Why I’m Not A Millionaire

A search of Google Images for "home exercise equipment" results

in a mind-boggling, very expensive array of choices. People love

to spend money on complicated ways to do basic no-cost exercise.

I can’t sell something that I don’t believe in. I can’t lie to people. Maybe it’s because I’m lied to every day and resent it, while lies for others, it seems to me, are like water off a duck’s back. They expect to be lied to and can shrug it off. I don’t. I can't.

My fitness philosophy is simple: work out regularly with focus, and don’t eat garbage—crap like processed food and fast food. Uncomplicated.

But people don’t like uncomplicated. You can’t monetize simple, but you can monetize the hell out of complicated, because that’s what people want. The more complicated you make fitness and diet, the more attractive people find it. Because basically people don’t want to do the basic work, the simple, uncomplicated, logical work required to remain healthy and in shape.

"The more complicated you make fitness and diet, the more attractive people find it." 

That’s why we buy expensive "fitness trackers." And perk up watching Peloton commercials. And try the latest fad diet. And buy Lululemon. That’s why there are hundreds and hundreds of complicated supplement products on the shelves at GNC. And novel “new” ways of working out. And an endless stream of exercise gadgets on infomercials. And special guests on talk shows blabbing their way around whatever scam they’re currently offering. And the vile Gwyneth Paltrow. And Oprah backing charlatans and scammers and snake oil salesmen like Dr. Oz and Bob Green and Marianne Williamson and proselytizing the ridiculous, damaging “you can have it all!”

Garages and basements all over the world are crammed with stair-steppers, rowing machines, ellipticals, treadmills and more, currently serving more as clothes racks and dust collectors.

People pay good money for all this rigmarole so as to distract from the unpleasant fact they have to do the hard work involved in maintaining healthy weight and fitness. There is no magic pill. No "new" exercise. No bogus guru who can lead you to success. There’s only the adoption of healthful nutrition and regular exercise as a lifestyle.