I’ve had several questions over the years about the content of my Facebook exercise check-ins, which used to be mostly to Planet Fitness and sometimes to the Red Hat Fitness Center, but since we bought an elliptical machine during the COVID pandemic, I’m just “checking in” at home.
- How long have you been doing this?
The oldest record I have of one is May 3, 2010, so 11 years? But there’s only one in 2010, and then they appear more regularly in 2012, so it’s probably more like 9 years. - Do you make them up?
I’ve only made up 3 or 4 of them over the years. - Why don’t you give attribution to them if you’re not making them up?
I did in the beginning, when I was getting a lot of them from “Quotable Quotes” sites, but then I started to get them from several different places and most of the time they weren’t attributed to anyone, and so I eventually stopped. People can Google one if they’re interested in its source. - Where do you get them?
I get them from several different sources: someecards, other people’s timelines, memes, PostSecret, and sometimes I just Google “exercise sayings” or “exercise memes” or “exercise quotes” or “exercise jokes.” Or, I substitute “gym” or “diet” for “exercise” in all of those search arguments. - Did Planet Fitness pay you to post them?
No. They wouldn’t even know I post them, since they’re on my timeline, which is friends-only, and not on Facebook’s Planet Fitness page or any place public. - Why do you post them?
The biggest reason is because it’s a huge motivator in getting me to exercise. I look forward to looking at them after I’m done exercising to see reactions to them. - Do you have any criteria for their use?
Yes, I don’t use one unless it’s been at least a year since I last used it. There are just a couple of exceptions to this, which are ones that are event-related (e.g., Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the end of the calendar year). - How do you know how many times you’ve used one or how long it’s been since you last used it?
I have a spreadsheet with all of them in it, including how often each has been used, the last date I used it, and the date of each use.Sorted by frequency of use
Sorted by date of last use
- How many do you have?
The number of rows currently (as of 06/11/21) in my spreadsheet indicates that I have 440 of them. - “Haven’t you already used that one?” (Which sometimes manifests itself as, “You’ve already used that one!”)
Usually I get this from someone who doesn’t know 1) that I keep track of them, and 2) what my criteria for re-use is. I always use the opportunity to educate them, and it’s one of the reasons I created these FAQs. 🙂 - “Have you seen this one?” (With the item in question either posted to my timeline or to their own timeline with me tagged.)
People often want to make sure I’ve seen something they think I might like to use, which I appreciate, but often I already have it in my repertoire. I’m somewhat of a control freak (I can see you trying to put a look of surprise on your face) about what goes on my timeline, so I appreciate when someone sends me one using Facebook Messenger instead of putting it on my timeline or tagging me on it in a posting on their timeline.