Experiment Results: Suspension Training is Fun!

photo credit: Natalie Dee

So I spent most of November just hanging around the gym. Literally. As in from cables suspended from the ceiling (or the chin-up bar, or the cable machine, or my really tall friends...). I think my favorite part of the Suspenion Training Experiment besides the massive amounts of weird looks we got - seriously, one man would just follow us around the gym floor with the express purpose of rolling his eyes at us. I don't think his body got a lot of exercise but I bet he has the strongest eye sockets in the midwest! - was what people thought the TRX actually was.

"Now don't hang yourself!" (a noose.)

"Can you do an Iron Cross on those thingies?" (gymnastic rings.)

And my personal favorite: "Can I borrow your sex swing?" (ahem.)

It even earned us a first in Gym Buddy History: our own personal warning sign! After working out for several weeks on the TRX, using both my own and the identical one that the Y has, the Gym Buddies and I were greeted one morning by a sign that read "Equipment in this room (a studio open to the gym public, I might add) is for use only with a personal trainer after the proper training. Sincerely, Gym Management."

It might as well have said "Dear Charlotte and Allison, we fear you and think your crazy antics will land us in a law suit. If we knew a better way to get you kicked out of the gym we'd do it, but in the meantime we're hoping that you don't see this sign so we can catch you doing something naughty (like *gasp* exercising!) and give you the boot. Sincerely, Gym Managment."

I didn't do it but I was sorely tempted to tack on a post-it note replying, "Dear YMCA, I would like to say that the TRX is probably the least risky piece of equipment in the gym. You could do more damage to life, limb and property with an improperly wielded 50-lb dumbbell than a couple of straps with handles on them. If you want to get worked up about something, how about cracking down on folks who sit on the locker room benches starkers? Now that's a health risk. Sincerely, The Gym Buddies."

Now that I've left you with the image of nude 80-year-olds lounging on benches burned into your retinas, let's discuss how the TRX fared as an actual workout. Since the TRX replaced only our weight lifting (we kept our cardio the same), I didn't expect a huge change in body composition and I was correct. My weight, body fat percentage and measurements all stayed the same.

The Good
But where the TRX really shone was in its adaptability, portability and flexibility. Quite honestly, if I were interested in setting up a home gym - which I'm not because then who would leave me passive-aggressive signage to brighten my day? - this would be the first piece of equipment I'd buy. Yes, even before a set of kettlebells. Since suspension training uses only your own body weight and gravity as resistance, it is very light and therefore super portable. You can work every muscle group to failure with just a couple of nylon straps. I love the simplicity. In addition to being able to shove it into a carry-on, it is very easy to set up, adjust and take down, whether it be in your hotel room, spare bedroom or even outside attached to a telephone pole.

Not only is it good for traditional type strength training, it is also great for stretching and some pilates moves. Pretty much every move engages your core because of the instability created by the straps. I've never been so sore in my torso and I think I've got a pretty strong core.

It's easy. Easy to set up. Easy to figure out. Easy to learn the new moves. Very low maintenance!

The Bad
The main thing I didn't like about the TRX is you are somewhat limited in the moves you can do. I suppose some of you are more imaginative than I am but I tried every single exercise that came on the DVDs or the website and there were a few bodyparts that left me stymied as to alternate exercises. After we were banned (for our own safety, I'm sure) from using the second TRX, the Gym Buddies and I moved out to the weight floor where we incorporated the TRX with some barbell and floor work to make a circuit which all of us enjoyed very much. So my opinion is that if you have the option, using the TRX with other forms of exercise equipment is preferable to the TRX alone. But really, that's not much of a downside.

Also, the "shoe loops" are kind of small. I have normal sized feet for a woman (size 8 US) and could barely cram my heels in. Gym Buddy Mike couldn't do it at all. The instructions say to wear "low profile shoes" but we had to strip down to socks to get enough room for everyone's tootsies to fit. But you don't have to tell me twice to workout barefoot - my piggies love their freedom!

It's spendy. The basic package starts at $149.95.

Conclusions
This has got to be one of my favorite pieces of gym equipment ever. I'm in love with it. And if you are interested in trying it out, right now Fitness Anywhere is offering 20% off all their TRX products plus free ground shipping! Just use the coupon code SAVEBIG08 at checkout! Happy swinging!

Any of you try this? Thoughts??

Grateful: My Body is a Gift

This post was done as a joint endeavor with the inimitable and beloved MizFit as our tribute to gratitude.

It seems like sometimes we fit bloggers get a bit obsessive about our bodies. (That would be the understatement of the year except that "Michael Jackson is a bit off" wins every time.) We tweak what we put into our bodies and catalog what comes out. We monitor the various ways, times and parts of it that we exercise. We love it, we restrict it, we dream about it, we punish it. We can even get obsessive about not being obsessive about it. And really, it's quite understandable. The human body is a miracle. It works like no machine ever could. When everything goes right - and the majority of the time it does - it is so seamless that I sometimes take it for granted.

Today I am all about the gratitude for my body.

My Top 5 Favorite Things About My Body
1. I have carried and birthed four children. Three were healthy, all were beautiful. Even in the death of my infant daughter, I was grateful to my body for taking care of her as best as it could and I was grateful to her body for sticking with me as long as she did.

2. I have a quick mind. When we talk about our bodies, we often neglect to think about the part that does all the thinking. I may forget some of the minutae (What Mrs. X? It was my son's pretend birthday today in Kindergarten and I forgot to bring treats for the whole class and make a poster of what a special kid he is and now he's sobbing at his desk? Um...) but I have a great memory and love for the stories in my life, the epic tales that have made it worth every minute of my time on this ride.

3. I can run fast. I'm no Olympian but I can sprint to a toddler chasing a ball into the street like you wouldn't believe. My legs have never ever failed me when I have truly needed them. They are strong and powerful and beautiful.

4. I have a great immune system. This is one of those things that you don't think about it until it isn't working. The truth is that I rarely get sick. And when I do, I recover quickly.

5. I feel everything. Sometimes it's hard living in this world when you are a very intense person but at the same time I firmly believe that that same intensity makes colors brighter, smells linger and the gentle words of a friend more meaningful. I cry a lot but I also laugh a lot and it all adds to the experience.

Reader Becky's Story

Becky, her mom and her sister

I recently came across a very inspiring entry on Reader Becky's (a.k.a. chilerocks) blog. Her mother, her sister and herself all decided to join a Master's swimming club and compete in a relay race together. Swimming was always something they had shared growing up but the years intervened and all three moved away. But swimming reunited them more than the miles could separate them and they took on this new challenge as a family. Each woman brought her own challenges to overcome. Becky recently gave birth to her second son (and incidentally has the most horrifying childbirth story I've ever heard - she had a c-section and was not numb.) Her mother recently overcame a long and difficult battle with cancer. Her younger sister is just starting the process of figuring out who she is and launching her life.


