Gym Thoughts

Ah yes, the first week of the New Year. You know what this means?! All of the newbies at the gym, working on their Resolutions. Actually, I can't complain about this at my new gym. At the old gym, it would have been PACKED for the entire month of January, then still a bit busy through mid-February, and finally back to normal by the 1st of March.

Now, I will never make fun of anyone who finally makes the decision to get off their ass and take charge of their health and weight by exercising. Good for them! (And, from a health insurance rate standpoint good for ALL of us).

However, there is one part of the New Year's phenomenon which never ceases to amaze me. WHY, do men who look, oh say, 14 months pregnant, spend so much time lifting weights at the gym -- especially when it's clear they haven't hit the gym within the past decade? And yet there they are, doing the nautilus arm weights with all sorts of determination! Granted, it is appropriate to do a bit of weights when trying to lose the fat, for toning purposes. But people, c'mon, spend the time on the treadmill or the bike for gawd's sake! Based on the looks of ya, you need to burn calories and fat, not build muscle mass. I suspect that these guys spend so much time on the weights because they are SO out of shape that they simply can't keep up even a moderate pace on the treadmill, and/or are afraid of looking silly. But then again, looking silly is a big reason (along with feeling intimidated) that women tend to steer clear of the free weights.

Anyhoo, back to me.

This week I am pleased to report that I logged 4.5 hours of cardio, lifted weights 3 days, and did my sit-ups on 4 days. I would have had another hour of cardio in there had my gym been open New Year's Day. I have been upping my cardio by about one-third over previous weeks, in an effort to kick start my system into losing a few more pounds. This, along with "getting strict" (as I call it) with my food intake (which is already quite healthy) should help me knock off a few pounds, and hopefully get me closer to my 2008 weight loss goal of another 10 pounds. Damn, that'd be awesome, to brag I've lost 80 pounds! (Though already being able to honestly claim a loss of 70 feels good, too).