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We are living in the age of distraction. Cars with TVs in them? Seriously? Ipods and phones you can watch movies on? Is it normal to unexpectedly need to kill 2 hours? If so, I need a vacation.
I bet this very post is distracting you from work right now, isn’t it?
As I write this, my boyfriend is perched on the edge of the couch with a head set on, staring at his ridiculously expensive monitor purchased solely for his Xbox playing, talking on his headset to a friend who is playing the game with him, halfway across town. He has a camera so they can see each other. The incessant clicking of Guitar Hero is all I can hear right now.
He has a great personality, I promise.
Even the time we set aside to relax and focus on our bodies has been infiltrated by the technology bug.
I’m guilty of this. I can’t get through a 30 minute cardio workout without my beloved Ipod. Fortunately, I seem to be at the lower end of the spectrum. Everyone around me is usually so strapped to Ipods, body bugs, heart rate monitors, with their magazines in hand and TVs in their face. The fire alarm could go off and no one would notice. Talk about burning calories. Ha! ….ahem.
It made me wonder if I could get through my typical workout with no distractions at all. I knew my strength training wouldn’t be a problem, but cardio would be difficult. In general, I lose interest in things pretty easily, so I thought it would be a good personal challenge to work out with nothing. Just me and thoughts. God help me.
Ideally, running outside would be the best atmosphere for my little experiment, but due to the lovely summer Seattle has blessed us with, I was forced to take it to the gym.
I hopped onto the elliptical, sans technology. Granted, the gym was playing music, albeit very quietly, and the whole place is lined with TVs, but never anything that interests me. I averted my eyes and got to work.
Along the way, I learned a few things.
0-5 minutes
24 Hour Fitness has awful taste in music. Good Charlotte sucks.
I miss my Ipod
Oh God, I hope I didn’t leave the coffee pot on
What the hell is on that guy’s neck?
This is where I began to zone in. I grew bored of bellyaching to myself and began to pay attention to my heart beat. I then focused on propelling my right hand forward for a few revolutions, then my left.
Minutes 15-20
More than half way done. This isn’t so bad. I begin to sweat. I like to sweat, it makes me feel like I am working hard. Nice beads of sweat. I focus on my breath and fall into a rhythm.
Minutes 20-30
I’m in the zone, not really thinking of much of anything. My brain isn’t racing anymore and I just enjoy the feeling of my body working hard, taking pride in the fact that right at this very second, I am doing something for myself that will be invaluable down the road: improving my health.
In the end, I guess it didn’t make much of a difference. 30 minutes of cardio is 30 minutes of cardio, no matter how preoccupied you are. I did however feel good that I accomplished what I was set out to do, and got some time to clear my head.
And now I must beat my boyfriend with his plastic guitar.
I agree that 24 hour has crappy music. And some weeks they seem to have the same tape on at the same time every day. I could time my workout by the music. And sometimes my gym plays the music so loud that you could lose your hearing if your IPod were loud enough to drown it out.
But I do my cardio there without extra equipment. I may look at the tvs, but not much. I don’t read. I watch the people. I enjoy almost getting away from all my distractions. Now when I do floor work (pushups, planks, etc. I could use all the distractions I could get).
Calf tattoos are AWESOME… and so is your blog! :)
Giiirrrl, I miss you! Let’s get together soon, okay?
-jen
Hilarious, Kelly!
I’m so guilty of this, though. One of the reasons I didn’t sign up for one particular race last year is because they banned iPods. Running for hours without music sounds excruciating. Luckily they revoked that rule for 2008… so no excuses this time.
I love your writing and LOVE my distraction filled cardio.
Im pathetic that way
Interesting experiment! I like listening to music, and I turn on the TV on the elliptical but turn on the captions instead of listening to it. A few weeks ago, I was approaching the 20 minute mark of my workout and I noticed the television was off. I have no idea when it went off, but I’m assuming it wasn’t long after I turned it on. I was definitely inside my head for that workout!
I think it may have something to do with training your mind as well as your body. IMHO, training the body is soo much easier than training the mind sometimes.
Lately, I run without an IPOD. I have a Garmin and that is enough of a distraction. Miles, paces, minutes, heart rate…
I haven’t worked out in a gym/elliptical for months and when I do I usually just take a book with me.
But, yes, very distractible in other ways- such as checking my email, site, twitter, plurk, websites…
I heart my iPod, and my Palm pilot and my laptop… But especially my iPod… The few times where I have forgotten to take it along for a run or it has died, have been expecially excruciating for the first 10-15 min.
I listen to podrunner mixes, and they help pace me, get a second (and third and fourth) wind while not being so intrusive that I cannot hang out with my thoughts. Running outside, I don’t find I need music so much, also running with my dog cuts out the need for music. I guess I still A form of distraction…
CHRIS- He needs all the friends he can get. KIDDING. (Sorry, Jerome.)
SIRENJESS- Im glad you realize that. Sometimes you do have to force yourself to work out (who has perfect motivation all the time?) but you have to make sure you are making yourself for the right reasons.
ADDICTED2PB- ive never played but it seems to complicated. Im simple folk.
