Luckily, I don't have a personal life to get in the way of my workouts..

The Wall Street Journal has an article about the struggle that some serious fitness enthusiasts have with balancing their family lives and their workout schedules.

First of all, it's a reminder of how pathetic my workout schedule is - like the main guy profiled in the article, I typically work out 2 hours a day on weekdays (90 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of strength training) but unlike him, I only do 2 hours a day on weekends, instead of 5 to 6. I'm hoping to bump that up as things get warmer and I can do some outdoor running to get ready for the Baltimore half-marathon this fall. But the fact that I don't do more now - when I don't have many obligations beyond work - doesn't bode well for my commitment.

But the thing is that there are other things I enjoy doing besides working out - reading, watching TV, surfing the web, spending time with friends, visiting family, going to auctions and yard sales, selling stuff on eBay and hamfests. The thing is that most of these things, compared to working out, aren't particularly noble. Cutting down on your workouts to spend more time with your family is hard to argue with. Cutting down on your workouts to, well, post on your blog - not so much. It displays weakness, a preference for doing what is enjoyable but not good rather than sacrificing enjoyment for long-term gains in health and appearance as well as towards goals like achieving a better half-marathon time or eventually doing a full marathon.

I'm also convinced that if I just worked out more and harder and ate better, I'd be attractive enough not to be single. I'm not sure this is true, but it's hard to believe I wouldn't look better if I got another 10 hours a week or so of exercise.

But if I ever did actually succeed at dating, I'd then be in the position of the people profiled in the article - having to choose between the workouts that would let me look good enough to let me be n a relationship in the first place and that relationship. Clearly, there are plenty of worthless things I could cut back on to make more time - TV, websurfing, sleeping - but at some point I would have to choose between things like my eBay side business, which brings in some extra money, or my workouts.

Maybe it's just as well that I'm single.