All You Need to Know About Lazy People Can Be Seen in a Grocery Store Parking Lot

It occurred to me again last night that we are really lazy. I was sitting in my truck waiting for my wife to come out of the grocery store and while I listened to the news, I was observing the behavior of people who were looking for a place to park. It is amazing to me that someone will drive circles around a parking lot looking for one of the ten closest spots to open up instead of parking 250 feet away and actually saving time by hoofing it! Not to mention, I watched a Suburban try to squeeze in a spot intended for a Prius. Queen Latifah would have a better shot getting into Jessica Simpson's jeans. And people don't really seem to care about what happens to the other car when they swing open their doors and crash it into the nice door in the next parking spot. So wouldn't it be better for your body, save time, save gas, and save your car doors if you parked a little further away? Don't be lazy.
by Chris Scully

Obama Can't Be Our President!

I probably shouldn't pontificate about politics or religion on my company website; however I enjoy both subjects so I'm going to start talking about them. So...after the ongoing battle between Hillary and Barack you'd probably think I'm going to weigh in on some crucial issue? But actually, it's something else: it's Obama's bowling! I have been wondering how a person who bowls a legitimate 37 can POSSIBLY run the world's greatest nation? Now I just took a 10 year-old boy to the bowling alley a couple weeks ago and he's only bowled a couple times in his life - and he managed a 68! I bet Hillary, Bill, Bush, Condi, McCain, McCain's wife, Ralph Nader, and the Bush's dog, Spot, could beat a 37!! Do you realize how humiliating that is? Obama couldn't get more than 4 pins per frame! I have always observed how well Presidents throw out the first pitch at baseball games - but PLEASE: Keep Obama away from the pitcher's mound! It would be so embarrassing to our country. I can already see it! We need a leader that has some kind of athletic ability to go along with their intellect and leadership. I don't want to cringe on Opening Day!

by Chris Scully

"You Missed Your Calling"

I imagine we've all been told that we've "missed our calling" but what does that really mean? I could argue that you're exactly where you're supposed to be at any moment in time. When Arnold Schwarzenegger was winning Mr. Olympia, did he miss his calling to be the Governor of California? He likely would not have had the opportunity to become Governor had he not gone through the bodybuilding and acting. So when will his "calling" really be determined? Nobody's story is written in full yet...therefore none of us are marching in a linear fashion toward our "calling." Ok, Tiger Woods has been playing golf since he was knee high to a grasshopper and he clearly was destined to be a golfer in the first phase of his life. But his "calling" may not be golf after all - it may just be a vehicle to get him there? He may be end up being the most innovative entrepreneur that the world has ever seen - one that educates kids better than our school systems do? Who knows? So don't be frustrated if you are not "there" yet...there must be a Design and some Artistry to our lives? As the German philosopher, Nietzsche, wrote: "He who has a WHY to live for can bear almost any HOW." Just believe that all these zigzags we experience in our quest for answers is part of a grand scheme to make our role in the puzzle something that is meaningful to the universe.
by Chris Scully

Election 2008 | Presidential Candidates' Platforms Reflect Differences in Perspectives of Democratic, Republican Primary Voters on Health Care Issues

"A newly published article in the New England Journal of Medicine finds that the contrasting health care platforms of the leading Democratic and Republican presidential candidates reflect underlying differences in the views of their primary voters, the AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports...

According to the survey, 65% of Democratic voters say they would like presidential candidates to propose plans that would expand health insurance to all residents, regardless of whether such plans would increase government spending. Among Republican voters, 23% would like to hear about proposals that would expand health insurance to all residents, compared with 42% who prefer more limited proposals and 27% who would like to see no changes to the current system, the survey found."

The sad part is that just about everybody wants more from a system that will not be able to deliver their expectations.

Health improvement is a personal responsibility that comes from fitness. At least the parts over which you have control.

Sick care, regularly mischaracterized as health care, is a rescue industry.

As long as we keep getting the two confused, we will not achieve health and we will keep chasing our tails. (Figuratively. If we did it actually and properly, we might be able to improve fitness and health of some people.)

by Michael Applebaum, M.D.

Brittany Spears vs American Soldiers

This has absolutely nothing to do with fitness.

I am tired of seeing this bimbo everywhere - taking the millioinaire's freefall. We have injured soldiers lying in Walter Reed Army Hospital trying to put their lives back together (after getting their bodies put back together); but our antidote for boredom is to read about junk like this instead of doing something positive for these warriors of freedom. We're all guilty of it, I imagine. But why? Why do the positive stories take a back seat to the train wrecks? Maybe if each of us wrote just one soldier a card to thank them for their sacrifice instead of buying one US Magazine, our karma buckets would overflow? I'm not trying to be self-righteous...I just clicked on a Brittany story on the Fox News site and then got disgusted with myself for doing so!
by Chris Scully

Running Your Own Race

If you have ever read Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead, you know that Howard Roarke 'ran his own race.' He was deaf to critics - not trying to win them over - just honoring his conscience and doing what he felt was right. He ran his own race. Wouldn't our world be better off if more people lived with this as their mantra? Are we all just too worried about what others think? Of course, this theme can be taken too far and become destructive to mind, body, and soul. I think we all have seen that scenario play itself out. That's not what I'm talking about here.

