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JerseySmarts.com

Quick Update on Going to the Gym

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About three weeks ago I wrote a post on this blog talking about how I joined a new gym down the street. I thought that since I felt the need to make the announcement that I joined the gym, it might be worthwhile to provide a brief update on how things are going.

Since I joined the gym I’ve worked out over a dozen times, which isn’t so bad when you consider that most days I am out of the house from 7:30am until about 6:30pm and that I have a two hour daily commute which is completely exhausting. In fact, the two hours that I spend in the car are the two hours that most other gym-goers would spend working out, but I don’t want to start a digression about my commute.

In my trips to the gym, I’ve primarily focused on aerobic exercises – riding the bike and walking on the treadmill. I’ve only just begun to do some light weightlifting and not the type of weightlifting that I used to do in high school where I was trying to gain mass and strength. Nope. The weightlifting that I am going to focus on this time around will solely focus on maintaining a certain level of strength and wellness.

Unfortunately for most of the readers of this blog, I don’t have many funny gym stories just yet. The gym I am going to is not staffed at all times so there are occasions when I get to the building and the lights are off and no one is there except for me. I guess that’s a type of oddity, but I assume that a bunch of other gym-goers at this location have experienced the same thing.

In terms of overall health, I feel good, but I wouldn’t say that I feel completely different from before I began working out again in March. That’s probably because I’ve been attending the gym sporadically and not on a set workout regime. Once I change my workout habits to be on more of a schedule, I think that I’ll feel a physical change. I have lost a few pounds since I started working out, but nothing major to brag about.

As I spend more time at the gym, though, I’m sure I’ll eventually have stories and craziness to tell you about – so stay tuned!

Working Out is Okay for Barack…but not Bush

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Special thanks goes out to GGL for bringing this story to my attention. Last week on Philly.com there was a story talking about how President-Elect Barack Obama makes time to work out during his transition period. This is just a small clip from the article, but it sets the stage for the end of this entry…

He’s not in the White House yet, but gone are the hours he once spent reading novels, watching television, and obsessing over the daily transactions of Chicago’s sports teams. He eats out only once every few weeks.

But one habit endures: Obama has gone to the gym, for about 90 minutes a day, for dozens of days in a row. He has always treated exercise less as recreation than as requirement, but his devotion has intensified in the last few months.

Personally, I’m glad that Obama is going to the gym because I think the image of a young, fit President is also part of what Americans need right now. Our young people need a national role model that exhibits integrity and healthy behavior, both of which Obama has to offer. However, on the “comments” section of this particular Philly.com article there was an interest note. Here is the full text of that comment:

A former WP writer named Jonathan Chait said this of GW Bush’s workouts in an opinion piece for the LA Times headlined, “The (over)exercise of power.” Recounting how President Bush ran 3.5 miles a day and preached more cross-training to a federal judge, Chait fumed, “Am I the only person who finds this disturbing? … What I mean is the fact that Bush has an obsession with exercise that borders on the creepy.” So Bush working out was “creepy” and B Hussein working out is defined as, “The sun glinted off chiseled pectorals sculpted during four weightlifting sessions each week, and a body toned by regular treadmill runs and basketball games.” Nice to see the in the tank media hasn’t lost its ‘touch’ and can be counted on to do puff piece after puff piece on the messiah, B Hussein Obama. 2008-The Year Journalism Died.

Now the guy who posted this comment may have a bias against Obama, but he brings up a good point. With the help of Google, I went out and found that Los Angeles Times column where Chait went after after President Bush regarding his workout habits. Here’s a piece of it for you:

Given the importance of his job, it is astonishing how much time Bush has to exercise. His full schedule is not publicly available. The few peeks we get at Bush’s daily routine usually come when some sort of disaster prods the White House Press Office to reveal what the president was doing “at the time.” Earlier this year, an airplane wandered into restricted Washington air space. Bush, we learned, was bicycling in Maryland. In 2001, a gunman fired shots at the White House. Bush was inside exercising. When planes struck the World Trade Center in 2001, Bush was reading to schoolchildren, but that morning he had gone for a long run with a reporter. Either this is a series of coincidences or Bush spends an enormous amount of time working out.

The story gets a little bit more interesting when you put all of these pieces together, huh? I agree with the commenter when he says that 2008 was the year that journalism died. Between the destruction of both Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin in the media and the utter love affair that the mainstream media had with Obama during the election, could this gym story be the dot on the exclamation point declaring the end of the mainstream media as we know it?

Almost Went Back to the Weird Old Days

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The other night I got an e-mail from my old gym to let me know that their pool and jacuzzi are finally installed and working. For some history, I joined this gym in November 2003 and had a great deal of success there due to a mix of cardio, weightlifting, and swimming. The swimming really was key in losing weight and getting in shape.

Then in May 2005, they closed the pool for “renovations” that would be completed in “a few months” and definitely before Summer 2005 ended. Come June 2006 (a full year and a month later) and not only was the pool not finished, but the entire interior looked like hell because they undertook a bunch of renovations that they just couldn’t afford to complete. Oh…and they didn’t lower our membership rates due to decreased equipment available or the horrible conditions in the club.

So I left and went to Gold’s Gym. It cost more and they have no pool, but the interior is brand new and the atmosphere is great.

When this e-mail came in, I actually entertained flipping back to the old gym. This is the gym where there are a ton of weirdos and dirty, creepy old men. However, they have that pool and the pool is what really helped me shed the weight (I’ve actually stopped losing weight since the pool closed and I’ve gained a few pounds since then – just a few, though).

So I made a phone call and spoke to the folks over at the old gym and they were excited about the pool being open again. They told me about all of the great renovations that were being planned and how the gym would be a world class place when it was all done and over with and, honestly, they got me psyched to go back to them! Then I remembered…they’re not that good at completing renovations projects.

I guess that I WILL go back to the old gym in the next year or two, but I’m probably going to wait until they finish their renovations. I don’t see the point in giving them a full gym membership rate and not getting a full gym to be a member of, you know?