Does It Work?

I was walking uphill on the treadmill the other day at the gym and there was in infomercial on the tv selling TonyHorton's"10 Minute Workout" program. After watching for a bit and seeing several before and after photos, the girl next to me said, "do you think that really works...ten minutes?!"

Well, sure it works; in fact all of the workout programs out there work. The main secret to their success is that they all pitch the importance of following a healthy diet in conjunction with their exercise program. The program gets you to move your body in some way, shape, or form on a consistent basis. They try to make it sound like this will be the key to your succcess~only ten minutes of moving~but the real key to your success will be moving consistently while following their sensible diet plan. They spend 95% of the time talking about how quick and effective the workout is and then spend only a minute or two talking about the nutrition portion of the program. Think about it: if they spent a big chunk of their commercial talking about the healthy eating required, no one would buy the program. Healthy eating takes thought, planning and discipline. People know that and they hate that. But without that, fitness only takes a body to a certain level (not a very high level at only ten minutes a day!) and it hovers there indefinitely until the nutrition gets in gear. People will consider committing to a ten minute exercise program, yet they won't commit to the healthy diet that they know is important to their body's function. Why is that? Why the resistance? It continues to baffle me.

And here's me, a personal trainer, group fitness instructor, and forever-proud gym rat saying that the nutrition is more important than the workout. Wow. But really, my body wouldn't last through my workouts without good nutrition to back it up. I am always working out to achieve some sort of fitness goal, so if my workouts failed, I wouldn't reach my goal. The nutrition helps my workout, the workout helps my goal. I love that commercial for a post-recovery workout shake (can't remember the name) that has a bunch of pro athletes saying something like, "You're not done working out until you refuel. Finish your workout and then finish your workout with ________ recovery drink." Love that. It very simply supports the ever-important nutrition piece of the puzzle. These professionals are serious about their nutrition, why shouldn't you be?

The next time you see an exercise infomercial, watch it through to the bitter end and you will always see a quick little blurb about following the sensible diet that is included with their program. They all do this: P90X, Hip Hop Abs, Slim in 6, TurboJam Maximum Results, etc. They know that their programs won't work if they are followed by a greasy, sugary, processed diet. The programs that don't include a sensible meal plan are the ones that don't work.