The team swam the 200m medley with Becky (that's her above) doing a beautiful butterfly. Despite their best efforts, all the other teams finished first and so Becky's sister had to do the final lap on her own. The women were undeterred in their passion for their sport and just grateful for the opportunity to do it. Becky sums up their experience by saying, "It was a fun meet and a good check on our "Someday I'd like to do that" list. Hopefully it will also motivate us to swim even more so we can do more meets." I am quite sure they will.

I hope you all had a great holiday yesterday! What are you grateful for about your body? For more ideas, head over to MizFit's and check out what she has to say!

My Day Off

Today I am partying it up with my family but I'd hate to leave you without T-Day entertainment, so head on over to Chris Illuminati's blog. His wife just got talked into doing her first ever fitness competition (go Wife!!) and of course Chris is going along for the ride. He is a very talented professional writer and a hilarious blogger. Read all about their adventures and enjoy the day!
Love,
Charlotte

PS> I think the recession is causing gyms to get pretty creative with their advertising!

The exercise ball helps athletes develop their explosive power skills.

Staying in shape is extremely important to many competitive athletes and casual athletes as well. Many exercises and exercise equipment have been created for the purpose of toning and maintaining the muscles used by athletes. One particular type of exercise equipment that many athletes find very important is the medicine ball. The medicine ball is sold in five to fifteen pound balls that are usually used during plyometric training.

The exercise ball helps athletes develop their explosive power skills and are commonly used by track and field athletes, boxers, baseball pitchers, basketball players, and football players. The medicine ball, also sometimes called the fitness ball or exercise ball, is round and usually the size of a basketball or volleyball. Athletes use a medicine ball for many different exercise routines. For example, boxers often use the medicine ball as a way to strengthen their abdomen which basketball players usually use the medicine ball to strengthen their arms or their chest.

Many athletes prefer the medicine ball because it is relatively small and does not take up a large amount of space. By staying is shape and using great athletic equipment such as the medicine ball, many athletes is able to perform at peek performance all year round.

From the Research Files: Skinny People Die Young

Skinny people die young. Compared to overweight people, that is. Contradicting what I, and many of you, have come to feel is common sense, this study says that people in the "overweight" category of the BMI scale live longer, healthier lives than their "normal" counterparts with people in the "underweight" and "obese" categories having the worst outcomes. Okay, so ignore the underweight and obese people for a moment; I think we can all figure out why they might have health problems (Kate Moss & Chris Farley walk into a bar...). Um, OVERWEIGHT people have better health outcomes than NORMAL people!!

This is huge. And underreported, according to Gina Kolata, author of Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss - And the Myths and Realities of Dieting. Despite being done over two years ago, this study is finally being published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, leading overweight people everywhere to roll their eyes and say "duh" and normal people to choke on their pride and fall off their carefully constructed pedestals.

The Study
Federal researchers at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (star of so many made-for-tv-movies!) studied data from 3 large national surveys, the National Health & Nutrition surveys. They chose a study group supposed to be representative of the national population and then actually weighed and measured them to make sure they were, ahem, accurate in their report of height and weight. Which is definitely a good thing since people are notorious liars on those counts;) The participants were then followed until they died (by Federal Researchers! Ominous!! Conspiracy theories, anyone?) and their deaths were reported from what was written on their death certificate.

The Results
According to Kolata, "Linking, for the first time, causes of death to specific weights, they report that overweight people have a lower death rate because they are much less likely to die from a grab bag of diseases that includes Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, infections and lung disease. And that lower risk is not counteracted by increased risks of dying from any other disease, including cancer, diabetes or heart disease." The researchers even adjusted for variables such as smoking or existing disease or heart disease from diabetes. Their findings remained the same: people in the overweight group lived the longest.

Caveats
Repeat after me, correlation is not causation. This study cannot definitively say what caused people to die. Also, death certificates often do not show all the causes of a person's demise. It may say "heart disease" but not that the heart disease was brought on by complications of diabetes. This study also contradicts previous, smaller studies by such luminaries as Harvard. This study should not be used as an excuse to park it on your couch all day and shovel in simple carbs.

What is Normal?
It makes me wonder what "normal" really is. We have long known that the BMI scale sucks. It doesn't account for muscle mass or cardiovascular health or a great immune system or anything else that would be a measure of good health but we've always been told that it is a useful tool for most people. For the average, normal person. But what if normal is larger than what we've been taught? What if normal is much, much larger that our societal ideal of beauty?? What then, of all those girls who say they would rather die than be fat? It sounds like they might just get their wish.

My Friend the Triathlete
Anecdotally this makes sense to me. One of my good friends - and best workout buddies until she moved, the traitor- falls into the BMI's overweight category. (And this is by her own admission, I don't walk around polling my friends thank you.) She is the perfect example of everything that is wrong with the BMI and the way we think about it. I have watched girlfriend leg press 400 lbs. She can bench press my body weight. She competes in triathlons and not just finishes, but WINS them. Despite me being firmly in the "normal" BMI category, she can out-swim, out-bike & out-lift me any day of the week. My pride does not take that well. Fortunately I can still out-run her. I have to be good at something, darn it!

So who is in better shape? Who should be considered the normal one?

What this all means to me is that our society is long overdue for a serious head examination. Why do insist on perpetuating standards of "health" and "beauty" and are neither healthful nor beautiful?

Have You Abandoned the Pushup?

Have You Abandoned the Pushup?

I hope your answer is no. Because I've spent a lot of time training athletes, I far prefer the pushup to the bench press. After all, athletes don't typically spend a lot of time lying on their backs pushing up, unless they aren't very good at their sport.

So why train them that way? And besides working your pecs and triceps, the pushup engages your core, your lats, and just about every other muscle in your upper body. That makes it one of the most useful and efficient movements in any guy's exercise arsenal.

Think you're too strong for the pushup? Try the challenge I give to like-minded athletes: Assume a pushup position, but place your feet on a bench. Then have a partner place a 25-pound weight plate on your back, at the level of your shoulder blades. Now try to do 20 pushups with perfect form. Until you can pass this test, there's no reason to bother with the bench press.


How to do it: Keep your body rigid, in a straight line from your ankles to your head, and lower it as a single unit until your nose touches the floor. Then press back up until your arms are completely straight. Want an even greater challenge? I have my athletes perform the exercise with their hands on a BOSU ball (dome down), which adds an element of instability, forcing the core and shoulder muscles to work even harder.

Artificial sweeteners: A safe alternative to sugar?

