It’s that time of year folks, you know THAT time when getting on a machine in the gym is an impossibility due to the new crowd of people trying to accomplish their “New Year’s resolution”. Chances are you may have forgotten about this fad during your routine weekly gym visits; the holidays made you cheery (and forgetful) and the warning signs (Jennifer Hudson ads) were not showing up on your television station of choice. Regardless of your expectations however the crowd is here and now your typical 45 minutes of chest on Mondays has been shifted to 1.5 hours due to having to wait on the new members cramming in badly executed exercises on every machine. January through March is the peak time for gyms to pull in new memberships; it’s a personal trainer’s dream and a gym rat’s nightmare. Nothing can fix this problem unless you can make Christmas, Thanksgiving and sugary, fatty foods… [Read more]

To promote health and a strong heart I would urge that everyone that is physically able to do so – take the long way whenever possible. This means parking in the far lot and briskly walking in to work, opting for stairs over an elevator ride and taking the mail to the mailroom yourself. While the norm is to temper the day job during the week and hit the treadmill on the weekend, you will find yourself more energetic and happier when you’ve incorporated more movement into your work life. As a person who stares at a computer screen 98% of the day, I find that the excuse to walk and exercise is a welcome one at any time. In the mornings I park a couple blocks away, walk briskly to work and take the stairs up to our floor. On the way I run into other white-collar slaves that have taken on this ritual… [Read more]

Starting a gym can be as intimidating as walking out of your house butt naked and many times folks fall into the same newbie pitfalls that brings unsolicited attention to them, and makes it worse in the long run. Prior to going into the gym I would advise you to find a good resource whether it’s through a gym rat friend (of the same sex), online or in a fitness magazine. Read and learn a bit about gym routines, what they are made to do and structure a plan based on it – this is if you want to avoid the price (and general trial/error of scoring a good one) a personal trainer costs. When you have your plan together, go into the gym and take it slowly and work your way up. If you have never been to a gym before, pull aside one of the monkeys working there (the border people in all… [Read more]

I would like to express my discontent with the men in the gym who troll for women to talk to and possibly get a number. Over the last couple of years, I have been that unfortunate chick without an Ipod or any other means of blocking out the “hey shawty” while I’m doing my thing on the treadmill. Recently I finally obtained means of personal music thinking that it would do the trick. I mean, if I am unavailable to hear your pick up line, then I shouldn’t have to worry about coming up with some sort of nice let down, right? Wrong. I am definitely an advocate for the “go to the gym to workout” club as I don’t believe the gym is either the time or place for getting numbers.  However, since there are men who know not of this rule and insist on breaking it, I figure I should help them out… [Read more]

Let’s be honest, the ritual of the New Year’s resolution is one of lies, deciept and all around bullsh-t. We do it so that we can tell people in hopes of getting their acknowledgement at the idea of you bettering yourself. Innately we are all selfish creatures so we don’t care what everyone’s New Year’s resolution is, we just want to proclaim ours.  If I am sick of hearing people lying about losing weight or making money, I know you all are too, so why join in on this madness? For this reason I have stopped making them. The most popular resolution of all is the “getting in shape” cliche. Oh boy. Here’s the thing… and you have heard it a million times and shrugged it off. 8 minute abs don’t work, buying a treadmill to have it collect dust in your basement does not work, and paying a guy $60 a month to train you… [Read more]