Chapter 6.5: Busting Exercise Myths and Discovering Your Fitness Journey

0:01It's time to get started. Here's where the whole life fitness manifest is going to really move you. We've reasoned through it all. You've identified and overcome the barriers that once stopped you from making a change for the better in your life. You've identified your why, exterminated the externalizers and you've thought realistically about your time constraints, figuring out how you can allot health and fitness into your busy schedule.

0:27It's time to forget being a just do-it-person and shoot for being somebody who just did it. But first a word about the most important piece of exercise equipment out there. Just buy the shoes. In nearly two decades of selling fitness equipment, I saw a lot of people stress out about their gear. I would hear the same concerns and questions again and again. What's the best piece of equipment for fat burning? Is this like the thing I saw on TV that will get me fit and skinny in only six minutes a day?

1:00What's the single best piece of equipment for a full-body workout? Which is best Treadmill, elliptical machine, exercise bike or rowing machine? That's just a few of them. I saw a lot of stereotypes when couples came into the store together. The men often wanted a home gym filled with weights, while the women wanted cardio, cardio, cardio. Many women worried that lifting weights would cause them to bulk up. Note to the females listening to this argument Using weights will not cause you to bulk up.

1:33You want more reading on that? Go to my blog. I've got a number of articles that talk about the science of this as well as the psychology. Do you see what's going on here? Lots of misinformation paired with a deep desire to find a fast and reliable solution. I hate to be the bare-of-bad news, but there's no magic pill, no one piece of equipment that will do it all for you. Let's be honest the fitness equipment industry has some nasty cliches and stereotypes associated with it.

2:01Visit a garage sale or check out your local Craig's List for sale listings and you'll see a long list of barely used gym equipment purchased with the best of intentions but unwanted nonetheless. Why is this? There are a number of common culprits, such as buying the wrong piece of equipment for your personal preferences. If you don't like the modality of riding the bike, for example, why would you subject yourself to doing it every single day?

2:28Sometimes, just the placement of the equipment is the plan, for instance, putting your new gym equipment in your basement when it's the last place in your house you'd ever want to spend time isn't the best way to motivate yourself to use it. And then there's my personal favorite. My doctor told me to buy it. Seriously, I've heard this more often than you would think. Don't get me wrong. I think gym equipment is amazing.

2:53I love using different types of equipment, but they don't make or break a workout for me. They are tools I can choose to leverage when I have access to them. Think of exercise equipment as a vacuum or a dishwasher. These are fantastic appliances that help us complete housework more efficiently, but what did you do before we had them? We washed dishes by hand and we swept our floors of the broom. So think of fitness equipment as amazing tools or, as I say, toys that can add diversity to your workouts.

3:25But don't let a lack of equipment or gym access limit your exercise and fitness. Listening to the tortured debates in the store, I really wanted to tell many customers just buy the shoes. As wonderful gym equipment can be, it's not going to make you move in the first place. That has to come from you. Only buying the sneakers or not underscores the basic premise of fitness. Being fit comes from your own motivation to move and change your life.