"My dog ate my workout"
Breaking the "excusercise syndrome

Age: 40 

Gig: Exercise physiologist/psychologist; founder of Excusercise.com

Favorite thing about Newton: "The Big Fig? I like the cultural diversity here - the little villages all have different feels."

EXCUSERCISE (EX-CUSE-ER­CISE]. N.: THE (IR)RATIONAL, YET REAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIO­LOGICAL, PHYSIOLOGICAL, ENVI­RONMENTAL, OR SPIRITUAL BARRIERS/REASONS/EXCUSES INDIVIDUALS EMPLOY TO AVOID PARTICIPATION IN UNSTRUC­TURED PHYSICAL ACTIVITY OR STRUCTURED EXERCISE.

It takes a lot of guts to coin a new word, especially in the fad ridden world of fitness. But armed with months of research and years of experience, Bruce Cohen took that chance.

"We all have motivations for what we do," Cohen observes, "but there are always reasons why we can avoid participation." In fact, Cohen suggests many people spend more energy making excuses than exercising. "So I kind of morphed the words and trademarked it." Armed with his new word and recent Ph.D., Cohen now dedicates his life to helping other people find the intrinsic value in exercising and staying in good health.

"What I try to do is to come to understand people's personal excuses and counter them," he says.  As a boy, Cohen recall playing with the neighborhood kids and participating in school based programs "like basketball and cross-country.

"My love for sweating goes far back," he says. "My parents always encouraged me to go out and play, and there were always games going on in the neighborhood." Cohen says that he still finds himself exercising between 3 and 7 PM , which were the times when he played as a child or practiced while in school sports programs.

"Apparently, these habits can stick," he observes. This stick-to-­it-iveness is what now drives Cohen. As the founder of Excusercise.com, Cohen works to help people find fitness habits that they can truly live with and maintain.

"Most people simply do not stick with it," he says. "Their self-efficacy and their determination are low." Cohen notes, however, that it is not always the individuals themselves who determine what and how much they do in the name of fitness. "It also has to do with life events that do not allow them to continue," he admits. "There are times in everyone's life when things change for better or for worse. It is at such times that things like exercise often fall away."

At such times, many people find a way to give themselves a break from their fitness routine. Unfortunately, these "breaks" often turn into breaking points. "They may let themselves off for a week," Cohen says, “but soon that week becomes months."

THAT 'FUN FACTOR'

AS THERE ARE always reasons not to exercise, Cohen has dedicated himself to helping others find that dedication within themselves. "I try to help people make it a higher priority and to fit in what they can do," he says.

As Cohen grew, exercise was always an important and regular part of his daily life. "I played ball and ran throughout my younger days," he recalls, "but in junior high school, I discovered that my running could take me fur­ther. One of the people Cohen credits for his love of running his continued participation in the activity, is his childhood running coach. "He used to pile us into his van and take us down to the beach to run," Cohen recalls, noting that, unlike other coaches who set their charges free, his coach would actually run or ride his bike alongside his team.

"That motivation and support was inspirational:' Cohen says. "We always thought he was out of his mind - and he probably was  ­but he made it fun, and that was the big factor.”

According to Cohen, this elusive "fun factor" is one of the main reasons why people do anything. "Unfortunately, fun can't be bought," he says. "It needs to be discovered within, and that is what I try to help people find.”

Though Cohen has known for a long time that he wanted to help people stay healthy, he was not always sure as to how he wanted to go about doing so.  "I have been involved in sports for a long time: he explains, "but I did not think of it as a career early on."

PURSUES CARDIAC CARE

THOUGH HIS FIRST foray into medicine came from an interest in animals, Cohen eventually decided to work with his fellow humans.  "Originally, I was thinking about becoming a veterinarian," he recalls, "but by the time I got to college, I was looking into helping people directly.”  After pursuing a pre-physical therapy program at Rutgers , Cohen went to Northeastern University for a Masters in Clinical Physiology. It was during this time that he began to work directly with clients.

