EXERCISE

Percentage of American's who own running shoes but don't run: 87% 

Charis Conn, Ed., What Counts: The Complete Harper's Index.

Sign on a men's gym door: We have courses to make grown men young and young men grown.

Source Unknown.

Doctor to patient: Sorry, but right now you're not in good enough shape to get in shape.

Source Unknown.

On Saturday, December 23, 1972, Richard Knecht of Prospect, Oregon, set out to shatter the existing world sit-up record. For the past six months a Marine Corps captain had held the record, with an amazing 17,007. Knecht was determined to capture the title for his family team, which tours the nation demonstrating the utmost in physical fitness. He began the grueling attempt in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and 11 hours and 14 minutes later had shattered the record with 25,222 sit-ups. How many years of training had gone into preparing for this Herculean feat? Not as many as you might think. When he set the record, Richard Knecht was 8 years old. 

Reported in Campus Life.

A retired couple decided that they should walk two miles a day to stay in shape. They chose to walk a mile out on a lonely country road so they would have no choice but to walk back. At the one-mile mark on their first venture, the man asked his wife, "Do you think you can make it back all right, or are you too tired?" "Oh, no," she said. "I'm not tired. I can make it fine." "Good," he replied. "I'll wait here. You go back, get the car and come get me." 

Joyce Redding in Reader's Digest, February 1980.

Statistics and Stuff

Regular exercise toughens the mind as well as the body. After working out three times a week for six months, one group was found to be 20% fitter. Bonus: they also scored 70% better in a test of complex decision making. 

American Health, quoted in Homemade, November 1985 .

Humor

Daily Exercise for the Non-Athletic: A calorie guide citing a recent medical association report: "Proper weight control and physical fitness cannot be attained by dieting alone. Many people who are engaged in sedentary occupations do not realize that calories can be burned by the hundreds by engaging in strenuous activities that do not require physical exercise." Here's the guide to calorie-burning activities and the number of calories per hour they consume.

Beating around the bush..................... 75
Jumping to conclusions......................100
Climbing the walls..........................150
Swallowing your pride....................... 50
Passing the buck............................ 25
Throwing your weight around
(depending on your weight)..........50-300
Dragging your heels.........................100
Pushing your luck...........................250
Making mountains out of molehills...........500
Hitting the nail on the head................ 50
Wading through paperwork....................300
Bending over backwards...................... 75
Jumping on the bandwagon....................200
Running around in circles...................350
Eating crow.................................225
Tooting your own horn....................... 25
Adding fuel to the fire.....................150
Opening a can of worms...................... 50

Source Unknown.