Artificial sweeteners: A safe alternative to sugar?
What are sugar substitutes and how much is safe to eat?

More than ever, people are consuming large amounts of sugar as part of their daily diet. But in excess, sugar can take its toll. Eating large amounts of sugar adds extra calories, which can cause weight gain. So many people opt for artificial sweeteners—also referred to as sugar substitutes or low-calorie sweeteners—as a way to enjoy their favorite foods without as many calories.

What are artificial sweeteners?

Artificial sweeteners are chemicals or natural compounds that offer the sweetness of sugar without as many calories. Because the substitutes are much sweeter than sugar, it takes a much smaller quantity to create the same sweetness. Products made with artificial sweeteners have a much lower calorie count than do those made with sugar. Artificial sweeteners are often used as part of a weight-loss plan or as a means to control weight gain.

People with diabetes may use artificial sweeteners because they make food taste sweet without raising blood sugar levels. But keep in mind that if you do have diabetes, some foods containing artificial sweeteners, such as sugar-free yogurt, can still affect your blood sugar level due to other carbohydrates or proteins in the food. Some foods labeled "sugar-free"—such as sugar-free cookies and chocolates—may contain sweeteners, such as sorbitol or mannitol, which contain calories and can affect your blood sugar level. Some sugar-free products may also contain flour, which will raise blood sugar levels. Also, remember that foods containing sugar substitutes may also contain calories that may undermine your ability to lose weight and control blood sugar.

Sweet choices

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the following low-calorie sweeteners for use in a variety of foods. The FDA has established an "acceptable daily intake" (ADI) for each sweetener. This is the maximum amount considered safe to eat each day during your lifetime. ADIs are intended to be about 100 times less than the smallest amount that might cause health concerns.

Artificial sweetener ADI* Estimated ADI equivalent** OK for cooking?
Aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal) 50 milligrams (mg) per kilogram (kg) 18 to 19 cans of diet cola No
Saccharin (Sweet'N Low, SugarTwin) 5 mg per kg 9 to 12 packets of sweetener Yes
Acesulfame K (Sunett, Sweet One) 15 mg per kg 30 to 32 cans of diet lemon-lime soda*** Yes
Sucralose (Splenda) 5 mg per kg 6 cans of diet cola*** Yes

*FDA-established acceptable daily intake (ADI) limit per kilogram (2.2 pounds) of body weight.

**Product-consumption equivalent for a person weighing 150 pounds (68 kilograms).

***These products usually contain more than one type of sweetener.

Safety of artificial sweeteners

Artificial sweeteners are often the subject of stories, presented in the popular press and on the Internet, claiming that they cause a variety of health problems, including cancer. According to the National Cancer Institute, however, there's no scientific evidence that any of the artificial sweeteners approved for use in the United States cause cancer. And numerous studies confirm that artificial sweeteners are safe for the general population.

Aspartame does carry a cautionary note, however. It isn't safe for people who have the rare hereditary disease phenylketonuria (PKU). Products that contain aspartame must carry a PKU warning on the label.

Still empty calories

Just removing sugar from cookies and chocolates doesn't make them low-calorie, low-fat foods. If you eat too many, you'll still get more calories than you may need, and you may not get enough nutritious foods. Unlike fruits, vegetables and whole grains, sugar-free soft drinks, candy and desserts often provide few—if any—beneficial nutrients.

Use artificial sweeteners sensibly. It's okay to substitute a diet soda for a regular soda, for example, but diet soda shouldn't be the only beverage you drink.

Health Conscious Holiday Gift Giving

Holiday gift anxiety- it's one of those things about being a grown-up that nobody ever tells you. When I was a child I had two main worries come Christmastime. One was making sure everyone knew I wanted that special mermaid doll that both sings and swims in the bathtub (that I never got) and the second was that my chain-smoking, garlic stuffed olive-eating grandma might kiss me on the mouth. But at some point after you realize that Santa Claus (or the Hannukah Armadillo) doesn't really exist, it sets in that you are responsible for giving other people presents as well as receiving them and also that your mother-in-law will always kiss you on the lips no matter how many cold sores you fake. Let the panic commence.

One of my fondest memories from growing up was my mom's baking bonanzas every holiday. She'd whip up plates of poppy seed bread, cookies, toffee, candies and other homemade goodies which we kids would then deliver to every neighbor within a 3-mile radius. You'd think my mom was campaigning for office or selling Mary Kay but really she just liked to cook things for people that she knew they'd like. It all seemed so simple then.

These days, while I share my mom's charitable zeal and the holidays are about the only time I tie on my apron (really! I have one! It's adorable!) and do my best Betty Homemaker, I lack her culinary abilities. In addition, the times have changed when it comes to giving and receiving food. I have friends who are gluten intolerant, lactose intolerant, fat free, sugar free and of course low carb. I have friends dieting, healthy lifestyling, and at every other point on the yo-yo spectrum. Not to mention all the friends who think they're fat, worry about getting fat or wonder if pregnancy makes them look fat (it doesn't!). That leaves pretty much one woman left with no food issues. And you all know that isn't me.

I am sympathetic to their plight. Every year when the goodies start piling up I am filled with conflicting emotions. Joy! All my favorite treats! My friends love me! Bon bons for breakfast! Dread! All my favorite treats! My friends must hate me! Must resist the siren call of the bon bons for breakfast! So last year I came up with what I thought was a good compromise. I ate one or two of the treats I liked best and allowed my kids and husband to take what they liked and then packaged the rest of it up and gave it away. I got to taste it and I didn't have to spend the rest of the week circling my kitchen like a tween locked out of a Jonas Brothers concert. Excellent, right?

That one came back to bite me in the butt. Hard. Turns out that my friends, being generally awesome and way more talented than I am, make some delicious treats. The people that I gave them to all wanted the recipes. I couldn't plead "family secret" as they all know that a) the only family recipes I have come from the backs of boxes and b) I am a terrible secret keeper. So instead I told the truth. Long story short, the friends who made me the treats were hurt that I'd given them away and the friends that I'd given them to were insulted by my recycling. And I felt like a jerk until the summer when one son hit the other in the mouth with a bungee cord and knocked out five of his teeth - mother guilt trumps all!

So what is a health conscious girl to do? Should I stick to giving non-food items like candles or, say, SOCKS. (I swear my friends are so sick of getting socks from me. Plus the people at Target probably think I have a foot fetish.) And what do I do with all the treats that people give me - assuming they still will after last year's debacle? What do you do?

