Raise your hand if you hate working out.
Now raise your hand if you love watching TV.
Of course, I can’t actually see you, but I’m guessing many people would raise their hand on both accounts. I know I would.
Yes, working out is good for you, but I don’t get a runner’s high. I don’t even get a runner’s medium. I just know to stay in shape and to lose weight, I need to exercise.
But I also have little to no motivation, and no one to work out with. But last summer I discovered a “Bachelorette” workout, and I was in.
No, I don’t love the show, but it can be addicting to watch people try to fall in love…knowing they’ll probably break up within a year of the finale.
When I first tried the “Bachelorette” workout, it was tough. I was not prepared to do 100+ squats, 10 for every rose given out (it was early in the season). But by the end of the two hours, I was sweating…without feeling frustrated.
I did something I love (watch TV for an extended period of time) while doing something I need to do (exercise). And it worked.
After one or two weeks of this, I got two friends to join in with me. We’d meet after I got off work, set the workout list by the TV, and made sure to hold each other accountable for doing the exercises (and also questioned whether something counted or not…I mentioned it was tough, right?).
It was quite effective. One of the girls had no problems fitting into her wedding dress, and I lost some weight and gained some muscle. All around a win-win.
I started looking up other TV workouts, as I call them. BuzzFeed has a huge list, but I alter them to fit what I need or add to them for a more intense workout.
Alternatively, most shows (or even movies) have a drinking game associated with it. I altered a “Friday Night Lights” drinking game into a workout for watching the show. (Crunches for every time you saw a jersey did wonders for my abs.)
I will say the most effective TV workouts are for reality competition shows, like “Bachelorette,” “Dancing with the Stars,” or “Project Runway.” There’s more regularity to these shows because of their format, so you’ll get a more well-rounded workout.
On the flip side, you can always add to the workouts. I altered one for “Gilmore Girls,” and well effective some episodes, I wasn’t doing many exercises for other episodes. But my aforementioned group of friends has done one for “Drop Dead Diva,” and we’ve added a couple extra exercises as we’ve progressed in the show.
They say it’s not good to watch TV for hours on end. But if you workout for at least part of it, you’ve earned some quality couch potato time. At least in my book.