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Active Viewing: A Guide to Banishing Guilty Pleasures
Confession: Even on the grossest, dog-torturing days of summer, I have a hard time justifying staying in to watch TV when I should be out playing or watching opera in the park or something else I'll long for in February. I still watch it, of course, but there's a whole lot of guilt, mixed in with memories of the summers my sister and I spent trapped at home, hiding from the Florida heat and watching General Hospital, Remington Steele reruns and Nickelodeon's entire afternoon lineup.
So I've decided to do the healthy thing and come up with ways of turning my passive habits into active ones.
Method 1: The TV workout. I'm not talking about traditional aerobics programs — though a male friend of mine told me he just got hooked on a 15-minute PBS yoga class that sounds genius. I prefer to multitask, so I dusted off the dumbbells, invested in a Xertube (this rubber thing with handles and a strap you close in the doorjamb) and tuned in to Real World/Road Rules Challenge, Rock Star: Supernova and three hours' worth of TiVo'd Colbert Report. Doing crunches and push-ups proved to be a bit more challenging, only because my dog kept trying to sit on me. But damn, why didn't I think of this before bikini season? At the gym, I'm bored of strength training after 10 minutes. At home, I got in a full hour. Can I keep this up? If anyone else is interested, I'll start a TV-exercise support group on another thread.
Method 2: Working the brain. If you haven't yet seen Morgan Spurlock's 30 Days, please try it. He's got a brilliant way of introducing and discussing important issues without making you feel like you're in school again. There are even cartoons. Immigration, outsourcing, the failed prison system — not exactly subjects that help me wind down from a hard day. And yet it's actually enjoyable to watch these cultural/viewpoint-exchange programs. I'm allowing this to be a gateway show to other educational shows. There's plenty of PBS and Discovery Channel programming that's way more entertaining than your average sitcom. From American Experience to MythBusters, I think I could learn a thing or two.
Method 3: Get inspired. Watching the kids on So You Think You Can Dance work their butts off for two and a half months has really made me feel lazy. I'm hereby pledging a) to look into tango lessons, and possibly a trip to Argentina in the winter, and b) to attend more live dance performances. I live in New York Freakin' City, and I'm watching dance on television?!? I'm clicking over to the Joyce Theater's site right now. I hope other SYTYCD fans will do the same. Sure the top 10 tour will be fun, but even if it's just going to some local dance school recital or to a local park where the B boys and girls perform, we all need to get out more. And I'll still credit TV with getting us to do so.
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Aug 18, 2006 10:25 AM
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Hey Sabrina, glad you pointed us over here. I hate to say I didn't realize you had another just general tv themed blog.
I hear ya on the crunches/dog sitch. One of my cat's will no doubt do the same and it gets annoying. You have to just push on, the animal gets the hint after a couple shoo's. And really, its hard to sit on one's stomach when its moving up and down at a rate faster than a breath.
I absolove Morgan Spurlock and his Vegan GF. He really has successfully prolonged the idea set forth in "Super Size Me" and it works gangbusters on the small screen format. He's just a great socially conscious guy.
duckyxdale
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Aug 18, 2006 12:31 PM
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For the TV workout, perhaps as a healthy alternative to drinking, an exercise can be done whenever a catch phrase is used.
On SYTYCD, when Cat says jidges, touch your toes. When Mary screams, do a set of jumping jacks.
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Aug 18, 2006 12:32 PM
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Martha's body on SYTYCD definitely inspired me to get back to doing daily crunches and squats! I even brought back my old high school b-ball photo from my parents house last week to remind me of the body I am capable of having if I would exercise regularly... (long sigh)
I tried tv workouts on Lifetime (Denise is too annoying) and FitTV but the commercial breaks gave me too much time to get distracted and I could never finish.  I'll check out PBS yoga, but I've fallen asleep in yoga classes at the gym, so we'll see if I can make it through 15 mins!
As for brain food, don't forget the History Channel. I am a closet geek, so this one isn't too hard for me.
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Aug 18, 2006 3:54 PM
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Very nice sytyca blog, it's been really fun read; and the posters have been great. The interviews have been amazing too. Very classy dancers. I have really loved the show and everything about it.
I love the idea of unpotatoing the couch.
Maybe during commercials do solid exercises. Switch them up each set of commericals. It will take longer to watch than tivoing, but with pretty nice results after time (and much less late night snacking, since commercials are usually when the fridge is raided anyways).
The guiltier the pleasure, the harder the aerobic level during exercise  And since I never miss Supernova either; guess I will be running in place and doing high kicks during that one...
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Aug 19, 2006 1:35 AM
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oops, guess So You Think You Can Ance isn't the name of the show, is it?
stupid typos...
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Aug 19, 2006 1:37 AM
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Ance off pAnce off!
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Aug 21, 2006 3:07 PM
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I'm afraid my only hope is the human version of the hamster wheel. Hook the TV up to the treadmill, and if I want to keep watchin' I'd have to keep walkin'...
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Aug 21, 2006 9:05 PM
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ya ive been hip to the exercize while tving thang for awhile. its gotten my tv lovin ass back in shape nicely. its nice too cuz ive found so much more things to watch. if you have a vcr or dvr you can watch whatever you want, even fast forward the commercials, though this is a little annoying. personally if im watching commercial tv i just exercize through them, they arent that long.
also if youd rather avoid the commercials and you have cable you can watch movies. this is genius. its the perfect way to rewatch movies youve seen or to watch something you might never have watched. for instance the other day i worked out to supercross. it was great cuz its high adrenaline and loud music and all that. very inspiring. and i didnt mind leaving it to go take my shower afterwards.
maybe music videos would be good too. and sometimes i put on the digital cable music channels when im feeling like i need/want less distractions. nonstop music of your chosen genre with no commercials. it too is genius.
i have to say, with all the bagging done on tv. it sure is getting smarter and more interesting and worthwhile and educational. and watching while you
work out is a perfect way to assuage the couchpotato guilt.
if you havent found it yet the reality series Workout on bravo is very inspiring in a very positive way towards exercizing. after getting in shape while watching tv im about ready to go out and get myself a personal trainer and take it to the next level now.
good luck fellow tvcizers.
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Aug 24, 2006 11:51 AM
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