Fitness Gear: Where to Spend, Where to Save

Socks and jellybeans. My two favorite things. If my feet are wrapped in the pelts of Muppets and my belly is full of sour simple sugars then I am a happy girl. Unsurprisingly I have a wide assortment of both but today I'm just going to talk about the socks. I have furry socks, loud socks, knee-highs, thigh-highs (with little bows!), invisible socks, patterned socks, holey socks and lacy ankle socks. But do you know what I do not have? Real athletic socks. I know. The tragedy is unspeakable. Despite owning - I kid you not - 30+ workout tank tops, for some reason I never buy athletic socks. Probably because I can't get them second hand like I do everything else.

At first I was dubious that "real" athletic socks were anything more than a marketing ploy. After all, feet just sweat whether they are clad in my $10/6 pack of Target cotton ankle socks or in these $50/pair Goretex babies, right? But then the Gym Buddies schooled me good. Apparently there is an advantage to be had from actual athletic socks made with things like antibacterial silver and wicking fibers and support arches. These new fangled socks come with everything but a SETI program to multitask during your rests.

Runner's World agrees with the Gym Buddies. According to them, the right socks can prevent blisters, help with plantar fascitis and even help you run faster. But Brian Sell sums it up nicely with his advice: Wear socks. They even offer a "sock guide" with an in-depth analysis of the top 10 best sports socks to help you find the style just right for you.

At $10-$16 a pair though, I'm still going to take a lot of convincing. I - knock on wood - never get blisters. I don't have arch or heel pain. And sweaty feet don't bother me much. Now I don't want you to think my feet aren't important to me. I shell out a lot of money for decent athletic shoes. (Confession: I actually own three pairs at any given time - one for running, one for cross training and one for dance.) I'm very brand loyal and I'm easily sucked in with new marketing ploys like "gel support soles" and "shock balance" and "three different flavors swirled in one pint of ice cream." (Yes I'm talking to you Ben & Jerry's, you Dairy Siren.) Also, and I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I'm a sucker for colors and crazy patterns. My running shoes right now are bright pink with both polka dots and paisley on them (I love you Aasics!) Although I do draw the line at buying two separate pairs of shoes to fit my differently sized feet, curse them.

All of the cash I drop on shoes is kind of ironic considering how little I spend on the rest of my workout apparel. My favorite source of clothing is the thrift store. I'm such a Sweaty Betty that this way I can pit out my tanks and then throw them away after a few months without feeling guilty since they only cost me a buck. Although considering how many I own, I probably ought to be weeding them out more often. (Note to Gym Buddies: please tell me when I stink!) Second to thrift stores, my next best source of clothing are hand-me-downs, mostly because my friends all have much better style than I do. My current favorite pants are a cute lil' Nike pair with ribbons and ruching at the knees gifted to me by Turbo Jennie. Which, incidentally, you know it says a lot about a friendship when you can share clothing obviously not meant to be worn with underwear.

So I'm cheap on clothes, spendy on shoes and just confused about socks. Help me sort out my priorities! (Any cracks involving the words "Dr. Phil" and/or "intervention" will be ignored.) Is the price tag for expensive gym socks worth it? What kind do you use? What fitness essentials are you willing to spend on and which do you scrimp? Anyone else own way too many tank tops for their own good??

Know More, Grow More, The Keys to Muscle Building

Every month for the past 22 years, I've logged more hours in the gym than most guys do in their lifetimes. And I've probably heard the question "Whaddya bench?" at least once a day.

Enough already. And not just for the sake of my sanity. I can tell you that when it comes to your workout, there are far more important questions. Questions that, combined with the right answers, will help you bust through longtime lifting plateaus and slash your risk of injury. Ready to pack on new muscle, build superstrength, and engineer a high-performance body? Your education starts now.

Can You Row Your Body Weight 10 Times?
There's a saying, If you're not rowing, you're not building muscle. And there's no better way to start doing both than with an exercise called the inverted row, or body-weight row.

Besides being great for muscle building, the inverted row is valuable because it strengthens your rear shoulders and upper back. These oft-neglected muscles directly oppose the muscles used in the bench press--a benefit that can help prevent a slumped posture. Think of it this way: If you bench-press far more than you row, the stronger muscles on the front of your upper body will overpower the weaker ones on the back, pulling your shoulders forward.

If you can't do 10 perfect repetitions of the inverted row, chances are you have a serious imbalance. The fix? Do two sets of the inverted row for every one set of bench presses (or other chest exercise) that you perform. Use this approach until you eliminate your weak spot.

How to do it: At a Smith machine, grab the bar with an overhand grip and place your heels on the floor, with your legs straight. Pull your chest to the bar, pause, and lower yourself until your arms are straight. To count as a rep, your chest must touch the bar.

Updates, Discounts and a Giveaway!

First, I am proud to announce that The Great Fitness Experiment has search functionality back (see top of page)! Due to my stellar computer skills (er, google search skills) I have fixed my own glitch and now you can happily search for all the weird keywords you like. I'm talking to you Mr. or Ms. "naked hip hop" - you know who you are! I am weirdly very proud of my coding accomplishment. As MizFit would say, please to enjoy:)

Update Time

The TRX: We're halfway through the suspension training experiment and I am very happy with how it is going. Despite falling on our faces, getting twisted up in the straps and, one occassion, getting so contorted that it took 3 gym buddies to extricate me, I am loving the TRX. Once we got the hang of it and watched all the exercise videos several times, it really provides a great workout. Gym Buddy Mike says he's sore in place he's never been sore before. For me, it works my abs akin to the Pilates Reformer. Which is to say it's completely awesome. Plus I'm totally sold on the portability and variety of exercises.

Mary Lou's Weigh: I have not wanted to shoot the scale yet and am generally enjoying my not-focusing on the numbers. Because so many of you were so excited about this scale, the company has offered all GFE readers a 50% DISCOUNT. Just enter the code great50 at checkout to get your scale at half the normal price! Wahooo!

Sensa: No weight loss yet but then again the company says it often takes 3 months for women to see a change. I'm halfway through month two. Plus, it's not very difficult to sprinkle some powder on my food. Remembering to do it is half the battle! The Sensa folks have offered one GFE reader a free month to try it out. If you are interested, curious and/or just like free stuff, leave me a comment below telling me about the weirdest diet or diet trick you've tried! And for those of you who don't win and want to try it, the company is offering GFE readers a 15% discount. Just type ROCKETXL at checkout.

Have a great weekend y'all!

real pretty faces

All joking with Larry aside - these ARE pretty faces.

This one has what I call BDF...which stands for 'Big Dick Face' meaning he is handsomely hung.

Nothing wrong with a little sea man in your face - I mean face post!

And this one is cute - if you like hardware.

Fallible: On Making Mistakes in Public

Yep, that's a person in there.

