Obama
We’ve got less than a week left in the year. Now might not be a bad time to start thinking about New Year’s Resolutions.
I just read this Washington Post piece on Obama’s workout routine:
“That’s one of the first things you learn working for him: You better make sure he gets his workout,” said Jim Cauley, who managed Obama’s 2004 U.S. Senate campaign. “If there isn’t any time, he’s not going to feel his best that day. If he only gets 30 or 40 minutes, he’s still not really happy.
“You have to make time for him to exercise, at least an hour or so. You block it out and put it on the schedule, because that’s what makes him happy.”
I was equally impressed when I heard eight years ago that George W. Bush was a gym rat, but Dubya unfortunately proved to be a dumb(ya) jock rather than an educated blend of mind and body. With Obama, it’s part of an integrated lifestyle:
It’s a schedule he started as a 22-year-old student at Columbia University in New York, and it immediately transformed him. In his 1995 autobiography, “Dreams From My Father,” Obama said he was a casual drug user and an underachiever until he decided to start running three miles each day. He stopped staying out late, fasted on Sundays and became a voracious reader, spending most of his time alone in his apartment reading classic literature and philosophical texts.
Physical fitness yielded mental fitness, Obama decided, and the two concepts have been married in his mind ever since.
These days, as a married dude with kids, I often go weeks without working out. I never thought I’d ever have trouble getting to the gym, but these days skipping the gym is the rule rather than the exception. Granted I’m at a disadvantage since I wake up every two hours for the baby, but I think we all need to do more for our health. We need to do as Obama does and set aside time specifically for working out, even if we hate it.
I think activist types in general need to spend more time on health and fitness. Greater health and fitness yields greater physicality in expression, which is a good thing. Activists should spend more time on sports as well. Sports can teach and reinforce a lot of life lessons, even when one is only playing a club sport.
So that’s one of my personal New Year’s resolutions.
What are your New Years resolutions?
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Ever since I got bitten by the exercise bug 15 years ago, I can’t go more 2-3 days without working out. from what I can tell, you either just really to exercise or you don’t. you’d think it’d correlate with how discipline someone is in general, but I’ve met plenty of successful and disciplined people who hate working out and hate dieting.
I think people just have different physiological reactions to exercise. I remember a martial arts teachers tried to tire us and whip us into shape by putting us through cardio, calisthenics, heavy bag strikes and mobility drills for 2 hours straight. most of the class was dying within 15 minutes, but i just kept going through the whole 2 hours laughing and smiling maniacally. it was like I woke and a back up system of adrenalin kicked in or something.
I have to say though that now I’m older, I’m more willing to skip workouts.
I agree. Exercising the body is one of my most important facets of my life today. Without it, I wouldn’t have been able to get over a divorce, depression, and various illnesses that were bringing me down. I’m glad I exercise. I run, lift weights, do a TotalGym workout in my office, and eat healthy. If I don’t, I feel like crap. Even at 35, I keep this up, to make sure I stay ahead of the aging curve.
I…should probably get off my fat ass and go do something cardio-ish.
Hey! How do I get a picture next to my comments?? Teach!!
So just to press myself, I signed up for a 15 mile run in August. This will be my motivation. I’m running as part of a team, so there’s some team motivation involved.
When I was in high school, I was pretty religious at working out. I enjoyed seeing the results. That was my motivation.
These days, I don’t really have any such motivation. So I find it a bit harder to stick with the regimen.
James and Papa2Hapa,
It sounds like you guys like working out for working out’s sake. I’m totally envious. I’ve found the standard weights and treadmills dull. I’ll be on the elliptical machine for five minutes, and then I get bored. Maybe I have to join a spinning class or something. These days, it’s just hard for me to do it when I’m not accountable to anyone.
Any suggestions?
By the way, we should definitely do a podcast on this. Would you guys like to be the guest speakers? It could be fun. James is a workout expert, and Papa could talk about how it helps in career and family. James could be the technique expert, while Papa could talk about living. I think more Asian guys need to workout. Or at least I do.
(I still have to work on the tech issues, although it most likely will be better with just three participants.)
Akrypti,
Sign up at gravatar.com and upload your photo. It’ll show up not only on this site, but on all sites which are gravatar enabled.
When I was in high school, I was pretty religious at working out. I enjoyed seeing the results. That was my motivation.
Translation: All the high schools girls loved me for my buff body.
Haha! I guess we all have different motivations at different points in our lives!
I hate long-distance running, but if you like it and you’re running in a group, then the group mentality should motivate you to keep at it. In addition to weightlifting, I like bicycling and hiking myself. At least you get to see stuff and go somewhere. Kill 2-3 birds with one stone, I say.
Anyway, a podcast sounds good.
Yes, it’s all about the group. I hate long distance running too, and if I had a choice, it would’ve been biking!
I need to do at least some due diligence on the podcast tech questions. Once I do, I’ll let you know. It’ll be a good podcast to kick off the New Year in January.