Those posts are as much about bragging as they are about personal accountability. I tweeted this morning while on the treadmill including a picture of the treadmill's display showing my progress.
At that point, I was 31 minutes in, had burned 333.5 calories, and was walking at an incline setting of 4 @ 2.7mph. I stated that my target was 600 calories burned, sent that tweet and went back to walking. After I posted this picture, I increased the incline to 7 for a while, and then settled back down at 5. At around 470 calories burned, I REALLY wanted to quit. I had been walking "up hill" for around 35-36 minutes at that point, and was getting a bit tired of being on the treadmill. Then I thought "DAMMIT! I said I was going to burn 600 calories and I plan on burning those 600 calories." I pressed on, even torturing myself for a bit with an incline setting up to 9 on the treadmill, and I finished out after cool-down having burned around 620 calories. People are more willing to fail privately then publicly, and if I failed, it would have been a public failure.
The other reason my posts aren't as bad is because I am NOT a gym rat running 15 miles on the treadmill every day. I struggle to get to the gym, I am not the pinnacle of good health, and I probably still weigh more than many of the people who follow me on Twitter or on Facebook. I feel like that might give those people a glimmer of hope. If I can manage to drag my ass to the gym on Saturday morning, walk around 2.5 miles and burn 600 calories, "YOU CAN DOOO IIIIIT!"
So, if my posts about going to the gym and hopping on the treadmill piss you off, stop following me, unfriend me, or ignore them. Don't bitch to me about them. I don't even bitch to "gym rat" people who I might see posting on Twitter on FB, although I may occasionally make snark remarks for fun.
2 comments:
I agree completely. Same-day goals are much easier to achieve if you announce them. And I believe getting support from friends can make a big difference. There's also benefit for future workouts in posting how things went today, as it helps with tracking progress (though that's more of a blog thing than a Twitter/FB thing).
Now you've got me wondering if I'm a Gym Rat ;)
It doesn't annoy me. I'm disappointed in myself that I am getting no exercise at all and it does actually motivate me to get up and do something when I read about your exercise.
Also, it makes me all proud-like of my little brother!
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