Life is a series of votes - votes that are made for or against us and votes we make for or against others. All these votes have consequences for us: who we choose as friends, who we choose as our spouse, where we live and work, what kind of fashions we wear, etc. It takes an amazing amount of fortitude to live a life like Howard Roarke. Because of this strength of conviction, he probably didn't have any sleep problems or bouts with depression, either. Are we creating our own circumstances or are circumstances defining and directing us? After years in the gym, which incidentally might be the best sociology lab anywhere, I get a kick out of trying to figure all this stuff out. We are funny, fascinating, and strange creatures...that's for sure.
by Chris Scully

'What Makes People Happy?'

This was a very cool segment from the ABC News show "20/20." If you have a few minutes read through the article and gain some perspective.


http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Story?id=4087250&page=1

Honoring Commitments

It seems as though commitments aren't really commitments any more. Financial promises such as loans or contracts have become lukewarm "I will if I can" declarations and not "I will" promises. RSVP's have become "I got the invitation and will attend if nothing better comes along." Arriving to work on time, getting to your dinner reservation on time, returning phone calls, not blowing off your trainer, etc. have all taken a back seat to "me" initiatives like "I'll do whatever I want to do whenever I want to do it." But the thing that gets me is that the biggest examples of this selfish non-discipline are with people's health. The same people whose self-discipline is lacking in the stuff mentioned above often are poster children for the National Institutes of (non) Health. Straight lines are many times better than operating in some kind of crazed non-pattern of individualism that proves nothing more than how unreliable and unprofessional one is! If you look at any team or any individual that has ACCOMPLISHED in their lives, they all have had one thing in common: concentration. They only took their eyes off the ball when it was "okay" to do so but never for very long. So let's all keep our eyes on the ball and keep our commitments....especially to ourselves!
by Chris Scully

What has the iPod done to us?

I'm certainly as guilty as the next person of "tuning out" while working out. But the iPod has done something to me (and everyone else) that really changes the gym dynamic: people don't talk to each other much any more. Back in the day, the old Walkman was too bulky to really make it convenient to do every exercise while listening to cassette tapes. But nowadays, the iPod is so small that the most cumbersome part of the gadget is the ear buds that weigh only a couple ounces. There isn't anything we can't do with an iPod hitched securely to our person! I even toyed with getting one that allows you to view video but I'm resisting just so I don't become even more of a prisoner to all this technology! All the old school stuff that I loved in my youth has been invaded by technology. I just got back from golfing and if your golf cart doesn't have a GPS in it, you must be playing some kind of bogus city course! The gym I worked out in as a kid had the local rock station playing at decibel levels unsafe to all humans and now we play satellite music at a comfortable volume so as not to disturb the throngs of iPod users casually going through their workouts! All the cardio equipment will soon be iPod compatible so the BIGGEST LOSER in the gym will be the art of conversation! Maybe I should pitch an iPod Heart Monitor with an alarm that rings in your ears when your heart rate stays too low during your workout? Some of these folks are really tuning out so much that their biggest workout is song selection and not the exercise at hand! Oh well....
by Chris Scully

Introducing Chris Scully

For those of you that don’t know Chris – he is the co-owner of Main Event Fitness with his father, Bob. He is originally from Miami, FL and attended Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC. Having played all sports as a kid, he decided on soccer as his sport of choice in high school and played for Wake Forest as a collegian. After graduating in 1989, he began his career in fitness in Miami and moved to Atlanta in 1993 to explore the opportunities of owning a gym. He became involved with Main Event Fitness shortly after arriving in Atlanta and several years later in 1997, bought ownership in the company. Chris' dream was always to own a gym - a real gym- and he is very proud to have had a large hand in the development of such an exceptional facility. He loves the atmosphere at MEF and truly looks forward to each and every day at the gym. Chris is married, has four dogs (3-Siberian Huskies and 1-German Shepherd), enjoys cycling, and occasionally plays golf and tennis. He enjoys reading mostly non-fiction and is a history buff. He attended Miami Dolphins games as a kid and wished the Falcons played outdoors so he could relive some of those wonderful fall days in a sun-soaked stadium (instead of the sterile Georgia Dome). Chris loves talking Pro Football and English Premier League Soccer.