Friday, January 6, 2012

Working Out Why Working Out Sucks Doesn’t Suck (plus Giveaway)


I’ll be honest: I was a little apprehensive as I started reading Working Out Sucks! by Chuck Runyon, the CEO and Co-Founder of Anytime Fitness. I figured that it would be a book-length brochure for his fitness center enterprise, and besides… I was already in the choir that he was preaching to.



I mean, didn’t I write posts like “Working Out Really Sucks,” “You Know What Sucks? Working Out!” and “Nothing Sucks Like Working Out Sucks”? No, I’m asking. Did I write those posts? I’ve written a lot of stuff and I can’t keep track of it all…


But as I got into the book, I noticed that there was something about the tone… a little bit snarky while still being smart, a little bit in-your-face confrontational while staying lively and conversational, that sparked my interest. Oh, there’re plenty of informative facts and figures (as well as a 21-day health and fitness, plus coupons for a free 30-Day Anytime Fitness club pass or a complimentary one-year Anytime Health online membership), but the whole thing comes off more like an intervention.

 

Chuck goes into vivid detail about all the roadblocks that we face on our path to a healthier life–lack of time, not enough money and the other usual suspects–then proceeds to drive a steamroller over each and every one of them in turn.



And it’s all true. All the excuses that trip us up aren’t nearly as daunting or intimidating as we like to make them out to be.

But where the book really drew me in were the personal accounts of real people and their watershed moments of how they changed their lives through a commitment to exercise and healthy living. These short, first-person accounts (accompanied by before-and-after pics) read like short blog posts and really drive home the message more that statistics and speechifying ever could.




Simple changes can make your life better. You can make a small investment in yourself and your future and see dividends almost immediately. Some days, working out DOES suck, but the only thing that feels worse that exercising is NOT exercising.


Note: If you need one more reason to pick up Working Out Sucks!, all profits from the book are going to Limbs for Life, a global nonprofit organization providing prosthetic care for individuals who can’t otherwise afford it.



Giveaways Don’t Suck!
I know how you are about paying for things, so here’s your opportunity to get a free copy of Working Out Sucks!, compliments of Anytime Fitness.

Enter the following two ways:

•    Mandatory Entry: Leave a comment on this post telling me what excuses you have used in the past to get out of working out.

•    Optional Extra Entry: Tweet the following…

@JackSht may suck but Working Out Sucks doesn’t! http://bit.ly/xOLnkc  #workingoutsucks

Giveaway ends this Sunday, January 8, at 10 PM CST. Good luck… and may God have mercy on your soul!

Fitfluential LLC compensated me for this sponsored post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.



64 comments:

  1. I have about 2 gajillion excuses to not work out but, the worst one is that I will set a time to work out. Decide I am hungry about 5 minutes before and eat a snack and then tell myself "oh, I better let my food settle first" and then I sit on the couch and get sucked into the abyss of tragic daytime TV and before you know it...*poof*...work out time is gone! So sad.

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  2. My biggest excuse has been that working out will make me tired and sore and I won't be able to take care of the kids. Moving past that this year. I am tired and sore and think that working out sucks but I'm doing it. The kids...well, they're around here somewhere and old enough to help sore mom out of the chair. ;)

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  3. Also tweeted about the giveaway.

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  4. I didn't have a good pair of workout shoes use to be my favorite excuse.. Now I do Birkam Yoga, which requires no shoes so I can't really use that excuse any more haha

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  5. 1. It's slightly tepid outside and I need a perfect balmy weather to go running

    2. The treadmill went really hard last week with me, so I think IT needs rest

    3. I got home late (5:05pm as opposed to 5:00pm)

    4. I lost weight this week, I can take today and tomorrow off

    5. I need to spend some quality time with my couch. It misses me.

    (I actually have used all of these. No joke)

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  6. My favorite excuse is I don't have the time. Guess what? If get off Facebook and the computer the time magically appears. Imagine that! I have this book on my to read list so winning a copy would be awesome.

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  7. I also tweeted the giveaway - https://twitter.com/#!/castingon/status/155281570058604544

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  8. My worst excuse ever is ... " I can't go workout, I have kids" ... when the truth is they are my reason for working out and losing weight. Plus, my gym has awesome child care that my kids love going to.

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  9. I've used every excuse written in the comments, plus more more more. But my best (and I think valid)"oh my god I'm in labor, I'll have to wait until tomorrow to hit the trail."
    I was not even pregnant. Oh, and the excuse was given to ME, not anyone else. lol
    Yeah, I'm freaky like that.

