exercise and dieting alone isn’t enough.

#7 – I’m So Out of Shape I Don’t Know Where To Start

This is one of the more valid excuses. If you’re so out of shape you can’t do anything, just try walking. If you can’t do a push up, try doing a push up on your knees. Anything to get your body going is extremely good for you, and if you keep working at it you’ll get up to being able to do harder workouts and you’ll feel great about yourself.

#6 – I’m in Such Bad Shape I’m Embarrassed To Go To The Gym

I can actually understand this one. I was once training in a gym and I saw this older, middle aged man who looked terrible and was obviously sent there by his doctor and was struggling to do curls with 5 pound weights. I remember having enormous respect for him for making the effort and coming to the gym despite it obviously being really hard for him.

You should never be embarrassed about going to the gym, although if it really bothers you, you can also do workouts from home. That being said, there are also a lot of women who feel uncomfortable training in a setting with men around which is why there are a lot of gyms that are for women only. (In Israel, we actually have gyms that have separate hours for men and women to train.)

#5 – I Hate The Gym.

Train from home.

#4 – I Have Too Many Other Obligations

This is a priority issue. If working out and keeping in shape is a top priority for you, then you’ll do it. Besides, are you really incapable of doing a minimum of 20 minutes of exercise 3 times a week just to maintain your body and health?

#3 – I Do Workout!

Sorry, but the walk from the parking lot to work does not count as a full workout, even if work is one full block away from the parking lot.

#2 – I’m Terrible at Cooking and I’m Not Able To Keep Up Proper Nutrition While Exercising

I can emphasize with this one, since I’m also pretty bad at cooking right now. Here’s my nutritional advice to the guy or girl who can’t cook that you’ll probably never hear anywhere else. Until you’re able to cook, leach off people who can.

Try to hang out with people who are good at making food as much as possible and ask them to teach you a few easy foods you can make. The same way people who are into fitness are happy to help newbies get into it, people who are good at cooking are often happy to help you learn how to do it. You just need to ask.

#1 – I Don’t Know Where To Start

This one is probably the best excuse on the list. If you don’t know where to start, talk to some people who workout and ask them some pointers. If you sign up for a gym, usually you’re given one session with a personal trainer to show you how to get started. And of course, make sure to check up on The Fitness Adviser consistently and read the Fitness 101 series on this site to see how to get started.

Those are the top 10 excuses people don’t workout and why they don’t hold water. What other excuses do you see people use in order not to exercise?

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 13th, 2009 at 12:28 am and is filed under Motivation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.