There are countless studies that show that exercise is good for you in myriad ways; Greg's post highlights some of the benefits of exercise.  Just about everyone knows that exercise is good for you. Yet most people don't actually exercise on a regular basis. 

Estimates of how many people exercise regularly vary from 25% globally to 50% in the US, but such estimates are not to be trusted.  First of all, they are based completely on self reported data, and people want to believe that they exercise regularly, so they are more likely to say that they do when asked in surveys.  There is also the question of what constitutes "exercise".  Yes, as Greg says, any exercise is better than none, but I see lots of healthy young men and women using treadmills for walking rather than running, when I’m at my local gym.  A more interesting question might be what percent of people around the world do the type of exercise which yields the most benefits, which is high intensity exercise of some type, like Global Fast Fit.

The globally skyrocketing rates of obesity and type two diabetes, and the general sedentary lifestyles that have taken over the world, and general observation, lead me to believe that those who regularly exercise on an ongoing basis, year after year, is much smaller than reported.

Why don’t people exercise? When asked in surveys, the most typical response is “I don’t have enough time”.  Yet people tend to find the time to watch lots of TV and movies,  and spend hours on social media accounts.  When Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor of California he generally exercised twice a day; a half hour of cardio in the morning and a strength session later in the day.  As president of the United States, Barack Obama could be seen on treadmills or playing basketball. Everyone has the same 24 hours in the day, and most people can find the time if they want to, especially for routines like Global Fast Fit, which only takes a few minutes – there’s a reason I named it “fast’ fit.

The real reasons people don’t exercise are not hard to find.  Most of us have jobs, or work at home.  After a long day of work, or looking after kids, it’s tough to muster the energy to do any exercise, especially a high intensity workout like GFF.  Even someone like myself, with a very high level of commitment to fitness, finds certain exercises like running very dull.  If I’m running, which I often am, I’m either in pain or bored. Unlike eating a sweet, there is no immediate gratification from exercise, beyond the feeling that you’ve done something good.  So exercise, at least for most people like me, is hard and often dull, with little immediate gratification.  Some people, like Nee and Greg, have a completely different point of view; they love doing long, grinding, events that take hours.  That’s great, but I think most people are more like me than Nee and Greg.

So what can be done to get more people to exercise, and exercise hard, on a regular basis? I think the key is providing more immediate gratification in the form of information about how they’re doing compared to their previous performances and also compared to others. We’re working on something along these lines, but in the meantime, please share any ideas you have, however crazy they might be.