During all my years of teaching, I've seen a lot. In a single quarter I had a student vomit, another have a stroke, and a third show up for the final with no teeth claiming police brutality. I was teaching as the Twin Towers fell and watched the chaos ensue via the Internet. I've even been mooned by an irate teenager who was upset that I wouldn't let him take the quiz he missed by showing up late. But the image that sticks with me the most from my professorial days was of a mistake. A huge mistake.

It was my first year teaching and I made up for my nerves with bravado and humor. The class was one of those freshman behemoths required for every major, the kind of filter class that students hate taking and teachers hate teaching. Four days a week, I lectured from a podium in front of a huge screen dropped from the ceiling. The set-up was all modern and technical so whatever I had on my computer screen displayed on the screen. And thus my downfall began.

I had the habit of breaking up the class with humorous video clips I found on the Internet. I was not supposed to do this. In fact, I was strictly instructed to stick to the manual and its set of boring exercises. But like I said, I was nervous and eager to be liked and very, very young so I did it anyhow. Until one day I mistyped the URL of the site I was looking for. I meant to have a funny show up but instead up popped a hardcore porn site, complete with all the naughty pop-up windows that those sites spawn.

There was an audible gasp in the audience and in the seconds it took for the mistake to travel to my brain, my body decided to act. Causing human resource directors everywhere to shudder in horror, I threw myself in front of the screen trying to block the image with my body. Unfortunately, as I'm sure you can imagine, this does not work with a projector and a screen of megaplex proportions. Instead it looked as if I had thrown myself into the middle of a terribly lewd act. And for good measure, a very disturbing phrase was scrolling across the bottom of the screen - right across my stomach.

The students, being college kids, were wildly entertained until I managed to turn the projector off and it might have ended there. Except that somehow word got back to the dean and I was called in for an interview. And here's where it gets particularly cringe worthy. After having to describe in detail what exactly the picture was showing on the site to a man old enough to be my grandfather, I had to explain to him how it happened. Instead of simply admitting my mistake and asking for forgiveness, I tried to snow him. I babbled on about black widow sites and viruses and domain name hijacking and rerouting and any other technical details I could think of until at last I ran out of steam.

Sitting back and staring at me thoughtfully, he eventually said quietly, "They'll never hate you for making mistakes. Everyone does that. But they'll never respect you if you can't admit to those mistakes." I was too stunned to speak. "Next time ask for help."

That is a lesson I took to heart. In every class I taught after that point, I would tell the class right at the beginning that I wasn't perfect and that most likely there was someone present who knew more than I did. (Which really came in handy the day I started a computer on fire. Seriously.) That they should tell me when I am wrong and accept when I did the same for them. That nobody should be afraid of making mistakes, the only important thing was to try.

It is a lesson that translates well to health and fitness. I see a lot of people avoiding healthy activities out of fear of making mistakes. If you exercise in a gym setting then that fear is multiplied by the very public nature of the environment. For instance, a few months back I saw a woman pick up a resistance band. After glancing around a few times, she finally stepped on it and pulled up on the handles, just like she'd seen a personal trainer do with a client. Unfortunately she didn't have a good lock on the band and it whipped out from under her feet and smacked her across the face. I had to fake a coughing fit for a good five minutes to keep from laughing until I fell off my treadmill, it was that funny. It was certainly embarrassing. So what did the woman do? Dropping the handles, she stepped over the band and walked away as if nothing had happened. But her beet-red face betrayed her. I wanted to run after her and tell her that it's okay, I've totally snapped myself with the resistance band and then show her how to put it under the groove in your shoe so it can't come loose but she was gone, hopefully not to hide under a rock. If she had stuck around long enough I would have told her how I actually put a hole in my super tight spandex pants when I snapped myself on the butt with a jump rope while trying to show off during boot camp.

For me, making mistakes is about being teachable. It's about admitting that I don't have all the answers and that I have a lot to learn from other people. I've learned that I will never be perfect at anything the first time I try it. Chances are, I'll never be perfect at it period. I've also learned that nobody likes a perfect person anyhow. People are drawn to those who can make mistakes and learn from them. And hey, if you don't believe me, take it from Jamie Kennedy:



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What To Do When Your Workout Plans Get Thwarted

Every family has their seasonal traditions and today we are commemorating a big one at our house. It's annual Pink Eye Day. We celebrate this special day every year come winter - sometimes more than once! While this day doesn't usually involve festive decorations or special foods, it does involve missing school (and, for me, the gym, the store, and all adult company). Pink is the color of the day and each child is gifted with his own bottle of Purel, a box of Kleenexes and the admonition to touch nothing, including themselves.

The first thing we always do on this great day (and every 4 hours afterward) is the Ceremony of the Eye Drops. Some parents think this ceremony is not very fun as it often involves kicking, screaming, scratching and crying. The children often behave no better. However, since this ceremony is required to celebrate Pink Eye Day, not to mention the Great Day of Returning To School, I have developed a patented eye drop administration technique. First you place the child on their back on a padded floor. Next you place both legs over their body, pinning their arms to their sides. You have to really use those quad muscles here. Just ignore any protestations from the child - remember it was them and their germy fingers that got you into this mess in the first place. Use one hand to hold their head and hold the other at the ready with the eye drops. Now here's the trick: hold a piece of candy between your teeth and yell "Look! A treat!!" As soon as they open their eyes to see that Tootsie Roll dangling above them, strike with the eye drops. Then - don't be a jerk - give them the treat.

Despite the fact that the Eye Drop Ceremony usually gets me all sweaty, I was still bummed to have to miss my daily sweat fest at the gym. Today was supposed to be boot camp and I was greatly looking forward to doing my best to reinact those Gatorade commericals with the colored sweat (I ate beets last night, it was a possibility!) but thanks to my disease-carrying progeny I am stuck at home. So instead I pulled a Workout Mommy and turned to one of my favorite home workouts ever: The Monkey Bar Gym.

Looking back through their archives, I finally came up with a circuit that looked like this:

1. High Knees to Hindu Squats
2. Lateral Slides to Skaters
3. Butt Kickers to Mountain Climbers
4. Cariocas to Jumping Jacks
5. Crawling to Sprint in Place

Do 30 seconds of the first exercise immediately followed by 30 seconds of the second. Proceed through the list 5 times taking a one minute rest after completeing the circuit for a total of 25 minutes of work, 30 minutes total workout time.

So okay, it wasn't boot camp but, as the exercise gurus are fond of saying, anything is better than nothing, right? Plus it sure beat running in place on my pretend treadmill for 30 minutes. I threw on some clothes (it's amazing how little care I put into wardrobe selection when I know no one is going to see me!), set up a fort to keep the wee ones occupied and went to work!

At first the kiddos (a.k.a. The Lepers) stayed holed up in their den with a bag of contraband Teddy Grahams and watched mommy go all Flashdance on the 6-square feet of carpet their fort did not take up.

