Is it a good idea to have a TV attached to your cardio equipment?

Beneficial, to be entertained?

Or distracting while you should be working hard?

Share your thoughts.

I like your recent exercise topics Mazza- keep em coming! They're both fun to answer and to read.

Anyhow, TV for my workouts - no way - not while I'm at the gym. I tend to pick machines in the rear of the room far from the television.

I like to really push my limits during my cardio workouts, and more often than not am doing intervals. I personally find television to be a distraction. I've often noticed that when I glance up at the TV, and get ensnared for a few moments that my heart rate drops considerably. I'm obviously not good at multitasking.

My little weightlifting gym doesn't have television, so when I'm there it's never a problem. I think trying to lift and watch TV would result in a broken foot or something, for me.

For at home, fine. As a matter of fact I've made a rule for myself. If I watch television (which is rare, I swear I watch less than an hour or two a month) I have to do it while peddling on my stationary bike.

I adore watching tv when I'm doing the elliptical trainer and the bike. If that's what it takes to get my fanny in gear, then I have no problem with it
edit: I don't watch the tv when weightlifting. Too dangerous for me, because I am very, very clumsy.

I mostly work out at home -- I do go for a 3 mile walk three days a week -- but that is mostly to exercise my mom. Anyway, I generally do not watch TV during resistance training -- I like to focus on using my muscles or something. However, I ALWAYS watch TV while I do my cardio -- this has been especially true since I started doing High Intensity Interval Training. Not only is thirty minutes, every day, on an exercise bike pretty boring -- the HIIT training kind of kicks you in the posterior. I find that I need the distraction of something really fun to watch at the top of those nasty peaks -- otherwise I would just stare at the little red display, praying for the next minute and a half to be over -- peak after peak after peak. I still work plenty hard, but I get to watch Grey's Anatomy at the same time.

In fact, I not only watch TV while I exercise -- it is now the ONLY time I watch any kind of only "entertainment" oriented TV. Other than on the bike, I only watch the news, CNBC, etc., and if I don't finish a "fun" show during one exercise period, I have to wait until the next time I exercise to watch the rest (Power of the DVR...). Often, therefore, I look forward to getting back on the bike to see what happens. (This TV rule does not apply for "movie night" with my husband -- that is categorized as quality time and well worth the investment.)

Yes, TV during my cardio for SURE. I work hard (and even do HIIT), but find the TV makes it go faster, for me.

There's a TV at the gym I go to, it's in front of the treadmills. It's never got good reception and there's no sound so I don't watch it Instead I've put some of my favourite music concerts on my iPod and I balance that on the bar across the treadmill and watch that as I workout. I figure as long as I keep the treadmill at the right speed and I don't fall off the back of it then watching the iPod won't hurt as I'd still be working out as hard as I would if I wasn't watching it. I do the same on the exercise bike, though I keep one eye on my speed to make sure I don't drop below my target.

I never watch it when I'm weight training though, there's nowhere to balance an iPod on the machines

Thanks, FB I just thought that it might be fun to discuss stuff like this and I haven't seen it on the general chatter board in a while.

Sounds like there are a lot of different opinions about the TV cardio thing.

The cardio machines at my gym have individual TVs on them. I find that I still get a good workout when I'm watching and sometimes it helps pass the time. If there is nothing on that I really want to watch I will turn it to CNN or a news channel just so I have something to watch/read, but I'll crank up my ipod for music. A lot just depends on my mood.

Unless there is something I'm really interested in watching, I prefer to listen to my Ipod over watching TV. I have to say that I have to have something to distract me and make time pass more quickly. I remember when my gym didn't have TVs and Ipods weren't invented...pretty boring. I see a lot of people reading while exercising. I have never been able to do that. Either the print is too small or the pages won't stay open. I recently started to listen to books on MP3's and I love these.

I don't know if it's beneficial but when I am walking on the treadmill I need something to entertain me. The treadmill is the most boring walk for me ever and with the tv I put in a dvd, it gets me going and keeps me going...music doesn't do it for me anymore.

I actually find that watching Law and Order: Criminal Intent with the closed captioning on makes the time go by quick. I think, it's because I'm reading the words on the screen. I actually took a book downstairs today while listening to my ipod on the stationary bike. The 30 minutes flew!!! haha

I need distraction while on the cardio machines because otherwise I'm staring at the little red numbers move and I can't stand it.

I found that using the TV for the treadmill made it easier to stay on (the treadmill is deathly boring for me, especially since I can't run on it)- plus if I timed it right and started at the beginning of the episode, I'd want to stay on and finish and find out what happens. But the ellipticals only have the big screens on silent, and they're almost always ESPN or some news network, so I focus on podcasts instead.

I watch TV (read the captions as there's no sound) while listening to my ipod. I'm able to keep my HR up and it helps pass the time. Looking at the machine display drives me nuts!

I saw a girl reading a book while working the elliptical yesterday. She was holding the book with both hands! I would so lose my balance if I did that