10 Reasons Why We Avoid Physical Activity

Top 10 reasons why 28% of the American Population are Never Physically Active: There’s no excuse — most of us are blessed to have all our limbs, no neuromuscular diseases, and a functioning brain. It took MS sufferer Maickel Melamed 20 hours to complete the 26.2-mile Boston Marathon on Monday, April 21, 2015. He was the last person to do so, crossing the finish line just before 5 a.m. on Tuesday morning, almost a day after the event began. If he can do it, WE ALL CAN.

Top 10 reasons why 28% of the American Population are Never Physically Active

10. We too busy waiting for the launch of the next Apple Ipad

9. I have 350 TV channels and need the time to flip through them all

8. My FitBit tells me I’m active. I walked to the bathroom, the water cooler and my office, what more do you want?

7. All of my awesome techno gadgets record my daily steps, heart rate, calories consumed and exertion level. Although I think my device is broken, there something wrong with the readings on exertion, it says I hardly move and exert myself.

6. The Gap and the Banana Republic now sell a 46-inch athleisure waist pant (okay, they are a 38” waist that I stretch my 46” midsection into), so I’m set. My grandfather said that Omar the tent maker would be in business throughout my lifetime, boy was he more than right.

5. Honey Boo-Boo is my idol

4. I’d miss the next level of Call of Duty, Black Ops III if I left my game console

3. No one in my family ever died from not exercising; they died of massive heart attacks and a few from cancers, Type II diabetes complications.

2. I don’t like to sweat, that’s for the little folks

1. I’d have to take another shower, you know that there’s a drought in California…I live in NY, but it could quickly spread to here….

There’s no excuse — most of us are blessed to have all our limbs, no neuromuscular diseases, and a functioning brain. It took MS sufferer Maickel Melamed 20 hours to complete the 26.2-mile Boston Marathon on Monday, April 21, 2015. He was the last person to do so, crossing the finish line just before 5 a.m. on Tuesday morning, almost a day after the event began. If he can do it, WE ALL CAN.

A few other notes of interest:

• Nearly one in four American Youth are overweight or obese
• 85% of American Youth don’t engage in sufficient activity to provide a health benefit.
• American Youth has small amounts of fruit and vegetables in their daily diets, with 76% not meeting the daily recommended of four vegetable servings daily and 59% not meeting the daily recommended three servings of fruit daily.
• Almost 1/3 drink four or more cups of soft drinks or sports drink a week
• More than 55% tried a new food or drink product in the past month they had seen advertised.

The value of a high level of fitness and the benefits of exercise is well studied and understood. Fit people (as measured during treadmill & strength testing) live longer, use less medical care and have fewer serious ailments, from falls to cancer. They also have shorter periods of illness and disability before death.

So put down that bag of chips, get off the couch, lace on your shoes, grab your son or daughter and head out to the yard to throw a ball. Make a game of speed and agility exercises with simple items like a rope for jump roping and pieces of scrape wood to use as yard markers and see which child can maneuver the area faster. Have a pushup/sit up/jumping jack contest with your child before or after school and track both of yours progress to see who can do more over a 30-day period. Reward you and your kid with a special outing for accomplishing 30 consecutive days of activity.

These small efforts along with exercises to improve speed and strength and speed training can have an immediate and lasting impact on both you and your child’s health.

In a few years from now, as your and/or your child’s final days are near as their hearts fail, diabetes sets in, musculoskeletal disorders like osteoarthritis, and some cancers (endometrial, breast and colon) occur the medical bills will soar. You’ll wish that you had taken the time to engage with and help your child grow into a heart healthy active adult.

The choice is yours to make. It only takes as little as 30 minutes a day, do it to instill healthy habits into your son or daughter.

Source: The Physical Activity Council’s annual study tracking sports, fitness and recreation participation in the USA; 2015 survey results

Note: The Physical Activity Council study fell in line with the CDC’s National Youth Risk Behavior Survey where only 27% of students in grades 9–12 in 2013 met activity guidelines set by the U.S. health department. Fifteen percent of respondents said they did not participate in at least 60 minutes of physical activity at least one day a week.

10 Reasons Why We Avoid Physical Activity May 21st, 2017Meredtih Kessler

Tagged: Benefits of Exercise, exercises to improve speed, obesity, Speed & Agility, speed training, Strength Training

Originally published at www.play2health.com on January 2, 2017.