Vote in This Week's Poll: Do the Olympic athletes inspire you to exercise?
Monday August 18, 2008
I have to admit, I've been glued to the TV every night watching the Olympics and remembering when I was a young swimmer. I dreamed of being an Olympic athlete myself. Two-hour training sessions every day for two years cured that right up for me but, even now, I find myself inspired by these athletes in my own workouts. Sure, I'm only running a few miles at a dead-snail pace rather than the 5-minute-miles of the marathon runners, but thinking of those athletes makes me itch to see how fast I can really go. They make it look so easy, don't they?
I'm sure thousands of boys and girls will be begging for gymnastics or swimming lessons after watching the Olympics, but I think adults are inspired too. Maybe we go for a faster run than normal or maybe we hop in the pool to see if we remember how to do the butterfly. What about you? Do the Olympics light a fire in you or do they make you tired just watching them? Vote in this week's poll and then leave a comment to tell us what you think about the Olympics.
Poll: Do the Olympic athletes inspire you to exercise?
1. Yes
2. No
3. I don't watch the Olympics
4. Other - please explain in comments
Comments
The show that gets me moving is The Biggest Loser. I run on my treadmill the whole time its on. It keeps me going seeing them work so hard.
I would probably watch the Olympics if I had TV, but I don’t…
Even though the Olympic athletes are truly great, I don’t need to watch them, or any other, to be motivated. My fitness endevors have kept me healthy, feeling, and looking young into mid (50) middle age, and thats more than enough motivation to keep me going into my senior years.
What is truly sad is watching the Little League championships on television and seeing the horible shape some of the coaches are in. I wonder what sort of message that sends to the young players as to how they should care for themselves as they grow older.
Definite Yes! Watching the women’s marathon the other day had me out running the next day trying to emulate the stride of the winner. Of course, I could never match her pace, but it sure felt good pretending to be her!
Definitely.
When see you athletes like Michael Phelps, Usain Bold, the gymnasts, and so on…you can’t help but be amazed by what they’ve accomplished.
Anything is possible when you commit and take action with a properly structured and rewarding training routine.
Yes, certainly!
I even exercise while watching the Olympics!
Although Olympic standards and the herculean and sustained efforts of the olympians before participating, leave alone winning an event are too massive a backdrop to compare myself against, yet it certainly does inspire me as I think it does most of us. It’s most obvious message is:
1. You can Do it.
2. No limit is unsurpassable
3. In the last stretch, it is a matter of Mind Over Body.
4. Only we can impose limits to ourselves.
Yes, In this sense it IS inspiring!!
Look at Dara Torres!! She is 41 years old. I am completely amazed and inspired by her.
I do not watch many of the Olympics, I never have watched much t.v. anyway so no, they do not make me want to exercise. We all have our own personal goals and dreams and I am happy they are accomplishing theirs. It does make you realize you need to keep chasing after your dreams be it exercise or anything.
Olympic people do not inspire me to exercise because they have no boobs and that means they have no body fat and i want to keep my boobies
On a flip view of this … since i have begun weight training, I have a much deeper appreciation for these athletes. I don’t think that an armchair quarterback can understand just how hard they work to be in that condition. I was particularly amazed by the physical strength of the mens gymnasts. They make that look easy, which is what makes them Olympians. They are truly that good.
Just remember folks, you can’t be fit with bad form.
I know that I will never achieve that level of fitness and I am fine with that. It does make you willing to try and squeeze out one last rep sometimes though.
Insire? yes!!!The people in the Olympics are very special and gifted. But they do inspire me to get up and run weight train and ride my bike..Message keep moving for life and health.
I find the Olympics to be a source of inspiration in several ways. The gathering of the world’s best athletes to compete at the highest levels of performance is extraordinary. I feel privileged to watch these gifted individuals execute their specialties with such precision and iron will. Somehow, with tremendous dedication and hard work, these athletes routinely do things that don’t look humanly possible.
The Olympics not only provides a forum for competition, but also an opportunity to set international differences and biases aside and participate in the universal language of physical endeavor and endurance. There is respect and acknowledgement of accomplishment among the athletes, even in the face of fierce competition. Especially in this Beijing Olympics, the friendliness of the host nation and camaraderie among the participants is apparent.
The Olympics is a symbol of what is best in mankind. The indomitable human spirit, the will to excel beyond tremendous fatigue and pain, the pursuit of perfection against adversity, are all here for us to witness.
The two weeks of Olympics competition is a brief sabbatical for me from the worries of everyday life. It is a welcome diversion and an illuminating glimpse into a microcosm of humanity that is unique and truly inspirational.
I sometimes find myself struggling uphill through my workout. The memories of past Olympics, and what physically challenged people have to go through to do what we take for granted, help me keep things in proper perspective and work through my own personal roadblocks.
I am training for a marathon currently. Olympics just inspire me to train harder.
They probably would if more coverage was given to a greater variety of sports. Granted, some seem just ’silly’ (rythmic gymnastics, syncronized swimming and diving, and many equestrian events for example), but there are some other sports which are interesting, challenging, and/or attainable (cycling, archery, badmitton, table tennis come to mind) that are barely covered by mainstream television and therefore can offer little incentive to get in shape.