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  10. I use my two kids as an excuse. The guilt of not spending time with them keeps me from working out on certain days.

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  11. Wow, for me it's the dreaded 'Hangover' and on other occasions 'Hangover II'...... Why do I do that to myself???? HA

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  12. It is cold. I am tired. It is hot. I will do it later. I don't want people to see me. I feel stupid. It isn't like I ever see any improvement anyway. Working out makes me feel like I can eat more, then I do eat more than I should, and gain weight.

    I think that covers most of them.

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  13. I can't exercise. For some reason it makes me sweaty, tired, and raises my heart rate... FRIGHTENING!

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  14. I'm too tired, I forgot my shoes, the fitness center is probably crowded, etc. I know ALL of the excuses!

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  15. I used to say "At this weight, I CAN'T exercise much (I started out at 331 pounds). I just don't have the energy/strength". But then one day I was doing my small amount of energy and I happened to be having a super great day. I realized that I was kicking higher than the stove, feeling energetic. I COULD do it...I just hadn't wanted to. Ever since then, I have pushed myself. I signed myself up for a 5K. I even run some. I CAN! I'm down to 285 so far. :) I hope I win the book! I hate spending money on things LOL

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  16. My favorite one from my past was not working out cause there were all these beautiful skinny women there who made me feel intimidated. I look back on that moment and wonder who that girl was that allowed herself to be intimidating by those women...

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  17. Let's see...excuses...yep pretty sure I write the book on that! My favorites are "I'm tired","I'll workout extra tomorrow" and "I'm too busy". those are the top contenders but then we have some off the wall ones like "I might clean the house instead" (yea sure like that's more fun) or " I dont want to have to mess my hair up" or even "Jack sh!it says working out sucks so maybe I should skip today"

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  18. It's too cold outside to walk a couple of blocks to the YMCA. I have to check the internet first and then I will go to the YMCA. I only have time to do 1/2 an hour on the treadmill so I will wait until I have time to do a full hour on the treadmill.

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  19. My best excuse is "Anything I eat gives me gas and if I go workout today, I will kill everyone at the gym from methane poisoning. Now you don't want that on my conscience, do you?"

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  20. What excuse haven't I given? I'm too tired! My knee hurts! I'm too fat! I need new tennis shoes! It's a long way into town to the gym! It's too cold outside! Sorry, I can't ride, my tire is flat on my bike! It's rainy! I've got a headache! I'll get sweaty! Oh yes, I've used them all and tons more!

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  21. Its too cold to get out of bed (morning). I don't want to be all sweaty for work in the afternoon (lunchtime). I'm too exhausted from work (evening). -LindseyJ

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  22. I don't want to.
    Deb :-)

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  23. LOL this post is hilarious.

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  24. I have used a past injury as an excuse for way too long.

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  25. It's too hot to run. Really. It was 107 that morning. (Yes, I said morning.)

    I'm too tired.

    I need to cook dinner.

    I need to help kids with homework.

    I need to do the laundry.

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  26. "I have three little kids, two still in diapers that need constant supervision. I have literally tried doing basic floor exercises while planting them in front of the TV and after about two seconds of jumping jacks I have one laughing baby clinging to each leg." True story!

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  27. I'll usually use some bodily pain, i.e. sore muscles, or I think a blood vessel must hurt somewhere even if I can't feel it to keep me from working out.

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  28. JackSh*t, I always use the one tried and true method of avoiding working out. It's a twofold approach that helps me to a) deny responsibility and b) make myself self-important. I say, "I just don't have enough time to workout". And voila, it works. What is really a 2 hour meeting in the morning, becomes an all day affair that kept me from attending the gym at 10:00 pm. Although I slept in on Saturday and didn't wake up until 1:00 pm due to partying until 7:00 a.m. the night before becomes, "I was so exhausted from all the contacts I had to make the day before, I simply had nothing else left to give to myself". Yep, I become the martyr who's fitness is secondary to saving the world in which we live. In short---
    I have more time than I think if I would actually be responsible about it.

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  29. I am too fat to be seen in public...I am too heavy for the machines...I don't feel bendy enough...that old list is just endless!

    Hopefully Canadians can play too!

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  30. My excuse is that the basement to too cluttered.

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  31. I've used all the normal tired/no time excuses before, but I've also avoided working out because I was too mad. So I pouted.

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  32. I am too tired, too stressed, too lazy, I've got "other" things to do...