"I started working with corporate groups: Cohen recalls, "and that led to personal training. I really liked that because that allowed me to spend concentrated time with individuals, to help them affect behavior change that would allow them to stay healthy.

At around the same time, "Cohen took on an internship working with stroke patients. "That was very fulfilling,"he says, "but it was also somewhat disheartening because many of the patients I worked with were very slow recoverers."

Having learned that the cardiac muscle (a.k.a., "the heart") responds very quickly to training, Cohen moved into the world of cardiac rehabilitation. "I realized that I could affect more people in a profound way if I went into cardiac care he explains.

As he became more involved in cardiac care, Cohen further realized that he might make an even more profound difference on the front-end, helping people improve their health as opposed to helping them heal after an injury.

"I saw many of my patients returning to the clinic again and again, and I started to realize that not even the fear of death was always enough to help peo­ple change their habits," he says. "That prompted me to start looking into other ways to help peo­ple stay healthy.”

After completing his Masters, Cohen took a job with the United States Public Health Service's Division of Occupational Health.  "The majority of my clients were apparently healthy, but a few had cardiac issues and cancer," Cohen recalls. "And as most of them were rather sedentary and in high-stress positions, they were all in need of assistance."

In an effort to help his governmental clients work fitness into their busy lives, Cohen began opening fitness centers in a num­ber of federal buildings through­out the Greater Boston area.

"I was there for nine years and we put thousands of people on programs," he says. "And though many of them adhered to their plans, many others dropped out, even though we had explained the physiology to them."

A bit confused as to why people would stop doing something they understood was beneficial for them, Cohen went back to school to pursue his doctorate at Temple University .

"I wanted to study the psychological aspects of fitness and performance," he explains. "I found that there was more to it than giving people good plans and the latest equipment. There was a social element that was key to proper adherence."

INSPIRATION

IN ADDITION TO THE latest equip­ment and a desire to lose or gain something, Cohen discovered that most people aIso needed inspiration, just as Cohen himself had found in the form of his "crazy" track coach.

"People need social support," he explains, "and that is what I hope to help provide." Though he is only one man with literally millions of potential clients, Cohen has found a way to share the knowledge he has gained from his doctoral studies and from over 15 years in the fit­ness industry-the Internet.

"Right now, Excusercise is a one-man shop," he says, "but the site can help people get information and, hopefully, gain some encouragement and benefit as well."

In addition to assessment tools and tips that can be used by individuals, trainers, and medical professionals, Excusercise also offers the personal support that Cohen has always tried to give his clients. Perhaps most important, however, are the many fitness options that Cohen suggests.

"That is one of the most impor­tant parts of any successful exercise plan," he says. "People need to be able to do things that fit into their lives. If they can't, they probably won't do anything."

Through Excusercise, Cohen, hopes to help both clients and trainers to find new ways to incorporate exercise into their lives. "You don't need a gym or a house full of equipment to exercise," Cohen notes. "You can stretch in your office. You can play with your kids. Around here, there always seems to be shoveling to do,"

The important part, Cohen emphasizes, is to stay active.  "According to the U.S. Surgeon General, less than 20 percent of the population participates in exer­cise with the minimum frequency," Cohen says, citing a recent study that defined the "mini­mum" as three times a week for 20 minutes per session. "These' people do not need a gym – they just do it anyway. It is part of their life."

For the other 80 percent, how­ever, life is not so fit. "Another 20 percent are what are called 'pre­contemplators,'" Cohen explains, citing another recently-coined fitness term. "They have no inten­tion of exercising at all. These people may be injured or may think that they are healthy enough. Unfortunately, they are usually wrong:'

And what of the other 60 per­cent? "The majority of people have good intentions but are unable to stick to a program over an extended period of time," he says. "They get all psyched up at the beginning of the year, but then fall away a few months later."  And while many of these people are able to get back into the game eventually, the breaks between activities tend to get longer and longer. "Most people 'relapse' out of exercise twice a year for 12 weeks each," Cohen says.