Reading magazines on the treadmill

MistyCheese

Does this bother anyone else? I know that other peoples workouts are none of my effing business but I find it very odd that at my gym so many people in the cardio area are reading magazines. Not fitness magazines, celebrity ones like OK or Now or Hello or Heat or some other one-word title.

Is there some advantage to this that I'm not aware of?

siochain

far more important things to focus on like next rep, song belting on on Ipod, whats for dinner etc.

pvt.joker

reading on a treadmill??! craziest thing I've ever heard!

they're obviously not moving fast enough, if they were doing anymore than a normal walking pace it would be impossible to read!
Sounds like they're just lazy tbh , leave them at it.

Dragan

MistyCheese wrote: »

Is there some advantage to this that I'm not aware of?

The garbage contained within numbs the mind and takes it off the fact that you have 57mins and 13 second of you LIT still to go.:D

pvt.joker

Lit?

dv6

Low intensity training

amazingemmet

I find magazines not to be challenging enough for my LIT sessions and prefer something with more substance like Tolstoy burns much more calories per hour then Maxim

Malteaser!

Lol, can't say I've ever seen anyone reading a magazine/paper on a treadmill...mebbe I'm just not in that section enough!!

g'em

Dragan wrote: »

The garbage contained within numbs the mind and takes it off the fact that you have 57mins and 13 second of you LIT still to go.:D

Werd.

I've had to stop scoffing at folk who read magazines on treadmills/ bikes/ cardio-bunny-cotnraptions because... for a time I had to resort to it too If your restricted in the type of cardio you can perform and LIT is the best option to meet your goals then 3-4 x 1 hour sessions of brisk walking is flippin' boring!! Obviously there are folk in the gym (most?!) who'd do well to put down the glossy rag and actually do something more sweat inducing with their time but there's 1 in every 100 who is doing LIT for a good reason and needs to stave off the mind-numbing boredom somehow.

That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it :pac:

MistyCheese

Cool, I was just curious. Personally it wouldn't be for me because I'd be concerned that I'd get caught up in an article and not even notice that I'd stopped moving my legs. On a treadmill that'd be a bit silly but on the cross trainer, bike, step machine, etc it'd just be a big waste of time.

I know it probably sounded like an exaggeration but yes, the ratio of people reading magazines in the cardio section of my gym is over 50%. There are more people reading mags than not. I'll stick with my mp3 player, thanks! Although maybe I am missing a trick. If I'm gonna be doing cardio at the gym for 5 or 6 hours a week maybe I should buy a "Learn Italian in 5 - 6 hours a week" book and in a couple of months I'd be fitter and fluent in another language.

Khannie

g'em wrote: »

That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it :pac:

This is also my excuse.

It's very rare that I'd go into a "normal" gym. Even more rare that I'd hit the cardio equipment, but when I do, it's the bike, and I watch an episode of something on my PSP. Helps pass the time.

Roper

LIT, I just wonder why people don't just walk to the gym? Fresh air, maybe some company, hills and slopes and stuff for a bit of a challenge. Reading magazines is a bit hard you might get knocked down but I'm sure it would be better for you than walking on a treadmill in a room full of other people's bodily odours, aircon and crappy music.

My mother still bombs around the place for hours at a time, my sister bought her a pair of Nikes one birthday for her walks and she wouldn't wear them, said she prefers her comfy shoes whatever they are.

Is there not an inherent problem with the concept of "to exercise I must be a member of a gym"? Obviously, if resistance training is what you want then gyms are the way to go, but most people could probably achieve their goals of some fat loss + sense of well being by just going outdoors a bit more often.

MistyCheese

I don't disagree with you Roper. I walk to work everyday and also to the gym. But I imagine most people at my gym are doing weights aswell as cardio. Plus some people would think to themselves "Right, I've just done a 20 minute ramble around the block, now I've earned a sit-down with a Snickers and a mug of tea." I know it's hard to believe but it's true.

I do see people lying on mats doing stretches and cruches and all that. I would be more comfortable doing that stuff in the privacy of my own home but hey, some people need a gym environment to get them in the mood to work out. It's pyschological.

Serafijn

Roper wrote: »

Fresh air, maybe some company, hills and slopes and stuff for a bit of a challenge.

But then you get days like today when the last thing you want to do is step outside the front door! At least it never rains inside the gym...

MistyCheese

Bah! Yeah, that's true. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) I don't have a choice. I have to walk into work. I don't drive and if I wanted to get a bus I'd have to leave the house much earlier. So I could get the bus if I planned for it but not on impulse or I'd be late.

crotalus667

I spent an hour doing lit yesterday and got threw most of Flex, I have to say it is something I rarely do But Im planning on doing a lot more of it as an add on to my workout's , Im going to start bringing whatever book im reading with me after it has to be better to read on the bike that read in a chair , I have some books on mp3 but I find that they get drowned out by the gym noise (the only thing im worried about is putting my sweaty hands on my nice clean book )

Hanley

Roper wrote: »

LIT, I just wonder why people don't just walk to the gym? .

Troof.

Roper

Serafijn wrote: »

But then you get days like today when the last thing you want to do is step outside the front door! At least it never rains inside the gym...

Well, who would have thunk it, bad weather is... well... bad... if you live in Ireland and you're waiting for good weather then you'll never do anything. A few years back someone invented a unique exercise device called a "jacket", it works well with a "hat" and sometimes in conjunction with an "umbrella". Seriously, I saw them all on an infomercial once.

In my line, I hear all the excuses, and I run an indoor sport. "Oh it was lashing out so I didn't come", "It was too sunny to be stuck indoors training, so I stayed at home and watched TV" "It's too cold" blah blah blah.

