At the gym: August 2007 Archives

I had to fight the evil demons of cycling class alone this morning. My partner, Jen, was sick.

The class wasn't bad. However, I did have three of the thinnest women I have ever seen riding around me.

As I struggling through yet another imaginary hill, I just looked at them. I kept trying to figure out why they were in class.

If I was that thin, I would NEVER go to the gym. I mean, NEVER.

Matter of fact, I would drive by the gym, donut in hand, and give it the middle finger. No gym for me, I'd scream in my sugar-filled, no-gym, happy voice.

Then it hit me - perhaps these women are here to maintain their thin profiles.

So, let me get this straight - after doing all this work to get that thin, I have to stay in the gym to be able to maintain it?

You've got to be kidding me.

If you've ever been in a group workout class that you hated, you've probably met the "WOO!" instructor.

She's the perky, smiling person who is WAAAY too happy about a 9:15 a.m. exercise class.

My co-worker, Jen. V., had our own little session with the "WOO!" instructor in the 10th level of hell my gym likes to call cycling class Wednesday morning.

This person has obviously been on the eliptical machine for waaaaay too long.

I know we're all on this get thin, get healthy kick, but he's taking things a little too far.

I had to get a shot of him from another angel so I could show my readers the dangers of working out too much.

Look at him - he has no skin, he's just bones!

(I think it goes without saying that I do not have this problem. The gym and I have an on-again/off-again relationship.)

But back to our "fat-challenged" person. . . He didn't die from working out too much. I think it was from consumption or perhaps the plague. . .

The truth is that "Skelly" hangs out in a display about health and fitness at the Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia.

He rides is machine day in, and day out, with signs around him that warn readers about avoiding stress and taking better care of themselves.

I thought he was neat, so here he is. For more information about the Franklin Institute and its healthly programs, including the walk-through heart exhibit, go to:

http://www.fi.edu