Nation wants fast fitness

Our nation is full of fitness fans.

Fitness centers have mushroomed as Americans have looked to exercise their way back into shape.

But the trouble with workouts is that you have to work at it. In today's hurry-up world, it isn't easy finding time to finish that report for your boss, take the kids to soccer games, Scout meetings, doctors' appointments and still find time to flex a few muscles.

Ours is a nation that wants everything fast. America has elevated the drive-through store into a way of life. We eat, drink and bank on the run. So why should fitness workouts be any different? Recently some fitness centers around the country have begun offering fast fitness plans that involve as little as 15 minutes of working out at a time.

Not surprisingly, health experts say, many Americans like quick workouts. If the trend continues, many of us may spend as much time getting in shape as it takes to eat a Big Mac.

Of course, the ultimate workout might be a drive-through. Imagine if we could just jog in our cars and flex our muscles behind the steering wheel as popular music plays on outdoor speakers and fitness trainers give us pointers from drive-through windows.

There's a popular beer commercial that shows beer drinkers exercising their fingers on a tiny treadmill. You can't help but laugh at the image. But deep down, there's a little bit of truth to the commercial.

We all would prefer to get in shape without sweating it too much.

Quick exercises appeal to our make-it-fast mentality.

When every second of your day is scheduled, there's a reluctance to spend much time doing any one thing. So it's not surprising that we want to hurry along even our workouts.

Still, at least our heart is in the right place, provided we've been doing our exercises.

Joni and I recently joined a local fitness center. But so far we haven't found a fast approach to working out.

It used to be Americans had to work out at sweaty, smelly gyms. Now, we all can tone up at fitness centers where the décor looks more like the inside of a posh hotel and less like a boxing club.

I've got to admit I like the upscale look. And just like those nice hotels, there's no shortage of clean white towels at today's fitness centers. Even the locker rooms have a designer look to them.

You'd lose some of that luxurious feel if fitness were just a drive-through activity.

Of course, maybe we could get by with less exercise if we weren't always cleaning our plates.

For decades, parents have told their children to clean their plates. That empty-the-plate mentality alarms some health experts who worry about the nation's expanding waistline.

The idea of the "Clean Plate Club" originated in World War I. President Woodrow Wilson insisted that "food will win the war." To help conserve food, he created the U.S. Food Administration, which lasted until the end of the war.

Americans were urged to sign pledge cards in which they promised not to leave a scrap of food on their plates.

After World War II, President Harry Truman urged Americans to eat less to save food for starving Europeans.

But since the 1970s, more food is being put on America's plates. The result is more Americans have to eat more to clean their plates.

If you listen to the health experts, things would be a whole lot better if we just wasted more food. It's either that or smaller dinner plates.

Mark Bliss is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.