The biggest challenge that is keeping people from playing The Gym Cellar’s Holiday Challenge is the television restriction.
The basic reason for the TV restriction in the Challenge is because you sit too long when you watch hours of television. When we are in the sitting posture we’re not using our muscles and extensive medical evidence proves that muscle contractions are important for the body’s regulatory process such as the ability to break down glucose and use it for energy cause insulin resistance, spiked blood glucose levels and can eventually lead to Type II diabetes. When you sit too long your muscles become deconditioned and cause these harmful physiological changes, i.e. decreased metabolism, inability to break down glucose, inability to synthesize cholesterol, etc.
OK, so that is the medical reasoning for why too much sitting is bad for you. And I am well aware that people can sit at a computer for hours on end as well. Hence the part of the challenge that while you are sitting at your desk you must get up every 60 minutes and stretch.
Let’s look at the affects television has on your brain. Watching TV puts the viewer in a hypnotic and highly suggestive state. Making “mind control” easy. There are endless advertisements for unhealthy foods.
Reality TV has brought out the inner Peeping Tom in us. The appeal of reality TV shows is that the average viewer can relate to the reality star over an actor/actress. The problem with this is the behavior that draws you into the reality show becomes acceptable behavior. You watch lewd and crass behavior in one reality show after another and it somehow becomes a standard. You can rationalize that these reality stars have the worst traits possible; however it doesn’t stop you from becoming absorbed in their life while you abandon your own.
These reality shows set a moral that social status and vengeance are more important than self discipline and honor.
Now I am going to get from the guys out there I watch football and sports. I don’t watch that reality garbage, why should I curb my television habits. This one is super easy!! The subliminal messages you receive while you are watching a football game are out of control. The beer commercials, the pizza commercials, the Hooter’s wing commercials, the nachos, Doritos and Frito’s commercials. You are better off listening to the football game on the radio, reading the highlights in the paper, or catching the highlights on ESPN.
The sad part about “having your shows” is you are completely unapproachable during this time frame. Mom’s tell their kids “Let me watch my show!” Dad sits and screams and yells and becomes VISIBLY unapproachable as his team loses. And this becomes “normal” behavior to the kids. No activities can be planned from 1:00 and beyond on Sunday because Dad is lost to the “games.” Mom can’t be bothered from 8:00 on each night because there is one show after another on that consumes her time.
This is a bullshit way to live. I don’t want to hear but I work all day or all week I deserve to be able to relax and watch TV. That is fine – in The Gym Cellar Holiday Challenge you are still able to watch ONE hour of television each day.
Activities to do besides watch TV
Listen to the radio (and dance!)
Try a new hobby: sewing, woodworking, kayaking, hiking, karate, kick boxing
Learn to play an instrument
Read a good book
Read to your kids
Take a walk
Repair the house: replace burnt out light bulbs, fix nicks, scrapes and holes in the wall, touch-up paint, knobs that need tightened.
Cook an elaborate meal (and take pictures to post on The Gym Cellar Facebook page!)
Join a club: local communities have all kinds of clubs to join
Become a volunteer fireman/woman
Roller skating
Clean out the fridge
Clean out a closet
Clean the house: dust stuff you never dust, scrub carpets, wipe down light fixtures – GO CRAZY!
Take a college course
Write a story/book or start a journal
Sort and organize pictures
Puzzles
Set a goal and train for it: a 5k, Metro Dash (www.metrodash.com)
Paint a room
Plan an event: Family reunion, a dance, raise money for a charity, etc
Play tag with your kids.
If I can think of 20 different things off the top of my head so can you! It’s time to start living YOUR life and stop living vicariously through people on TV. Make your mark on this world, when you die and people are standing around talking about the life you lived give them something good to talk about. Wouldn’t you rather them be talking about the adventurous life you lead hiking and bike riding across a state. Not your ability to watch marathon episodes of Jersey Shore.
When your kids grow up and talk about their childhood memories do you really want them saying the thing I remember most about Dad is that you couldn’t approach him during the football game or the thing I remember most about Mom was her love of The Real Housewives of New Jersey.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; these actors and actresses on TV, especially the reality ones, don’t give a rat’s ass about you – why do YOU care so much about them? By watching their nonsense you are making them rich. Do their pockets deserve to be full of cash? Or do YOU deserve to be healthy, vibrant and living an active life?
Turn off the TV and live YOUR life. The Gym Cellar Holiday Challenge!! Get in on it – it’s free and if you win you get stuff!! How simple is that?
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