50 Cents Worth of Fitness, Please! Oh--and Make That "To Go"

The Entrepreneurial G. A. P.
by Tim Staton

“If it’s free, it’s for me”.  Hey, it makes sense; we don’t get wealthy by paying for things we can get for free.  I made the logical leap.  I also won’t get healthy by simply buying the most expensive piece of home exercise equipment.  I started looking for free exercise equipment.  Infomercials touted very low cost alternatives to that expensive home gym but even I couldn’t make the leap of flabby to “Mr. Universe” within 30 days with just three easy payments.  Then I found it; the perfect piece of free exercise equipment.  Well, it isn’t exactly free, but I have found a piece of exercise equipment that only costs me fifty cents up front and a penny a day for maintenance. 

The piece of exercise equipment I am referring to is a roll of pennies.  That’s right!  Good old Lincoln head pennies are putting me back on the path of fitness.  Every day I scatter the pennies on the floor and one by one I bend over and pick them up.  Each day I add one penny to the collection and repeat the process, hence the penny a day for maintenance.  I have committed to 30 days of this exercise without fail.  I will not go to bed until I have completed today’s exercise.  Infomercials always offer two, that’s right two, for the price of one?  I have added one jumping jack for each penny that I pick up.  Now that’s a real bargain!  The finance Guru, Dave Ramsey, teaches that financial fitness is 80% behavior and only 20% math.  The same is true for physical fitness.  Rumor has it that this same fifty cents will purchase a small ice cream cone at your local McDonalds.  You would do just as well to go buy that ice cream cone as to leave the pennies in a pile on the dresser after day 2. 

Here are a few tips I have picked up along with those pennies:

• You may need to check with your Doctor before you begin any exercise program but, trust me, your accountant will be just fine with this.
• The earlier in the day the better.  There is nothing like a soft warm bed to rob you of your resolve at the end of a long tiring day.
• If you are like me, when you bend over you look around for anything else you need while you are down there.  Only one penny is picked up per “bend over”.
• Dropping and picking up a dime does NOT count for 10 reps.
• If you can’t afford the pennies, then go out into your drive way and pick up 50 pebbles. Don’t forget your maintenance pebbles.  If you do it right, you can count this as day one.
• Every day for 30 days!  Miss a day, start over. Yes, start over at day one. You may want to add an accountability partner who lives nearby (and owns a Taser®).
• At the end of the 30 days you deserve a celebration!  Go out and splurge the 80 cents on whatever you want to eat.  You have earned it!

Now for the money back guarantee!  Follow this exercise routine for 30 days without cheating.  If you do not see and feel the difference, all you have to do is return your exercise equipment to me postage paid and I will gladly refund every penny of your money. (Pssssst…if you bought the ice cream cone there is no money back guarantee).

This really works!  A little change can help you make really big changes.

Tim Staton is an author, coach, public speaker and “change” agent.  Connect with him and share your experience at https://www.facebook.com/timstatondotcom