Some thoughts on exercise from a guy with extra size..

Insty has been talking about fitness a bunch on his blog, and linked to this old post that I thought was kind of interesting. (Yes, I'm going to comment about an 18-month old post, even though I have an ethics final due in a week. Shut up.)

Second, weight training is really important. Diet is important -- you really can't get in shape without paying attention to what you eat... Aerobic/cardio work is important too (if I slack on that, I can see my cholesterol go up, and in particular my "good" HDL go down), but people seem naturally to pay more attention to aerobic exercise for some reason. Don't neglect the weight training, too.

I think the reason for that is kind of obvious - "cardio" is easy. Throw on some sneakers and walk or run around. No equiptment, no training, no thought, and you don't have to feel bad because everyone else around you can bench-press a Volkswagen while you are struggling with a five-pound weight. Even the exersize equiptment that I think of when I think of "cardio" is fairly intuitive - exersize bike or treadmill. Just walking or pedaling, except you don't actually go anywhere.

In the last 2 months I've started walking, as well as using my landlord's ancient treadmill. I haven't been exersizing as much or as frequently as I would like to, but it's something, while 2 months ago the most exersize I got was walking to the fridge for another beer and bag of peanuts. As much as I like to think that at some point I will get fit enough to lift weights, I wouldn't count on it. I can walk without having to read a book or figure out how the heck to use a weight bench like I would with any kind of weight training.

I have to say, after reading one of insty's posts, I've very tempted to buy this nifty gadget (the cheaper version of one his readers mentioned). I know a cheap pedometer would probably do the same thing, and that if I do what I've been thinking of doing and join the rather nifty fitness center at the college I work, I'll probably be walking outside a lot less. But still, it's so cool. It uses GPS! And hooks up your PC!