Looking Exercised

I have been exercising at the university facilities for a couple of months now. I have also been watching my cholesterol and calories. Now I know that there are lots of articles on the internet that say things like “exercise doesn’t result in weight loss” and that this or that diet is the best and even the “take this pill once a day and watch fat melt away without dieting or exercise.” I have read them. And I laugh. As a society we want a quick effortless solution to every problem. Just consider the ADHD issues. Too many parents and teachers want to medicate the kids immediately. They don’t want to put in the work of behavior modification because it is work and it takes time and the results are not instantaneous. Same for some diseases. Take this pill instead of changing your diet and lifestyle! I’ve been arguing with my physician for about 5 years now on whether I need to take a pill to lower my cholesterol. He looks at my lab results and says I will need to go on medication. I look at my lab results and say “I’m going to do it with diet and exercise”. So far I’m doing great at avoiding the statin drugs.

But back to exercise. I walk. The old exercise facility had a large oval track with windows. The new place is a winding and curvy track that is very narrow (compared to the old one). It is 3 lanes wide. Because of the curves the walkers are at risk of being plowed over from behind by one of the runners. I’ve seen a couple near accidents. Granted they’ve put up some of those fish eye mirrors but no one is looking up as they round the corners. Therefore I’ve joined the treadmill crew. There must be 30 different treadmills. I have one that I’m partial to that is closest the locker room (and thus the restroom). All of them are very technologically advanced. You can watch TV, log into Hulu or Netflix, or even Sirius XM radio. You can plug in your headphones or use captioning. It is very deluxe. The one unique option is the “road race” feature that allows you to run across campus or a specific area of the country via the screen on the treadmill. You will travel at whatever speed you set for as long as you run. It is on a loop just as if you were traveling a circular route!

Then there are the other machines. I’m not a fan of most of them. They have a fair number (5?) of these stair stepper things. You can set them to whatever level of difficulty you want but most people are obviously setting them too high. I know this because I see them nearly bent over double trying to climb the stairs. They are struggling. Then the other stair machine looks like giant ladder rungs. You climb up but never get anywhere because the ladder rungs move down as you go up… No thanks. So I do it old school. There are several staircases leading to the track and class rooms on the next floor. I can do 10 reps. When I started I’d be winded after 2 flights. Now I can do 8 before I start to feel it in my legs. I’m pretty proud of myself.

What do you do for exercise??