By Kelly Rausch

Contrary to what my previous columns would have you believe, I don’t live exclusively on the couch. I’m actually pretty active.

I ran my second half-marathon in February, and the training leading up to the race was intense. But since finishing my race, I haven’t been able to muster the will to run very far or very often. In light of this runner’s burnout, my search for alternate forms of exercise has led me to a little-watched channel in my satellite package: FitTV.

FitTV offers 20 hours of fitness programming daily. You’ll find everything from traditional aerobic and strength training workouts to yoga and dance-based programs. For people less motivated to work up a sweat themselves, there’s also reality programming like “Body Challenge: After Baby” where new parents compete to ditch their baby weight, and healthy cooking shows.

I’m no stranger to working out in front of the T.V. As a pre-teen, I once tuned in to PBS’ “Sit and Be Fit” expecting a lazy person’s ticket to weight loss. What I found had more to do with senior citizens struggling to maintain flexibility in the twilight of their lives as opposed to any sustenance for my nascent self-esteem and body image issues.

Later, I would receive (as a gift, no less: “Happy birthday, Fatty!”) Tamilee Webb’s steel trilogy: a trifecta of workout videos promising buns, thighs and abs of spectacular strength and zero jiggle. In my family’s living room I would huff and puff my uncoordinated way through Webb’s series of squats and lunges while my mother, quietly reading a book in the corner, would occasionally glance up to offer critique of my form. My buns, while not made of steel, were on fire, and I was in no mood to hear criticism. What I did learn was to only ever do the videos when I was home alone.

Fast forward to the present where lessons from the past still apply. In the early morning hours one recent day, I awoke 30 minutes ahead of my normal schedule (and several hours ahead of my husband). Still half-asleep, I pulled on some sneakers and placed myself in the capable, televised hands of one Mr. Gilad Janklowicz.

Janklowicz is a former world-class decathlete, all-around healthy guy, and host of FitTV’s “Total Body Sculpt with Gilad” and “Gilad’s Bodies in Motion.” He has the kind of upbeat, encouraging delivery meant to spur you on through the burn, but not so chipper as to make you hate him. His shows are set against the impossibly beautiful backdrop of Hawaii to distract you from how much your body hurts.

I like that FitTV offers a variety of exercise shows and airs them throughout the day so you can find something that fits your schedule. But the commercials are a big problem. I found “Total Body Sculpt” to be challenging enough, but the commercial breaks interrupted the workout and broke the flow. Gilad encourages viewers to continue performing reps into the break, but I took the opportunity to lay on the floor and try to breathe. After that first day I decided to record episodes of Gilad’s shows and work out to them the next morning so I could skip the commercials.

Check your satellite or cable provider to find out if you get FitTV. Don’t bother looking for “Sit and Be Fit.” Our local PBS affiliate, KLRU, doesn’t carry it.