Have You Filled Out Your 'Fitness Brackets'?

I guess it is that time of the year for the NCAA college basketball tournament, as several people have asked me, "Who do you have in the West/East/South?"

(FYI-I don't follow basketball, and don't participate in the betting pools)

During the evening news last night, one of the anchors made a comment regarding how much productivity is lost in American businesses this time of the year due to the tournament.

This made me think about the amount of time that people take to pick who they felt the eventual winners would be, and what the odds were that they could win some money from their picks. Add to this the time spent watching on television, following scores on the Internet or smartphone, etc., and the number I am sure ranges from 1-10 hours or more.

When I think about these things, I try to equate it to other parts of people's lives and how they spend their time, and asked: 

"What if people spent half of this time planning out when they are going to workout in the next week, or month, or year?"

It is doubtful that it would take anywhere near an hour to do that. Would it be time well spent? I realize I am the fitness guy, but I find it puzzling that such time is spent watching and tracking athletes who practice for countless hours and are in top physical shape, yet a great majority of the fans will never know how it feels to be in this kind of shape.

Do you have to be a world class athlete to exercise? Absolutely not.

Could just an hour or two a week make a tremendous difference in your quality of life? You bet your butt it will.

Can you get your workout in while watching one of these tournament games? No doubt you can, as your bodyweight is all you need, and you have that with you anywhere you go.

Are you going to continue to hate the way you feel, look, and perform due to inactivity? I can't answer that one, it's entirely up to you.

Here's a quick workout to do during one of the games:

• Every time the team you are rooting for scores, do two jumping jacks (and CHEER!).
• Every time the oposing team scores, do two pushups (and curse your team for allowing this tragedy to occur).
• During each commercial break/timeout/halftime get up and down out off the couch 10 times.

Notes:

• Drink a lot of water, if you are not used to exercises, you will need it.
• If your friends are watching the game with you, see if you can get them to do it with you. If they start making fun of you, use your water on them ...

Enjoy the games, but get as much as you can out of them.