Reality shows abound these days – People getting Punk’d, Survivor-ing, being the Biggest Loser, or trying to bag Flavor-Flav. Discovery Channel’s Fit to Live offers an interesting twist.
There’s a fire in your office building. Can you make it down 90 flights of stairs…? Your car is submerged in water…can you swim to shore…?
“What the heck does this have to do with Carectomy?” you might ask. And, hey – what were you doing in that car before it went into the drink anyhow?
The connection is that our sprawling car-laden society has properly fattened us up and watered us down to the point that many of us would not survive the show’s tests. Turns out that time behind the wheel, slurping Cokes, hasn’t prepared us well for real-life struggles after all.
The fitness challenges aren’t all focused on dramatic life and death situations; as the show points out, we rely on basic fitness levels for mundane tasks like running to catch a plane or grabbing your loose dog before it escapes.
As show host Dr. Pamela Peeke says, “I am redefining ‘fitness’ as a more comprehensive and holistic concept that goes way beyond the old definition of a buffed body. I’m asking people if they are Fit to Live to survive a life and death scenario that takes them out of their usual comfort zone. Do you have the mental and physical ability to save your own life or that of others if pushed to do so?”
Maybe some of the carectomy patients out there think they have what it takes? Perhaps all that walking, cycling, and even transit-riding have given you some base endurance and a leg up on the competition. Round 2 of Fit to Live is having an online Casting Call right now for their next four-week training program that will both get you into shape and expose your experience to the whole TV-world.
Photo via flickr by Spiritualmonkey.
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More people need to bike in this world, Easier on the Earth then Vehicles which spew poison, Unfortunately, Most Adults who Bike in the USA are considered, Elitists types. blah
that elitism isn’t unfounded. i used to ride in my city’s critical mass. it wasn’t very large, in fact the first time it seemed to have gotten large police teams aggresivley broke it up. when it still met the next month they gave out mass amounts of tickets for worthless agendas. a fear tactic to keep riders from riding en masse.
it worked too, the following month there were depressingly low numbers. i felt what needed to happen was a change of attitude (most agreed and more rules of the road were followed, i.e. stopping at lights) and a change of look. a group of rag-tag anarchists; teenage punks now adult hipsters, is something of an elitist group.
this only proved itself a year later when the (albeit still small) numbers were back up. but this time there were moms with kids, an older gentleman who rode a penny-farthing. the group grew more diverse. and the riders who used to lead the mass decided to stay in the starting park and drink pbr instead of riding with a very different group.
but that’s one slice of bikers in my town. so you have your messenger boy bike jocks. you also have your spandex wearing weekend-warriors. then there’s a group of cruiser riders, my favorite, who have a certain style of their own.
now let’s compare this to the elitism of a car driver. they are in a vehicle that is shielded from the elements; if it’s cold the windows are up and the heat is on, if it’s hot the windows are up and the AC is on. there are car drivers who blast music at obnoxious levels, suffering your ears with the pumping bass that seems to shake more than just their car. let’s not forget the sheer lack of respect for the planet most car drivers have. consuming vast quantities of oil just to get from point A to point B (and presumably back again).
elitism can be found whenever and where ever you want to find it. scrutinize anything enough and you will be able to paint it how you like.
as for the article: any blog with girls on bikes is a fine blog indeed. i wish more women rode bikes in my town. seems i see three males for every one female on a bike as i ride about.
and obesity is truly a problem. i saw an article the other day about how over eating vitamins is bad for you. um… last i checked the endocrine system just flushes out excess vitamins. odd that i don’t see a similar article damning partially hydrogenated -insert-whatever-is-cheapest- oil, or high fructose corn-syrup. these items are man-made, extracted in unnatural ways, and our bodies do not know how to process these abominations. why doesn’t reader’s digest write up an article on that?
I’ve always found on a bike an oppurtunity to TALK to others. Can one do that in a car? Or is that why one is in a car to begin with? Has man lost our humanity by acquiring hulking machines? Have we associated growing up with setting aside such simple pleasures?