But then they saw how much fun I was having as evidenced by the sweat drops splattering their tent off my elbows and my heavy breathing and decided to further investigate. (Note protective eyewear. Their idea, not mine. I figure if you're in our house during the Pink Eye Festival, you're just doomed. Admit it, your eyes are suddenly feeling itchy.)

The four-year-old decided he wanted to be the official photographer of our group exercise event so he chronicled the fun. Here's me doing Hindu squats (the tongue is part of having good form, trust me.)

Momentary distraction to take a picture of an owie incurred when Mommy stepped on his foot while doing skaters. Don't worry, he'll live.

While the four-year-old could basically follow along (Monkey Bar Gym - So Simple a Preschooler Can Do It!), the two-year-old's favorite activity was crawling through my legs when I did the crawl. It's like reverse birthing. I'm sure we just saved money on therapy there.

We ended with the baby's impersonation of me doing the Carioca. (Notice the broom? The four-year-old apparently thought that random dancing around the room meant limbo time.) Personally, I did his choice of workout wear. Tomorrow I'm totally going to the gym in my pajama shirt, no pants, one sock and ski goggles.

What do you do when your planned workout gets foiled? Do you have a favorite at-home workout? Or do you call it a rest day? Anyone had pinkeye as an adult? I have (during the Pink Eye Fest last year) and trust me it's way worse than you remember. Took me two solid weeks to get over that. This year I'm wearing surgical gloves.

Better To Be Scary Than Weak

Parroting the oft-told axiom that men find strong women frightening, a personal trainer at the Y today said of Gym Buddy Allison and I: "Those girls scare me."

My first reaction was, "Us? Scary??" We're about as scary as the Hamburgler. (Seriously, Ronald McDonald is scary. But if I met the Hamburgler in a dark alley? You know it'd start with "gimme your wallet" and end with fist bumps and "just messin' with you, man!") Perhaps the trainer was afraid that we'd do something stupid and make quadriplegics out of ourselves and sue the Y. But I'm pretty sure that all-encompassing liability waiver we signed when we got our memberships prevents us from ever living that dream. Besides, while we try lots of different things, we don't do anything terribly risky. The worst we're in danger of are some wicked bruises, a rolled ankle or possibly a pulled ab muscle from laughing too hard.

My second reaction was to puff out my chest and growl, "He should be scared, by golly! We could kick his butt!" And then I realized that anyone who says "by golly" - even in their imagination - is inherently not scary. Plus, I like to talk big (and kiss my biceps when no one's looking) but I really have no idea how to handle myself in a fight. In a showdown, I'm sure I'd be the one eating mat. Allison and I can't even play basketball without apologizing every 2 minutes and saying, "No really, you take another shot - I had the ball last time!" It's kinda pathetic, actually.

Gym Buddy Mike has his own theory. "It's because you guys have no fear and that's what personal trainers usually do, is help people overcome their fears. He knows you don't need him." He added, "Take it as a compliment, really." It's true. Allison and I do not worship the personal trainers as the purveyors of all fitness knowledge. Which isn't to say that he is stupid. I'm sure he knows many things that I do not. I'm just saying that we dare to use the "weird" equipment and try out new exercises and we're not reliant on the personal trainers to show us how.

Or perhaps he finds us scary because we are markedly unfeminine in the gym. Despite always wearing sports bras and pony tails, we routinely invade the male-dominated areas of the gym. We wear weight gloves and talk about one-rep maxes. We can list seven different exercises to hit all three heads of your shoulder. We do CrossFit and pull-ups and handstand pushups. I even belched today - loudly - for good measure. We're working up to scratching ourselves.

I have to say, I'm a little sad that he finds us "scary," for whatever reason. Because ultimately I'd rather work with people and share knowledge then be fighting them for gym space. In the end though, I'd rather be scary than weak so if being strong makes me scary then bring it on.

The Aging Athlete (Fit at 45+, part 2)

Here's something my dad didn't know when he was my age: There's no reason for a guy (or gal) in his forties to feel any different than he did in his teens. And he can do it in just a few hours a week.

Sounds improbable? Why don't more people do it? Here are some of the reasons I observe in my work that we "mature" people miss out on this great opportunity:

1. We spend our time doing physically inactive things we think are more important.

2. Most exercise programs are poorly structured, badly executed and largely ineffective.

3. Inertia - the more you move, the more you want to move; the same goes for moving less.

4. We buy the bill of goods that we're supposed to be less vital as we grow older.

5. We become spoiled and fearful, reluctant to move out of our comfort zone or try something we're not already good at, so we only exercise sporadically and without conviction or consistency.

6. We think of eating as anything but fuel for our machine; which is the role it plays for athletes.

7. As we grow older, we need more time to ramp up our level of challenge and to recover from tough workouts, so we get discouraged when we overdo it and chalk it up to inevitable achievement limitations associated with aging.

How's that for starters? Any of these conditions sound familiar? All of them?

So now you know where to start. Dump the self-imposed boundaries and the limiting misconceptions, and make the adjustments you need to allow for the realities you now have a better understanding about. Because over the next several posts, I'm going to give you more detailed guidance on how to get in the best shape of your life when you're halfway through it. And if you follow it and believe in yourself, it will happen.

This stuff works for me. It works for my clients in direct accordance with the degree to which they practice these principles.

And it can work for you.

Let's see how badly you want it.

The Recession Makes People Eat Less Meat But More Fast Food

Too bad Johnathan Swift died before the Internet came about.

This will thrill PETA right out of their naugahyde pumps: doing what no bag of thrown flour could ever hope to accomplish, the recession has caused the average American to cut their meat consumption. According to a survey conducted by Parade magazine (Yes, the cheesy insert in the Sunday paper. Yes, I read it. Shut up.), nearly 60% of respondents say they have reduced the amount of meat they eat due to rising food costs.

In an unrelated but strangely appropriate survey, apparently the recession has also caused an uptick in business at fast food restaurants.

Conclusion: A t-bone steak at $12.99/lb is a budget-breaker but two meat patties on a sesame bun with special sauce for $1.79 is dinner the way mama used to make. There's something wrong with this mentality and I'm not just saying that because I'm a vegetarian. Somewhere Michael Pollan just had a seizure.

In a country where affordable and accessible health care was one of the biggest issues in our last presidential election, it seems unwise to be trading whole foods for processed ones - especially those with a shelf life of 12+ years. If we want to encourage people to practice preventative health care by eating better and taking care of themselves then pricing fast food cheaper than the real deal seems downright counterproductive. Where's our health care bailout? But perhaps hitting people in their wallet is the best way to make them sit up and pay attention.

