introduction<br > The Path<br > to Instinctual Fitness<br > listening hard-bodies strut their stuff on magazine covers， billboards， and<br > television shows. We stare at them as we stand in line at the grocery store，<br >as we drive down the highways， and as we gaze blankly at the TV screen. We<br >can t escape them. Every time we stare， our shoulders slump， our bellies feel<br >soft. and we grow a little more disappointed， thinking that fitness is something<br >that s beyond our reach.<br > What a mess.<br > During the past 20 years， as the image of the ultimate fit body has become<br >more and more impossible to obtain， we ve become pudgier and pudgier.<br >Every year， fewer and fewer people exercise. No matter how often we try to<br >recharge our fitness pursuits， we seem to almost always fall off the wagon.<br > The latest U.S. Surgeon General ~ Report on Physical Activity and Health<br >states that only 20 percent of Americans that s 2 out of ]0---exercise consis-<br >tently three or four times a week， for one hour per session， at their target heart<br >rates. Yet， we re bombarded with more than 7，000 health and fitness messages<br >every year. Why don t we do what we know is good for us?<br > Because we haven t tapped into our fitness instincts.<br >HOW I DISCOVERED THE FITNESS INSTINCT<br >I ve always been interested in fitness. After I graduated from college with a<br >journalism degree， I tried to write stories about it， but I discovered that I didn t<br > xi--<br >