We installed our gym equipment under a gazebo bolted on our side deck so we wouldn’t have to get rid of the dogs. We removed it all because we realized that even though we are rednecks, we don’t need to look it.

Yes, that means sit ups and bench presses in 33 degree weather.

And no. We have never sprung for the gym. Good luck! Don’t pee in the shower.

As both member of two gyms (YMCA–yea workout with hobos, LA Fitness–yea workout with divas!) and loser of weight this summer, I offer this:

Avoid the situp machine. Yes, it look oh-so-tempting, enticingy you with its upright, cushiony sit-uppery. But, if your goal is the benifit of situps, then it’s gonna do little for you. If your goal is to find a nice seat to oggle the girl on the machine in front of you, then you’ve hit your mark.

I think gyms can be a benifit, if you can commit to them. I, sadly, got angry when my trainer at LA fitness explained that they plan on lack of commitment when the sign triple the membership that they have space for, then became part of the problem months later.

K

K

All I can say is, good luck. I have been where you are – numerous times. Each time unsuccessfully. I even went to the trouble of purchasing a home gym, in which to this day I use as a clothes rack.

Beware of the butterfly press by the way (padded paddles shoulder height in which you press towards your chest and back again). Believe me, you don’t want man boobs. Then again…. Terribleminds and all….

If God wanted me to Stairmaster, he would have given me a leopard print leotard and a mullet.

Fascinatingly, God *did* give me a leopard print leotard and a mullet. He came down from the Heavens on a golden escalator, and he handed me those things in a Macy’s box.

I thought it was very nice of him.

TO THE STAIRMASTER!

Everybody else: all advice appreciated. Butterfly press and sit-up machines, avoid.

– c.

I’ve decided that you cheated with this entry by posting while I was still up watching the game, thus giving me nothing new to look forward to today.

Feh on that.

Here are a few thoughts… some may be too late, other may be helpful.

1) Long-term, meta-studies of people who have lost 20+ pounds and kept it off for 15 or more years have shown three behaviors to be most common… (a) eat breakfast daily (b) weigh yourself daily (c) workout at/from home. The risk in a gym membership is that you might not always have it or simply find a reason not to go.

2) Though you’ve already signed up for a year, keep track of how often you go. Then find out what the daily rate is for your gym. A recent study of over 7,000 gym goers found that they overpaid 70% on average by having an unlimited monthly membership. The point being that yes, you can go each and every day and take full advantage of the membership. But how many people actually do so enough that it is more economical in the long run?

3) The treadmill has the third highest rate of injury of any athletic endeavor that adults participate in. While I don’t recall #1 and #2 on the list, football and rugby were considerably lower on the list. The take away message…? Treadmills do not allow for a natural gait and as such lead to over-use injuries for 30% of all users. Either bundle up and get out on the road if you want to run, or use another, non-weightbearing piece of equipment to do your cardiovascular training on.

4) Finally (and this one is my opinion, although many people share it), when working out don’t think that the machines are your friends. Yes, they are easier to use by yourself but you’re in a gym to move heavy things around… not pull and push on levers and cables. Have someone show you how to use free-weights, dumbbells, and barbells properly, preferably exercises that involve multiple joints at once. By recruiting many smaller muscles to help stabilize your body through a complex series of movements, you’ll do more for your ability to productively generate force. In other words, there’s no machine that mimics moving your couch or carrying a heavy load up stairs. Free weights offer more flexibility in their use and the range of motion and activities they can simulate.

GChide

Dear Gary Chide,

This was not what I would call “motivational.” Please send Barry Ide. Perhaps he’ll be more helpful.

…

Wink wink, smiley face, blah blah blah.

Okay, yes, I get it, you’re not a big fan of the gym.

Things!

I eat breakfast daily, but I do not, and will not weigh myself daily. Maybe this is unique to me, maybe it isn’t, but weighing myself daily is of absolutely minimal use. I lose more weight when I am concerned about Being Healthy and not about Losing Weight. For a good year, I checked my weight daily. I had the Wii Fit, which also checked my weight daily. It fluctuated all the time. I went up, I went down, it frustrated me. Weighing myself makes me anxious. So I don’t do it that often. Once every couple of weeks is suitable. As for working out from home — not happening. No room to work out. None. Zero. Best I can do is get out and walk in the cold, which, Mister Texas Track Star, is not feasible for me. I’m far likelier to go to the gym than I am to drag myself out in the frozen tundra.

The daily rate for the gym works out to 64-and-a-half cents a day. I don’t what overpaying on a monthly bill entails — the gym doesn’t have a daily rate. So, if I use it at all, I’m getting what I paid for.

The treadmill — well, I don’t run, I generally walk, er, very swiftly. I guess it could be unhealthy, I dunno. I did physical therapy for a few months several months back for sciatica issues. Every day, the trainer put me in the treadmill. They did the same to all their physical therapy patients. I’m inclined to believe her — her training doesn’t make her right, but I have to assume she knows more than I do. Better yet, I really enjoyed the treadmill, found I could get a good workout, and that it loosened me up.

Your fourth point is actually helpful. I’ll keep that in mind.

Ultimately, the choice for me is:

Go to gym, and work out, and maybe continue to get healthier.

Or

Do not go to gym, and work out less or not at all, and reverse the healthy trend.

We’ve worked out in the house. It’s not a productive place to work out. We have to move furniture to make space. We rocked the Wii Fit every day. I didn’t lose an iota of weight. I did free weights. Nothing, nada, zip.

So, I have to try something, and gym is what I’m trying.

Your mileage may vary, and probably has varied, but I have to try something.

– c.

The fact that you are doing something, can only be a good thing. Work hard don’t over do it and eat healthy. You seem to be on the right path. Good work and all the best.

You’re absolutely right. What works for some, or even most, is not what will work for everyone. Do what works for you and stick with it, whatever that may be. For instance, I don’t work out at home, unless running in my neighborhood counts as “at home.” I also go to the gym. In fact, when I go to the gym in the cold winter weeks (the phrase cold winter months doesn’t really apply in Texas), I may even get on the treadmill. Its one of those “do what I say…” sorts of things.

I’ll make one pitch for weighing yourself though… I use an iphone app called true weight. I record my daily weight and the app performs a running calculation of my average (or ‘true’) weight. It minimizes the daily fluctuations due to hydration, illness, over-eating the night before…. It plots all this information out in a graph which can be viewed by the week, month, 3-, 6-, or 12-month interval. I find it helpful to see long-term trends. I absolutely agree, people should not fixate on a single number and instead pay attention to overall health. But to pretend that weight is not a part of your overall health is over-simplistic in the opposite direction. My two cents anyway…

Thank you, Barry. Gary. Garybarry.

I do weigh myself, I just know that weighing myself daily is a demotivator, not a motivator. I weighed myself every day and lost nothing, and felt anxious. I don’t weigh myself every day, and I’ve now lost about 20 lbs. I use other gauges to determine my weight — I can wear smaller size pants again, I don’t feel so heavy, my back hurts less. Stuff like that. Weight is very much a part of it, but the number itself is so goofy, and the scales so inaccurate (don’t even get me started on Wii Fit), it seemed a waste to do it daily and suffer the slings and arrows of self-loathing.

– c.