At the gym
By adamg - Wed, 12/19/2007 - 9:47am.
Evan goes to a gym that puts candy and cookies out for the holidays - and is full of annoying and weird people, including:
... the guy who hogs 4 stools so that he can separate and organize his gym bag contents in front of his locker.
...the guy who works out in jeans. ...
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Cookies and candies in a
Cookies and candies in a Gym? I guess it is only super fitness, but you'd think they'd be better then that.
No contradiction
Fitness First in Arlington used to have GailAnn's donuts around at morning workout time. That's because it was another of the family's businesses. I never saw the contradiction, personally.
Cookies and candies have a place in the diet - a limited place, but a place nonetheless. Dividing foods and behaviors into "good" and "bad" and making a big deal about striving to be "good" all the time is an exercise in ritual purity at odds with fitness and health.
I know a lot of people who cycle 40, 60, 80 miles in a day and eat ice cream and drink beer and enjoy whatever the area offers as they roll along. It would be hard to cover that kind of ground if you didn't eat well.
Besides, there is some solid evidence that people are much better off being fit and fat than being skinny and sedentary! So enjoy the movement, the endorphins, the tastes, and the season.
Oh cource being fit and
Oh cource being fit and overweight is better then doing nothing, but being thin and healthy is better then the rest.
Sweet's do have a place in diet, but it's a bad temptation for most gym go-er's, who most likely don't watch their diet as close as they should for the amount of weight they want to drop.
It's the same idea as the candy bowl in the office, if you eat a candy a day along with your regular diet, thats enough to add up to 5-10 lbs of fat over the corce of a year if you didn't work the extra calories off. You also tend to tell yourself it's ok to grab it, because you had passed it up the last 20 times you passed it.
A healthier Xmas snack would have been a better choice for a gym. Save the cookies and sweets for the xmas parties : )
Smoke after racing
I volunteered for 2001's Eco-Challenge New Zealand. There was a big party after the race (free booze and lots of unhealthy free food), but I was most stunned by the number of racers out on the deck smoking cigarettes.
A lot of people do this,
A lot of people do this, which is funny. Bad habits are hard to break.
Some have fears of weight gain, as nicotine speeds up metabolism. Others just can't be bothered to quit. Either way, they're not reaching their potential.
You're probably right
but then again, they were lean, with toned bodies, and they just completed a 3-10 day (depending how good they were), 24 hour a day, all day/all night expedition race that included: horseback riding, mountain climbing, trekking, rafting, and mountain biking. I suppose if you were a smoker and it took you 7 days to finish, you could reach your potential by quitting the cigs and finishing in 3 days, but when is enough enough? Rhetorical question. I'm really just asking myself how good does one have to be?
It all depends on your goals
It all depends on your goals and what sacrifices you deem necessary to reach them.
I'm not judging them at all, but I can only speak for myself knowing it's not something I'd be doing if I also wanted to race.
there's plenty of competition grade body builders who smoke like chimneys. They have the look and can win championships, but are they really "healthy"? Another rhetorical question!
My grandmother smoked, and
My grandmother smoked, and lived to be ninety in good health. My mother smokes, and is doing well at 83. You should be so healthy.
Singers and smokers
You wouldn't believe how many singers smoke, both in pop/rock and in musical theatre.
Well, yeah you would. Just walk past Berklee some time.