For me, as you might expect, I have tried both extremes of the meat continuum. I've been fully vegan. I've also done the Primal Blueprint (also known as The Meat-and-Veg Diet.) And I've settled out somewhere in the middle - a place I like to call "non-militant vegetarianism." Left to my own devices, I don't generally eat meat. But exceptions will be made for cases like wicked PMS, a bite of my husband's dinner at a fancy restaurant or a special dish made by a foreign friend. I also don't waste my breath trying to convert others to my veggie ways. This will almost guarantee the derision of hard-core vegetarians, but to be perfectly honest, I don't care if you eat meat. If there's one thing I've learned it's that there are lots of ways to be healthy and I don't have all the answers.

But if you are looking for ways to cut down on the grocery bill - and who isn't, considering that food prices have risen 7% over the past year and are expected to go up another 4% in 2009 - then reducing your meat consumption is a good fix. In fact, a whole new trendy name - Flexitarian - has just been popularized for folks who eat less meat but don't eschew it (get it??) entirely. There is a way to have your meat and eat it too. Just don't replace it with a Big Mac.

So where do you guys fall on the meat spectrum? How have you had to adjust your grocery shopping this past year?

And the winner of the Mary Lou's Weigh is...

Sarah Tieck! She writes, "I think my big scale issue happens when I go for the weekly WW weigh in ... it is so hard to face that scale each week and have the number recorded." So hopefully this scale will help take some of the fear out of your weekly weigh-in.

Drop me a line with your info, girl!

The Aging Athlete (Fit at 45+, part 1)

So this is a first. I'm posting in direct response to an e-mail sent by one of my readers. Thanks for the question, David!

What makes us different, in response to exercise, as we age? Is it that our bodies simply don't have the same potential as when we were younger? Is it the accumulation of inactivity (or, at least, reduced activity)? Is it the wear and tear of long years of training too hard or inefficiently? Is it the diminishing returns of an unbalanced program and inadequate recovery time?

The answer is that all these factors can play a role. But the good news is that we have more control over the equation than we may believe. And the formula to find out how true that is for you is actually pretty simple.

Watch the next few posts to find out how you can be in better shape at 45+ than you were in high school, and in just a few hours a week. It's not complicated, but it takes commitment.

More on this soon...

"Super" Joe Beats "Superman"!

For the second time this year Joe Calzaghe rose from a first round knockdown to beat a contemporary boxing legend. Only this time, instead of a close split decision, there was no doubt as Calzaghe won a comprehensive 12-round unanimous decision against Roy Jones Jr. in the main arena of Madison Square Garden in New York City. In front of over 14,000 in attendance, most of which seemed to be rooting for Calzaghe, the light heavyweight champion won by three scores of 118-109, losing only the opening frame on all three cards.

Models Make Men Feel Bad Too

Now you and your significant other have one more thing to bond over whilst roasting chestnuts over your faux fire and wearing matching Burberry slippers this season: new research has found that seeing pictures of beautiful models actually make the men folk feel badly about themselves, just like it does to us women! Porn purveyors everywhere hang their heads in shame.

To come to this conclusion, researchers recruited men for three different groups. The first group (a.k.a. The Lucky Ones) got to flip through Maxim, FHM and Details for an hour, focusing on pictures of objectified and sexually idealized women. The second group (a.k.a. the Not As Lucky Ones) paged through pictures of well dressed male models. I'm imagining there was a lot of David Beckham being thrown around. The last group (a.k.a. The Bored Ones) got to read technology articles. The men then completed a survey about their self esteem. Surprisingly the group least affected was the men who had to stare at Beckham's Armani for an hour. The group most negatively affected? The group with the lad mags.

At first this conclusion surprised Jennifer Aubrey, the lead researcher, as similar studies have shown that it is the same-sex models that make women want to slit their wrists with a $2,500 diamond-encrusted letter opener. But for men it was the models of the opposite sex that caused self-hate. Eventually she concluded that "the exposure to objectified females increased self-consciousness because men are reminded that in order to be sexually or romantically involved with a woman of similar attractiveness, they need to conform to strict appearance standards."

So basically the men knew that they, the average joes, would never have a chance with a woman like that because they're still wearing their button-down jean shirt and braided belt. This effect was mitigated though if the hot models were pictured with average looking "boyfriends." (No word on if having the average-looking boyfriends holding large fake food added to the emotional punch.)

Two things struck me about this research:
1. This is just more evidence that men consider a woman's attractiveness her primary selling point. I mean, did any of them men think to themselves, "Sure, she's smokin' hot but will she discuss The Simpsons with me or buy me hemerrhoid cream?" And that makes me depressed.
2. I'd be interested to know if the effect on men was as marked as it has been shown to be on women. Were the men in the study motivated to change themselves? Get surgery? Be bulimic? Or was it just a little uncomfortable?

The girls over at Jezebel summed up my thoughts exactly, "Models make women feel bad. They make men feel bad. So who exactly are they supposed to be appealing to"

Photo Credit: W magazine is the source of these supremely ironic photos of skinny models with gigantic food.

Fit Man Raoul Bova

Tom Cruise

Olympic Gymnast Tackles the Age-Old Battle of Woman Vs. Scale (Plus Giveaway!)

Did you know that some women lead perfectly happy and healthy lives without ever stepping on a scale? There are women out there who don't even know what they weigh! If you are one of those women, as I'm sure some of you are, then you will spend the rest of this post shaking your head in bewilderment. See, I am not one of those women. I have had a long tumultuous history with that little number, my weight. About six months ago I was weighing myself multiple times a day and driving myself crazy with the implications, ie. "That was the biggest poop ever! How did I not lose any weight?!" I was even one of those nuts who would waste precious alone time in the bathroom recalibrating, checking, and even relocating my scale in case the gravity was more favorable on the other end of the room. (Note: this doesn't work. You'd have to relocate to the moon to see a noticeable effect on your weight.)

I am not proud to say how much that number meant to me. A high number spelled doom for the rest of the day. A low number was good but made me panicky to figure out what I had done to get it. I obsessed about that number, worried about that number, and finally broke down and had one of those gut-wrenching cries that leaves you so puffy eyed that you're embarrassed to go in public, all over that stupid number. As I sobbed to my husband I had a realization: I've got to get over this number.

My therapist and I came to an agreement: the end goal, which seemed too scary to approach at the moment, was to give up my dependence on the scale. In the meantime, however, I would limit myself to just one weigh-in a day. Unlike some of the things my therapist has asked me to do, I surprised myself by being able to do this one and stick to it right away. It was a relief, actually, to not be such a slave to my scale. But I still had my once-a-day ritual to keep the anxiety at bay. Because after all, everyone knows that one of the proven ways to keep from regaining lost weight is to weigh yourself every day. The number still drove me crazy but it was a more controlled crazy.

