I decided to start filling you in on things that really bother me in the gym and occasionally elsewhere. I am a very laid back person but for some reason things seem to strike me wrong while I am working out. Most of these pet peeves are based on common myths that people uphold with their workouts resulting from lack of knowledge so I intend for it to be educational as opposed to me just blowing off steam.
With that said, the first pet peeve I will address is walking on the treadmill or elliptical. I’m not talking about walking for recovery from your previous 5 days of lifting where you want to get the blood pumping but are too worn out to do intervals. I’m talking about the people whose workouts revolve around them walking.
Ladies, I hate to call you out, but this is mostly directed at you. If you are a male and do this, just head over to the dumbbell rack and lift something.
It seems to be even more of an issue on the beloved elliptical. Believe it or not, those things will not break if you get up to the speed of a jog.
I’m not sure why it bothers me other than it’s a waste of time and the people doing it usually don’t have the ideal BMI (nicest way I could say they are chubby).
You could spend 1/5 of the time in the gym doing either intervals or move at a pace where you actually break a sweat and accomplish the same caloric expenditure. You resting metabolic rate would also be raised for much longer after your workout was completed.
This issue also carries over to people that hold on to the handles while they walk at an incline. You are basically letting the treadmill drag your legs while you hold on for the ride. Don’t jack the incline and speed up so high that you can’t walk like you would on normal ground. You are only lying to yourself by actually thinking you burned as many calories as the treadmill said you did.
Instead, push yourself to do a real workout. There is nothing wrong with basing your workout around cardio as long as it is challenging.
Barrett Stover 