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Who among us has not been subjected to years and years of advertising from the exercise & fitness equipment and home gym manufacturing industry? If you own a TV set then you too have endured the commercials almost 24/7 with the perfectly fit bodies smiling and working away on their favorite home gym or piece of exercise equipment. The message they so successfully impart is that you too can have that perfect sexy body, if you will just buy their particular piece of fitness equipment.
Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this type of advertising. It is essentially how all advertising works. Show someone the problem that they have, and then offer them the solution to solve that problem. Could you imagine a TV commercial showing a beautiful fit lady working out on one of the latest home gyms, but then she tells you that you can get in shape and get the body you want without their equipment! That would never happen of course.
We know that Americans literally spend billions of dollars a year on exercise and fitness equipment, in fact over 1 billion was spent last year on treadmills alone. Now admittedly some of this equipment went into large gyms and health clubs, but we know that a very large percentage also went into the home fitness realm.
Now as a simple observer for the past 20 or so years, (ok I am older than that but I can only remember back about 20 years) I have observed three constant things in the fitness world. The first constant is that the manufacturing and advertising of exercise equipment never stops. The second is that the obesity rate in America has never, ever declined. It either continues to climb, or at times level off. And third, a very large percentage of home exercise equipment is only used for a very short period of time, or only a handful of times before it becomes idle and begins it's new life setting in the corner gathering dust. Or, it is sold off at a fraction of the price.
Now there are exceptions to this of course, but you and I both know this is true much of the time. How do I know? Well, because I seem to recall going through this cycle myself, repeatedly over a period of 10-15 years. I know I went through at least 2 treadmills, 1 or 2 stationary bikes, 2 olympic weight sets and benches, along with various other pieces of equipment. And, I know it's true because I've been to the homes where the new, expensive home gyms are shoved into the corner of the garage with stuff stacked all over it.
So why is this? I believe that most people who purchase a piece of home fitness equipment are making a form of an impulse purchase. Yes they may have thought about it, and even carefully planned to purchase this piece of equipment, but did they ever bother to develop a workout habit before the purchase? Are they making the purchase with the idea, desire, whish or hope that once they get the new home gym, then they will set about creating a habit? Just buying a home gym will not cause you to work out!
Let me prove a point. If you are about to purchase a piece of fitness equipment, have you done 4 sets of 25 pushups today? Did you do a hundred pushups yesterday, and every day for the past month? Why not, the floor is absolutely free. You have a completely free fitness machine right under your feet and you are not using it. What makes you think you will use a piece of equipment just because it's shiny and new, and cost you a lot of money? Sorry for the brutal honesty but this is what I believe.
Now I am not trying to cut into the fitness equipment industry's profits, or dissuade you from buying a piece of workout equipment. I am saying you must develop a workout habit if you ever want to reach your fitness goals. The simplest of all workout habits to create is one centered around a home workout where you knock out a few simple exercises each and every day of your life. Awesome!
Darryl Kimball is a full time commercial helicopter pilot and a home fitness enthusiast. After many years of dissapointing results, and aquiring then getting rid of numerous pieces of exercise equipment, Darryl founded a simple home based workout plan that has worked flawlessly for over 5 years. Darryl is the author of The Body Habit, available at http://www.thebodyhabit.com
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