Problem:
Almost daily we reports in the news about some woman getting raped or beaten while they were out exercising. This is horrible! I hope that this post can help provide you with some exercise safety tips.
Why does this happen?
Threats and predators of all varieties are all around us, we can’t avoid that. But perhaps one reason there are these tragedies is that we are unaware and oblivious to what is around us. Let’s address this one aspect.
Why are we unaware? What’s causing us to be unaware?
My Answer: Your tunes/music!
Earphones/earbuds are great, but in my opinion there is NO reason to really ever use both earbuds, EVER! When you pop those earbuds in and crank up the tunes, you may be able to bike or run or whatever faster and push yourself harder, but you drown out the outside world and stop paying attention to your surroundings. You are in the zone.
I don’t want to discourage you from attaining that. Being in the zone is an awesome place to be, but it’s not worth sacrificing your health and exercise safety. In fact, I think we may be over-reliant on technology to get out and get moving.
I learned about awareness and exercise safety a long time ago when taking martial arts and self-defense classes. The armed forces teach about the color code of awareness, and how you are either clueless, aware/alert, or engaging in a conflict. While you may think this is great for the armed forces or other combat situations, it really has everything to do with exercise, especially when exercising in the great outdoors.
Let’s look at a couple scenarios.
To help me be more alert, but still enjoy my tunes and audiobooks, I’ve recently switched to using bone conduction headphones so that I can keep my ears open and be more alert.
Example #1-
Woman is running around a scenic area by her house and you notice that she just dropped something (maybe a key, or cash, or something). Luckily she’s just stopped to stretch. You pick up her valuable/s and approach her. You can hear her rocking out to her music 5 feet before you get to her and she doesn’t hear you approach or say, “Excuse me”. You end up having to tap her on the shoulder and what is her reaction? She jumps in complete alarm. Sound familiar? Luckily you were just trying to be a good Samaritan, and not some creep.
Example #2-
A cyclist is out on the road enjoying the beautiful day and loving his workout. He’s got both earbuds in and rocking out to his interval workout playlist. He’s mostly aware of road hazards so he doesn’t crash. However, there is a small group of cyclists coming up to him and despite yelling to him that they are approaching on his side, he doesn’t hear. The small group blows past him, startling him, he loses his line/balance and ends up crashing with a car.
I know I may sound crazy to ask you to practice exercise safety by not using both earbuds, but the simple act of having at least 1 ear on your surroundings will do wonders for hearing approaching footsteps or traffic or other potential threats and determining what your course of action will be. To help me be more alert, but still enjoy my tunes and audiobooks, I’ve recently switched to using bone conduction headphones so that I can keep my ears open and be more alert. So do yourself and your loved ones a favor and don’t be unaware (if you’ve read up to this point, you are no longer clueless or ignorant), and don’t be a victim.
Stay safe, and work hard!