Fitness is about your body, not everyone elses' thoughts.

I have recently been semi- bombarded with questions about warming up and why we warm up and even why we do the things we do when we exercise. All very legitimate questions, but having very broad, long answers. I really haven't been doing this that long (a little under two years) but I have found that EVEN if I give you sage, sound advice if it doesn't make you necessarily 'fit in' on the fitness floor then you aren't going to do it. Why is that? What is it about YOUR personal fitness goals that makes you feel necessary to keep doing the SAME old routines in the SAME order on the SAME day with the SAME ineffective warm up just to fit in with the crowd? I write all of this, of course, with an example so it makes more sense.

I had a gentleman approach me at the gym the other day wanting to know what he could do for his tight muscles. I asked him if he stretched after he worked out and he replied no he only stretched sometimes before a workout. My eyes got a little wide and I asked why he was still stretching before his workout then went into a little shpeel about how its been proven that stretching after your workout is proven to be more effective and less apt for injury and that if he wanted a really good warm up to focus more on things like movement rehearsal and full body movement to really get the synovial fluid warm and lubricated around his joints. He really seemed to soak it all in and I know he was listening. So I felt good about it when the conversation ended.
Less than 48 hours later I see this gentleman out on the floor stretching. So in my mind I'm thinking this is great he's taken my advice and is stretching after he worked out so I asked him how his workout went and he said he was just warming up. I gave him a very confused look and asked him if he had already forgotten what we talked about. He replied no but if all the other guys on the floor were stretching too then it must not really be that bad and has to get the job done and he didn't want to stick out as being the odd one doing the movement rehearsal like lifting just the bar like I had shown him to warm up the chest for a chest press or doing slow full body low squats with hand raises, tai chi, etc. His appearance to 'the guys' mattered more to him than his own body and his own workout. Why?

Okay, now comes my point. It's your body; it's your workout. Who cares what everyone else is doing around you? I guarantee you if you spent all that time getting your mind focused in with your movement you would have that much better of a workout and MUCH better results. I heard a comedian once say "If your body is in on it, more than likely your brain needs to be in on it too." Very true for exercise. So forget about everyone else, warm up like a pro, and do your workout like a pro and get the results that you really want. That's the point of spending all that time in the gym anyway, am I right?