Hello, Consumerist. I have a workout pledge for you.
Since most of you are new to the site, here’s how workout pledges go. Basically, I allow my readers (that’s you!) to determine how long I sweat at the gym. It isn’t as simple as you telling me to workout (hey jerk, workout for 3 hours!), you have to complete one (or all) of the small tasks I outline below:
1. Post a comment: +15 seconds. Just comment to this post. It can be a “Good luck!” or it could be your life story. I’d be happy to read both.
2. Follow me on twitter: +30 seconds. I like to tweet.
3. Follow me on Facebook: +30 seconds. Join my new Facebook page and get absolutely nothing of value other than adding 30 seconds to my workout.
4. Subscribe to RSS feed: +45 seconds. I’m not really sure what RSS means.
5. Link to 344Pounds.com = +1 minute. You can link to me from your blog, Facebook, Twitter page, Digg, Plenty of Fish profile, etc. For every link I receive, I’ll workout 45 seconds.
Unlike previous workout pledges, this is not just for one machine — this is for two, the elliptical and the treadmill. If the total time for this pledge comes to 75 minutes for example, I’ll spend that time on both machines. I’ll complete 75 minutes on the treadmill, take a short break, then get on the elliptical!
I’ll upload pictures to twitter as I workout, too. I’ll go through with the pledge Saturday morning in case anybody wants to be online to cheer me on.
Or not. I’d be sleeping, personally.
You have until 7 PM (Eastern) Wednesday to add time to my workout. So, if you want to add me to your blogroll, RSS feed, Facebook, etc and make me earn your friendship, you have about 30 hours to do so.
It’s up to you. How long will I workout Saturday?
This has ended! This Saturday (UPDATED: Friday night at 7 PM) I will be working out for 93.4 minutes on BOTH machines. Be on twitter Friday night for live updates!
Updated 6/22: Proof, you skeptics.
Check out those sweet kicks, Nike Air Zooms! Great running shoes.
So, I went through with the pledge this morning. The total time was 54 minutes and 25 seconds, but I rounded up. I burned (according to the machine) 650 calories and traveled nearly 3.5 miles on the treadmill.
Great, right?
After finishing my workout, I picked up my iPhone to take a picture of the stats on the treadmill — but my battery literally died in my hands, meaning I wasn’t able to take a picture of the workout results.
With that being said, I’m a man of my word — I always show you proof of me going through with the workout pledges and this time is no exception. I don’t have time to spend another hour at the gym today, but I’ll go back tomorrow (with a fully charged iPhone) and do another 55 minutes on the treadmill.
It looks like you guys made me workout both days, afterall.
I’ve been training on the treadmill for a solid two weeks. It’s boring, tiring, and painful, and uh, I’m ready to stay on for however long you guys make me!
I’ll follow the 4 + 1 system for the duration of the workout, meaning I’ll walk for 4 minutes and run for 1. I’ll maintain a speed of at least 3.5 3.7 throughout the workout (minus warmup/cooldown) with a slight elevation (2.0+ incline).
But there’s a catch.
Your window of opportunity to add time to my workout is only from now until Saturday, 6AM Eastern — 24 hours. I’ll go through with the actual pledge on Saturday. With that being said, you have the opportunity to make me workout for much longer than ever before.
If you’re new to my workout pledges, here’s the lowdown. Basically, I allow my readers (that’s you, big boy!) to determine how long I work.out at the gym. It isn’t as simple as you telling me to workout for X minutes (it’s not that easy), you have to complete at least one of the tasks that I set forth.
These tasks are the following:
1. Post a comment = 30 seconds. If you add a comment to this post, you add 30 seconds to my treadmill workout. The comment can be as simple as “Go Tyler!” or it can be cliff notes for A Modest Proposal. Your call.
2. Follow me on twitter = 45 seconds. I like birds.
3. Subscribe to RSS feed = 1 minute. Sign up to my RSS feed to add a minute to my workout. I’m spreading across the globe, the web, RSS, twitter — next thing you know, you’ll be able to pull up 344Pounds.com on your phone!
4. Link to 344Pounds.com = 3 minutes. Post a link to 344Pounds.com. You can link from your blog, Facebook, Twitter page, Digg, Slashdot (nerd!), your Match.com profile, whatever… I’m not here to judge you.
I want this first treadmill workout to pledge to surpass 60+ minutes. If it does, I’ll repeat the same workout again on Sunday. And as always, you’ll get photos of the workout(s).
You have 24 hours.
UPDATE (6/10): Thanks for your support! I’ll be on the treadmill for 54 minutes and 25 seconds. I’ll post with pics later on today!