I dont sweat very much- never have. some people sweat a lot more than others. or maybe im not pushing myself as hard as i should be. WAY TO CALL ME OUT.
SAGAN- i have been known to planner during my treadmill time.
btw,planner is now a verb, which means to organize, cross things off, write things in, rearrange one’s planner.
KEYALUS- way to stick it to the man. fight the power.
mine always seems to die in the beginning of my workout as well. Good thing i always do cardio first.
I definitely need my Ipod when running but I did run a 10K once without it (it died). I was miserable at first but I settled in and made it through. Not having music forced me to focus more on my breathing which led me to focus more on my form and all that jazz. Without music though, I would get so bored that I might quit earlier than usual on a longer distance.
I believe that the courses certified by USTFA have to be Ipod free. The ING Half in Atlanta was Ipod free but I wore mine anyway – shrugs. I knew they wouldn’t take it away and I’ve read the punishment is disqualification. Since I have no shot at winning anyway I could care less. I plan on wearing my Ipod for my full marathon – whatever the rules say.
I can take distractions or leave them when it comes to fitness… but I do enjoy the multitasking:)
rockband = better than guitar hero. just sayin’.
i haven’t been using my ipod at all when running lately because i know for the race i have coming up that i’m not going to be able to wear it. it does get very boring… but my mind is so all over the place anyway that even when i’m using my ipod and working out i don’t even remember all the songs i listened to.
but you don’t sweat until the 15 minute mark? i’m extremely jealous (okay so maybe 5 minutes isn’t that much of a difference)… i usually am sweating by 10 minutes… and dripping by 30 minutes. attractive, i know.
It varies from race to race. But to run a marathon and have nothing to distract you would not be, in my opinion, fun. I didn’t go to the class because I had to stop and refocus on “why” it was so necessary and I realized that i’m allowing my workouts (which I love) to become something that “I have to do” (calories out mentally which I know is not healthy). Thanks for the response and advice girlie.
I’d like to hang out with your boyfriend.
CHARLOTTE- i cant work out with people can i feel like they hold me back. im kind of scattered when i work out- i do what i want to do when i want to do it (thats pretty much how I am with everything. except not as spoiled as that made me sound. think: excited puppy) so people just slow me down, atleast my friends that i have tried working out with.
JENN- Im not gunna lie, I love it too. but only on the easy level. “carry on my wayward son” is my guitar hero song of choice.
TFH- i find if i just stop focusing on how tired i feel i can fall into a rhythm- but its just a matter of actually pushing myself to that point. with distractions, i can reach that point without as much suffering.
maybe suffering isnt the right word….
SWEETS AND SWEATS- get this: they were stick figures- a blue one on one claf, and a red on the other. i could have done them they were so bad.
SIRENJESS- i heard they arent allowing ipods and such during races anymore. maybe it just varies depending on the race….
wait- you want to do full body today after doing full body last night? if thats the case, it depends on how hard the class was. Ideally yo uwant to rest 24 hours before doing another full body workout, but if you feel up to it, it should probably be fine. Just dont make a habit of doing back to back for days in a row. Like 4 days straight of full body. I would rest completely except for some cardi oor stretching tomorrow if you go for full body today.
CHANDRA- You better have sung Eye Of The Tiger. Getting sung to is the same as listening to music, right? unless you run with me, in which case, you would pray for sweet silence.
CARA- I find that if i have my ipod on shuffle, and i catch a slower song, I’ll move slower, than say, if if Daft Punk comes on or Atreyu, or soemthing like that. Its funny because my workout playlists are SO different than what i listen to for enjoyment (most of the time) in terms of tempo. i definately need faster for workouts.
I’m sure I read of some study where working out to music actually made one work out longer or harder or some such…there’s some truth in there somewhere, I promise!
I know for me that anything that distracts me from my aching legs or shaking arms can’t be a bad thing. Also, some songs can really egg me on, if they have a good steady beat. That said, going from New Order to some navel-gazing dirge has killed many a moment on the elliptical!
OMG – this: “I chew my gum at the rate of precisely 132 chomps per minute” made me DIE laughing!! A month or so before we did our 20K, some friends and I decided to do our 8 mile long run without iPods… it actually wasn’t bad, we chatted a bit and even ended up singing to each other when we had the breath to do so. :-) I definitely couldn’t do it all the time though…
Great experiment. I will say that I am a slave to my ipod when I do cardio, but when I do any weights or machines I can do it without music. I have ran two 5ks without an ipod and will say that it sucks. Well not that bad but you grow envious of the others around you who are basking in their music. I have a quick que about weights. I did barbell strength last night (class done with iron grip bar full body workout) and I would like to do total conditioning (full body workout but with different equipment/see lifetime fitness for better descriptions) would that be too much? Oh I forgot to mention that I ran six miles today too.
It is almost refreshing to do that every once in awhile. I think my ipod battery chooses to die at the beginning of a workout just to remind me that yes, i can survive without it.
Wonderful article and yes, calf tatoos are a bad idea!!
So true. I love your observations. It’s very cool to see the trajectory of restless-mind to focused-state. I find the only way I can make it through treadmill workouts is by constantly varying the speed and incline. But sometimes I never get past the restless-mind stage, even with my iPod!