Ultimately the list of excuses is literally endless. You can come up with a reason not to exercise anytime.

Hanley

Roper wrote: »

Well, who would have thunk it, bad weather is... well... bad... if you live in Ireland and you're waiting for good weather then you'll never do anything. A few years back someone invented a unique exercise device called a "jacket", it works well with a "hat" and sometimes in conjunction with an "umbrella". Seriously, I saw them all on an infomercial once.

In my line, I hear all the excuses, and I run an indoor sport. "Oh it was lashing out so I didn't come", "It was too sunny to be stuck indoors training, so I stayed at home and watched TV" "It's too cold" blah blah blah.

Ultimately the list of excuses is literally endless. You can come up with a reason not to exercise anytime.

I prefer doing outdoor stuff when it's wet and cold tbh. Keeps me cool and I feel like it builds alot of mental strength.

pvt.joker

Roper wrote: »

Ultimately the list of excuses is literally endless. You can come up with a reason not to exercise anytime.

+1

BossArky

g'em wrote: »

....there's 1 in every 100 who is doing LIT for a good reason and needs to stave off the mind-numbing boredom somehow.

+1.

Gym biking for is pretty boring without a book. Getting absorped in a few pages helps the time to pass and takes your mind off the huffing and puffing.

Cardio after weights & with a book is like curling up beside the fire with your favourite pipe.

I would only frown on the people who look incredibley out of shape spinning the pedals at 10 revs per minute whilst reading.

Roper

I have a photo at home of me and 4 or 5 other lads doing a session on Dollymount Strand when we were about 16. It's driving hailstones, we're on a dune and he's made us do it in just our shorts and runners. It felt like being shot by pellet guns. It was horrific but then afterwards we felt great. Last year in February I was fully clothed in neck deep at The Hole in the Wall holding a tractor tyre over my head, freezing with 3 other lads. But we came away tough mentally, which is the only toughness that matters.

Now I wouldn't advocate that for everyone, but if you want to achieve results in anything, you have to be willing to put up with some extremes. That may be extreme cold, heat, sweat, breathing or whatever. Too many people walk in places expecting results for no effort, because they've seen the pics of the smiling people on the pec deck without and ounce of sweat on them.

What a rant, but hey I'm pissed off today. It's not a good day for me.

sobriquet

Roper wrote: »

if you live in Ireland and you're waiting for good weather then you'll never do anything.

Absolutely, you'd swear we'd be used to it by now. I cycled to work for a solid year, there was two days in the whole year that were bad enough that I left the bike at home. The weather isn't half as bad as people make out, and definitely not so bad it keeps you indoors.

mack1

Roper wrote: »

Too many people walk in places expecting results for no effort, because they've seen the pics of the smiling people on the pec deck without and ounce of sweat on them.

Oh I'm with you there buddy....not mentioning any names....

ahem....cough cough

http://www.independent.ie/multimedia/archive/00169/dep_169504t.jpg

Serafijn

Roper wrote: »

Ultimately the list of excuses is literally endless. You can come up with a reason not to exercise anytime.

Exactly - so at least exercising at the gym eliminates the weather from the equation!

Good on you lads who brave the storms and (more often) drizzle. I used to be an all-weather biker so I get where you're coming from. I've gone a bit soft nowadays though so you won't see me out pounding the pavements much in Dublin!

Each to their own you know

token56

I don’t think I could possible read a magazine while on the treadmill, if I’m not concentrating and feeling the burn then its just not exercise for me.

Roper

Serafijn wrote: »

Exactly - so at least exercising at the gym eliminates the weather from the equation!

Good on you lads who brave the storms and (more often) drizzle. I used to be an all-weather biker so I get where you're coming from. I've gone a bit soft nowadays though so you won't see me out pounding the pavements much in Dublin!

Each to their own you know

Well I would say that if someone is looking for an excuse, removing the weather will only move them onto the next one on their list. Maybe I'm just cranky though.

Orlee

I think I'd be sick or fall over

But I wouldn't knock it - What ever keeps you going!

Different strokes and all that

Dragan

Hanley wrote: »

I prefer doing outdoor stuff when it's wet and cold tbh. Keeps me cool and I feel like it builds alot of mental strength.

It worked for Rocky.

Serafijn

Roper wrote: »

Well I would say that if someone is looking for an excuse, removing the weather will only move them onto the next one on their list. Maybe I'm just cranky though.

Maybe it's just that I never really got into any outdoor sports, nor was I ever all that excited by walking/jogging as exercise which meant that there was no 'reward' for going out and getting drenched.

Eitherway the gym works for me so I'll stick with it.

Back onto the magazine issue: I can see why people do that, since in some gyms all there is to look at is other sweaty folks or your own sweaty face in a mirror.

The mindless drivel you get in Heat or OK is good for this as there's not that much actual reading involved. I went through a phase of putting audio-books on my MP3 player which is actually pretty good, until you get to the funny parts and look like a crazy person laughing to yourself... :pac:

xebec

I've got a confession... I too sometimes read in the gym.

For me it's usually on a non-effort day where I'm just doing LIT, I find it helps me forget about the time and get through what otherwise would be mindnumbingly boring. My usual on these days is an hour on the crosstrainer, usually reading either Time or whatever novel I'm getting through at the time - I'd be embarrassed to bring something like a lads mag into the gym.

On reading while on a treadmill, I've never done it and have no intention of it cos I'd fall off! I have enough problems with watching the TV, especially when grand prix qualifying is on and I find myself moving sideways as the cars turn