And then a week ago, my scale disappeared. In a house with three tiny tots things are often relocated on irrational whims. (Salad dressing in the piano bench? Crayons in the heater vent? My eyelash curler in the toilet? Why not!) This time, however, I strongly suspected my husband. Despite several days of whining, cajoling and begging none of the males in my house 'fessed up nor relenquished my scale.

Fine, I thought angrily as the anxiety mounted - there was Halloween candy in the house, people! - I'll show them. I'll just get another scale. And so, being a cheapskate, to the thrift store I headed. Long story short: the same place that sells lead paint (right next to the baby spoons) and 8-track players and half of a sandwich maker, doesn't sell scales.

"It's a sign," my husband commented dryly. "The universe doesn't care how much you weigh." The thought was overwhelming. I just wasn't ready yet! And then the universe intervened on my behalf courtesy of Mary Lou Retton, of '80s Wheaties fame.

It turns out that even gold-medal Olympic gymnasts have weight problems. Mary Lou writes on her website about how after training intensely for so many years, once she retired from competitive gymnastics she went on a free-for-all with food. And she had four daughters. The combination of pregnancy, junk food and a reduced workout regimine piled the pounds on. Being the positive sprite that we all remember from our childhood, she wanted a healthy, sane way to monitor her weight loss and provide encouragement.

So she invented Mary Lou's Weigh. This "platform" is a weight scale. Except that the very first thing you will notice about it is that there is no window or display in which to show a number. In fact, other than a couple of colored lights, there's nothing on the scale at all. I was dubious but I popped the batteries in and turned it on anyhow.

"Please step on the platform!" it chirped. Yes, this is the Nightrider of scales. I warily complied. "Starting weight recorded!" I stepped off, took off my sweatshirt, peed and then got back on it. Applause and cheering reverberated through my bathroom. "You are 1.5 pounds below your starting weight! Way to go! This is a new low weight for you!" (Yeah, I peed a lot.) The scale, via a bubbly Mary Lou's voice, then proceeded to give me a healthy living tip to keep up my positive momentum.

I can guarantee you no one has ever cheered before when I stepped on a scale. Not even me. I kinda liked it. It made me smile.

And that's how Mary Lou's Weigh works. The machine - which surprisingly has a decent sense of humor (question: "How about if I take diet pills?" retort: "How about if you don't?") - never tells you what you weigh. It only tells you whether you have lost weight or gained, with no judgement for the latter and gives you an all out celebration for every 10 pounds you lose. For those of us that are good at math, one would think what's the point, I'll just do the math in my head. Except that for some reason I don't. And the positive emphasis of the healthy living tips actually leaves me feeling a little better than before I stepped on it. I could never say that about my old scale. I suppose over time you could get irritated with the chirpiness of it all - I've only had it for a few days so it's still new to me - but Mary Lou sells replacement cartridges that you can put in the back of the scale that apparently contain all new tips and accolades so it doesn't get old. (In the booklet that comes with the platform, one of the questions is, "What if I get irritated with Mary Lou and shoot the scale?" The answer: "Mary Lou understands how emotional weight can be and encourages you to let your emotions out. However, if you shoot the scale it won't work anymore.")

I have to say I'm excited to have found this. It seems like a good intermediary step to weaning myself from the scale. I still only do it once a day but this time I have my own cheering section. Now, if I can just keep my kids away from it...

What do you guys think? Do you weigh yourselves? Are you fully emancipated from the scale? Interested in getting your own Mary Lou's Weigh? Go check out the free helpful weight-loss tools on her site and then come back here and let me know what your fave tip is to enter the contest. You guys have until Monday! Happy not-weighing!

Mirror Mirror On The Wall, Who's The Fittest Girl of All?

My YMCA has been doing some much-needed renovations. The upside is that we now have a shiny new aerobics studio, expanded childcare and a new gym floor that has made more than a few basketball players fall to their knees and weep with joy. The downside, besides that the whole place is drenched in nursing-home yellow, is they moved the weight floor around. Me being me, I wouldn't care if they put the free weights in the bathroom - hey multitasking! - except for one thing: the mirrors.

I'm going to just say this straight out: I'm one of those people who likes to stare at themselves in the mirror while they lift weights. The majority of the time, it's to check my form, I swear. Although those floor-to-ceiling reflective surfaces have other good uses like making sure there aren't any bumps in Gym Buddy Allison's ponytail or checking out the progress of the cut on my tricep. Occasionally I even use it to stare at people (hello man walking around with a weight plate literally chained to your waist!) without actually staring at them. And now the only thing in front of the mirrors is the Smith machine and the squatting sled, so apparently you can check out your form on machines that prevent you from having any. I suppose you could also check out your butt if you got really contorted in the leg press.

All of this got me thinking about gym mirrors in general. In our old aerobics studio, the mirrors were so warped that just doing a grapevine to the right made you lose 10 pounds. That is, until you went left again. The teachers always wondered why the right side of the class was so crowded compared to the left! At any rate, I tried very hard then to not look in the mirrors.

Aesthetics aside, gym goers avoid the mirrors for other reasons as well. A big one for women is being self conscious about their appearance. I will always remember one Bosu class where my top was too short and my pants too tight causing a roll of stomach flab/child skin to blurp out. Mesmerized, I watched it the whole class as it bounced when I bounced and turned when I turned - but always a count behind. A Gym Buddy expressed a similar fear, saying that she refused to wear tank tops to work out in because "then I'd have to stare at my flabby arms the whole time." I'm pretty sure when our group fit teachers tell us to focus this is not what they have in mind. In fact, I'm told that many female-only gyms like Curves have no mirrors at all and it is considered a selling point.

However, as anyone who has taken yoga will attest to, it is easier to stay balanced in bound eagle or dancer pose if you can see yourself in a mirror. In Hip Hop and Zumba, being able to see the mirror helps with footwork and form, not to mention staying on the beat. Mirrors are also an essential tool for being able to see the instructor from different areas of the room. Not to mention they are great for catching and preventing wardrobe malfunctions. (Although the mirrors worked against Turbo Jennie when her halter top came undone mid-squat during a BodyPump class. With the weight bar still on her shoulders, she instinctively spun away from the class - only to be confronted with the full view in the mirrors along with her students' shocked expressions. Another instructor jumped in to rescue her and Turbo Jennie gave away the top but the story still lives on in Y infamy.)

So what is your take on mirrors when you exercise? Hate them? Just another surface to splatter sweat on? Or a useful fitness tool? Minus 10 points if you've ever used one to pop a zit. Yes, I know they're perfect because you can get right up close but seriously - ew!