Fitness centers are doing their absolute best to destroy our ability to build the body-mind connection through exercise. Like a bunch of lemmings, we are content to not only follow the trend but we are also the driving force behind taking what I believe is the largest step backwards in the history of fitness. It involves the amazing amounts of media distractions, specifically televisions, now common place in fitness centers. These distractions take away our ability to focus on what we went to the gym to do in the first place…exercise! Not only are we accepting this technology, we are demanding it as part of our exercise experience and fitness centers are listening.

The gym where I train is one of those really basic gyms. Decent resistance machines, some free weights, loads of aerobic equipment and a few different group exercise classes make up the entire facility. No spa, no pool, no basketball, just the basics. Just the way I like it. Even this bare bones gym has its share of mind sucking boxes hanging from the ceiling…seven to be exact. In fact, they are positioned so there is virtually no area of the gym where you can not see what’s on the TV. Mind you the programming is really quality stuff…Sponge Bob Square Pants, Soaps, the Cooking Channel, QVC, ESPN, CNN…and the like. Yep, it’s a media dream come true and as far as I’m concerned it’s all crap.

But wait, there’s more! Let’s take it to the next level. I recently hit the road to put on a seminar on stress management and I stayed at a very nice hotel with a really good fitness center. This gym had all “state of the art” equipment, brand new and well thought out. It also had something I had never seen before, individual TV’s on each and every piece of aerobic equipment. All of them! I know, I don’t get out enough, but I was in shock. How much did all that cost?!? These things could play your own DVD’s, MP3’s, and get about 100 TV channels, and all you had to do was plug in with a set of head phones and distract yourself into oblivion!

That’s my point! All these distractions are supposed to make exercise more enjoyable, to make the torture of fitness pass faster. But we are missing out on one of the greatest benefits of exercise and belonging to a gym. Exercise gets us out of our routine, out of the house and gives us a chance to tune out the constant bombardment of media for a brief time. I’m telling you we can not disconnect even for an hour out of our day to clear our heads, find balance and get grounded. I just can believe how conditioned…no worse…how dependant we have become on keeping ourselves distracted. The worst part about this is the fact that it destroys one of the greatest benefits of exercise, the ability to develop the connection between the body and mind.

I watch people’s faces in the gym as they workout absentmindedly. They focus on the TV screen and not on what they are doing. They are going through the motions without focus, intensity and emotion. With the emotional content removed, exercise becomes mindless, just going through the motions…and while it is better than nothing, it is only marginally better.

Exercise with intention allows the body and mind to connect. This can allow us to develop in ways that can lead to tremendous personal growth and real improvement in our fitness. Imagine hitting the gym without distractions and with the intention of working out hard on whatever form of exercise you choose. With that kind of intensity your fitness goals would no longer seem out of reach. You would make gains like you have never experienced before and it would serve to reinvigorate your commitment to exercise. Best of all, you will really begin to train the body and mind to work together, as nature intended. The importance of creating awareness between the body and the mind can not be understated, it is one of the most important experiences we can have in our personal development.

If you are one of these people who just can’t workout without your form of distraction in place, my challenge to you is to take one week to truly dedicate yourself to whatever exercise you do. No TV, no personal stereos, nothing but your mind, body and a commitment to really concentrate on what you are doing. I believe once you have a taste of what real focus during exercise can do for you, you will see the amazing benefits. You can learn to relish your “down time” and you will find you are really looking forward to being able to “tune out”. Stop saturating yourself in constant stimulation and take a break…you deserve it!

Rodger Ruge is a Cooper Institute certified personal trainer for Law Enforcement, retired police officer and author of The Warrior's Mantra, Barricade Books, June 2005. Rodger can be reached for seminar information and questions through his website at http://www.readyforce.net.

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