Thursday, August 01, 2002

 
GOING TO THE GYM.
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I recently joined a gym. Yesterday was my two month "lunaversary". Today, for the first time, I blew off a social invitation in order to work out. I'd had a very busy afternoon, so I hadn't been to the gym yet by about 7:00, and Manny F. invited me to a party, and I told him I wouldn't skip a day at the gym. I go to the gym at least 6 days a week, every week, for 9 weeks now. Do I have a problem? They say exercise is addictive. For me, it makes me feel good more when I look into the mirror than when I'm at the gym, but I also do get a rush after working out.

I started out normally enough, riding a stationary bicycle for about half an hour, and doing 3 weight-lifting exercises consisting of 3 sets of 10 reps for the same body part, which part changes each day. According to the bicycle computer, I'd burn about 300 calories, and indeed, that was my goal. I thought under 300 was a little low, and over 300 was a little high.

I haven't changed the weight-lifting part of the routine. But I switched from the bike to the elliptical machine, which burns calories a lot faster for seemingly the same effort, and works out both the upper and lower body at the same time. Now, I do that for at least an hour a day. At first, my goal was 900 calories on the machine's computer, then 1000, and in just the past few days, I've been shooting for 1100 calories, per day, at least 6 times a week.

Now, every time I describe my workout to someone, I get the same reaction: the person always says "that's crazy." Is it? I've heard that professional body-builders burn more than 2000 calories in their daily workouts. I feel better, I look better, and I think I'm doing the right thing. I mean, if somebody convinced me I was hurting myself by exercising too much, I'd quit and watch TV and eat chocolate cake all day, no problem. I'm not hooked the way people get hooked on drugs or danger or bulimia. I'm just doing it, because I honestly think it's the right thing to do. But then again, that's what people with eating disorders think. Speaking of which, I've also been dieting lately, eating about 1,500 calories a day, and watching my fat intake. So, I thought everything was cool, although I also thought I was doing a lot, but choosing to work-out instead of going to a party with my friend is taking one of those steps, I think, that people say to look out for when they talk about addiction. But if I'm addicted, I think I'm addicted to the health benefits of exercising, like in the way that stoners say that you're addicted to breathing and to food, to justify their addictions to drugs. Of course, there's a big difference between food or breathing and, say, heroine. But not so much between food or breathing and exercise.

I don't know. Send feedback to david@danzig.comDELETETHISPART. And delete the part that says "DELETETHISPART". That's so spammers won't automatically pick up my address.

This is The Official Record. 11:08 PM
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2002/08/going-to-gym.html


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