Thursday, February 19, 2009

Lessons from the Biggest Loser

On Tuesdays, I usually have my eyes glued to the screen or I make sure to tape The Biggest Loser.

I was not very pleased with how the producers toyed around with the viewers and contestants by sending just about half of the contestants home the first week. The home players were only allowed to return if their partner was able to stay above the yellow line for six weeks.

Even though the gimmicks can be annoying, I still think that The Biggest Loser is one of the best reality shows on television and I've gotten inspiration and ideas from the show. It's very moving to see people taken off of multiple medications and to see people tap into their inner and physical strength.

I remember struggling to lift five pounds and the next day I saw a woman on an earlier BL season lift about forty pounds. I returned to my strength training with renewed vigor and determination.

The BL trainer Bob likes to do yoga with his team and when he told them that yoga is a way to thank your body for supporting you, it resonated with me. I used to think that yoga was not for me but I tried it after watching that particular episode and I felt so right afterwards.

When I saw episode seven this week, I liked the crab walk and plan to incorporate the move into my exercise regimen. The crab walk will go along nicely with the army crawl.

Sometimes pseudo-psychologist Jillian is boorish but this girl at the gym told me the contestants should know from previous seasons what is in store for them.

Most of the contestants had to exercise outside this week since two teams won exclusive rights to the gym.

I had to laugh when Jillian told her team, who was treading water, that we're going to do this until one of you drowns or looses weight before my very eyes.

Bob worked out his teams that had access to the gym and regretted that the gym wasn't lively.

I went to the gym today and Bob would have loved the vibe. I worked out on the AMT and did some visual eavesdropping. I saw that the guy on the AMT next to me was working out in interval mode and his resistance level was at 17. I didn't even know that those dang machines would go that high. So, I decided to push myself and ended up at a resistance level of 10. My hat goes off to my neighbor on the StairMaster. She was on it when I arrived and she was still going strong when I got off the AMT 45 minutes later.

By the way, you can get this t-shirt from Jillian Michael's website.

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