I love to hike, bike, ruck, and work out outdoors.
But I live in the desert, so as soon as summer heat hits, it makes it near impossible to do that without getting up at the crack ass of dawn.
Yet, I also dearly value my sleep, and would rather not sacrifice one part of my health for another…
So what is a dude to do?
In years past, I chose to do nothing…most summers, my step counts, fitness levels, and mood would simply all take a dive.
And yet there was already a simple answer to help with all 3 of these things…it was so obvious I should have seen it, but I didn’t.
I was facing The Treadmill Problem.
The Answer Was So Obvious
The answer was so dang simple.
I needed to be working out inside on a treadmill. Yep, a good old-fashioned treadmill!
But I have been so used to NOT working out on a treadmill or anywhere inside for that matter, that I didn’t even consider it.
The treadmill was so far off my radar, that even when I thought of it, I dismissed it outright.
I kept telling myself that I disliked the treadmill, that I would rather do anything including not working out than get on a treadmill.
And yet, we live in a community in which part of our HOA fees go to a gym, and so I already have ready access to one.
But it didn’t matter.
My mind was made up. I would NOT work out on a treadmill.
The Treadmill Problem
And that brings us to the main point of my article…what I am calling “The Treadmill Problem.”
The Treadmill Problem is really what is known as Availability Bias
This cognitive bias causes people to focus on the information or options that are most readily available to them in memory or experience while neglecting alternatives that are less familiar or harder to recall.
I hadn’t been on a treadmill in soooo long that I didn’t even consider the most obvious option to work out during the hot, hot summers.
And beyond not even considering it, I had spun a negative story in my mind about the treadmill, telling myself that I didn’t enjoy that type of workout.
That negative story I was selling to myself is called the Reverse Halo Effect, in which you build something up in your mind as being more negative than it actually is.
Yet as I found out, I was so so very wrong.
Getting Back On The Treadmill
So finally, after who knows how long I had gone not touching a treadmill, I decided to give it a try one hot summer day.
And when I finally got back on it, I realized that it wasn’t so bad after all!
I instantly remembered that there is a nice benefit to working out on the treadmill: watching movies and TV shows.
Back before the streaming days, I would download movies to my computer, and then stream them using a home server to my phone that I was then able to connect to our gym’s treadmills via USB input.
But after 9 years of being a parent, not only had I forgotten how much I enjoyed watching movies and TV shows while working out, but I also had about 9 years of content to catch up on.
After years and years of telling myself that I disliked the treadmill, I started to work out harder and longer than I had in years.
I was able to burn more calories on the treadmill than in some of my other workouts.
As it turned out, I didn’t dislike the treadmill: I loved it!
Now, is working out in a stuffy room in the middle of summer as nice as going on a hike on a beautiful spring morning? Hell no.
But it’s not bad. It’s not bad at all.
Is “The Treadmill Problem” Limiting Your Decision Making?
So I have to ask myself, what other stories am I telling myself that are simply not true?
What are the other “treadmills” in my life?
What are the other things that I have whisked away out of my brain, and that are currently limiting my decision-making?
And what treadmill do I currently need to get off of that I have been stuck on for awhile?
These are all questions all of us should be thinking about.
Because as much as I love hiking, biking, rucking, and working out outdoors, I also find just as much enjoyment from working out on that damn treadmill.
Who could have guessed?