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  33. My best one: "I'm too fat to work out". Yeah, that was my excuse for a long time. Now, my most common excuse is that I'm too lazy to work out. I'm going to exercise in about 20 minutes, so that eliminates that excuse.

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  34. No excuses here. Been at it for 30++ years & even when I worked 60+ hours a week. Before then - well.... ;-)

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  35. My most recent one is that I can't find my MP3 player and I can't work out w/o my tunes! I have also used that I am too tired.

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  36. Working out sucks especially when its that time of the month. Sorry TMI? Its true though. I'm tweeting this as well.

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  37. My shoelaces are still tied and if I bend down to untie them to put my shoes on....well I've already worked out...haven't I? Haven't I?

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  38. Anytime Fitness will probably be to busy and I won't be able to get a treadmill.

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  39. Too many other people around, don't want anyone to see/hear me.

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  40. One time I skipped a run because the last run I had gone on, I saw a skunk and didn't want to meet up with him again.

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  41. "I'm so bored of walking around my cookie cutter neighborhood. I'll walk when I can find my way to a more stimulating landscape." Sheesh. I totally get not being able to put a book down but, wow...:)

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  42. I excused myself from a real workout this morning because I was irritated that my husband was in bed and I was up and ready to work out. I WAS UP AND READY TO WORK OUT and DIDN'T because I was MAD that my husband was still in bed.

    Furthermore, I did not wake him from sleep because "he should want to get up to work out with me on his own" nor did I put myself back into bed. So there I was...4:45am and pouting.

    And last time I checked, pouting burns like .047 calories per hour.

    It was really a proud moment for me.

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  43. Normally, my go-to excuse is I'm too busy. Trying to change that though.

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  44. My excuse is usually too many after school meetings.

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  45. ...Think I'll give the dog a day off from her walk today....she needs a rest day right?!

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  46. ...Think I'll give the dog a day off from her walk today....she needs a rest day right?!

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  47. I don't have time...when I get home at 6:30 and am too lazy to get up early, I am too tired or don't have time. Lame, I know!

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  48. My favorite excuse used to be that I was too freakin' old to do that stuff. Then I got a pedometer and now if I don't do my 10,000 steps a day I feel rotten. I don't have a weight problem now - and I'm 15 years younger!

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  49. I have bad ankles and at one point I convinced myself they hurt less when I was fatter because of the extra padding around the joints, so why work out and screw that up? haha

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  50. I do not tweet. But the excuse I used to have to not work out was "There's no one to watch the kids"...which was, of course, idiotic. I could have worked out in my living room...and in fact, do work out in my living room three times a week now. You have motivated people....it's time for people to give some back.

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  51. NCIS is on so I can't possibly work out right now. Carol

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  52. I can't work out because I live in a 55+ community and I'm only 53. If I worked out and got a smokin bod, I might give the old men heart attacks. I can't deal with thatkind of responsibility.

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  53. 'I need a hip replacement.'
    (Got that done.)
    'I just got a hip replacement.'
    (3 years later...)
    'I just got a hip replacement.'

    Tweeted here: https://twitter.com/#!/KimberlyisHere

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  54. My most common excuse to use?

    "Oh it hurts my back"

    When really, if I lost the weight and did more exercise, my back wouldn't hurt so much!

    Tweeted here: https://twitter.com/#!/Looking4MyFeet

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  55. Calvin's comment really resonated with me. I've overcome a LOT of my old excuses (most of which have been mentioned here) which is why I've kept off my 60 lb loss for over 6 years. That self-sacrifice/martyr thing that Calvin mentioned? That was the underlying layer behind all of the specific excuses I used come up with in the moment. I think the biggest challenge I still face is inertia. When I get knocked off my game due to injury or scheduling, it's still a fight to get back into a routine with it. I just don't let myself forget that it's a fight I'm willing to keep fighting!

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  56. I'm too busy.

    I'm too tired.

    And, my all time favorite...I'm too fat. Well, duh!

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  57. just tweeted
    twitter.com/mlhasty

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  58. Jack -

    You sold it!! Missed the freebie giveaway... but based on your recommendation, I just bought the book from Amazon. BTW, loved the pictures with this post. What's with the S&M mask though?? HAHA!!

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  59. Don't enter me into your giveaway as I already have the book, neener neener but I did want to comment. Your photo deets crack me up. How much did you pay the stuffed monkey to pretend to like snuggling? Was that a donut hole you are slamming down? And I think your potty face" may become an instant classic. You are always so damn funnaaaaay! KymberlyFunFit

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