The Couch Potato Solution

By The Fit Advocate, Craig Pepin-Donat, International Fitness Expert and Author of “The Big Fat Health and Fitness Lie”

The top reason that people give for not exercising regularly is not having enough time. For some reason, we can’t find time to exercise for 30 minutes, but the average home in the U.S. has a TV blaring for over seven hours, and the average American is glued to it for over four hours per day. We are drawn to watch TV because it is a quick and convenient escape. After a stressful day at work, one click of the remote can immediately change our state of mind. When the work day is over, the last thing we want is more work. TV triggers emotional responses and alters the chemical reaction in the brain. If you have ever shed a tear while watching a heartfelt program, you know how easy our emotions can be manipulated. If you’ve ever felt the exhilaration of watching an action movie, the excitement of a game show, anxiety from a suspenseful program, happiness during a comedy or fear during a horror movie, you know how easy it is for TV to push your buttons and change your emotional states. Conversely, when we think about exercise, we think about work. Even the name we use to describe exercise is to “work out”. So what’s the solution?

The idea of joining a fitness center for some people is problematic, again because of the time requirement and the relationship with work. Even though an actual work out can take as little as 30 to 40 minutes, after you factor in travel time to and from the gym and time to shower and change, you are likely looking at 90 minutes or more. Over 70 million people each year resolve to lose weight by going on a diet. Unfortunately, diets alone will never provide the answer for sustained results. Hundreds of diets profess to have the solution for weight loss, yet the long term positive results from dieting falls below the 5 percent margin. For many, home equipment can be a viable solution, but the challenge is wading through the lies and deceptions of companies that advertise products that offer unrealistic results. Then there is the cost which for many people makes home equipment prohibitive.

Finally, there is a viable option that is easy to use, affordable and with proper and consistent use, will provide significant results. This “Fit Advocate Approved” product is called MyGym and the beauty of it is that it is small, portable and can be easily used during your TV time. Gaining weight is a simple process. Each pound of weight gained comes from 3,500 excess calories. Every day you burn a certain number of calories just by living and breathing (your Basil Metabolic Rate also known as BMR), and the more you move through activities such as walking, exercise or any movement the more calories you burn beyond what your body will deplete just by being alive. No matter how you look at it, calories are king when it comes to weight gain and weight loss. The best efficient ways to burn more calories is to move more.

While there are plenty of things you can do to burn calories, there is no doubt that a consistent strength training program will provide the best fundamental component to effect lasting results. Strength training creates lean muscle tissue which is your body’s fat burning machinery. The more lean muscle tissue you have, the more calories you burn at rest. No matter what type of activity you choose, “moving more” has to be a habit and part of you daily routine. Since the time we spend watching TV tops all other activities other than sleeping or working, what better time to include physical activity to improve our health and enhance our lives.

MyGym is a simple platform connecting multiple strength bands used to create resistance for exercise movements to work every muscle group. The bands make it easy to adjust resistance for different exercises and to add resistance as your strength levels increase. Fully equipped with several easy-to-use attachments along with a complete outline of every possible exercise and instructional DVDs, MyGym has it all.

It is a proven fact that small amounts of physical activity can have a big impact on your weight and your health. If watching TV for hours each day has become a part of your routines and habits, MyGym is the solution to improving your health with a very small investment in both time and money. All you have to do is to share about 10 to 15 minutes of your TV time each day to impact a positive change in your life.

On FitAdvocate.com you can find out how to make a simple affordable decision that will help you on the path to improved health and fitness. If it didn’t work, we wouldn’t recommend it. If it’s Fit Advocate Approved — It Works!

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