Gyms are funny places

Ok, I hit the Y for my weekly-ish session of some lifting and some speedwork on the treadmill. While I'm there I watch some guy on a treadmill crank the thing up to around a 6:30 mile pace, which is pretty fast for a treadmill, then he runs the few minutes that he's on it hanging onto the console part of the treadmill apparantly looking as if he let go he'd fly back into the wall! Look pal, if your legs can't handle the pace, SLOW DOWN!

Then there are people who use the nautilus machines but can't really lift the weight that they'd like to but still want to look like they can. So what ends up happening is that they pull down/up/sidways will all the muscles they can muster no matter which ones they're supposed to be so carefully isolating which is why they're in the nautilus room in the first place.

I think that it stems from our society's overwhelming urge to be fit and to be as fit as possible no matter if its really doing any good, or if it's being done correctly or whatever. It's every muscle for itself in there I tell ya.

Had my first introduction to helping coach the local HS Track team. It's a gym full of kids all being put through calesthetics drills for like 45 minutes before they're even allowed to run a step! Granted a base of some of that can be helpful but coach, we're here to run please? And besides that my boys are the fittest ones on the team having just come off a winter track season and cross-country season where they made the state meet. So come on coach, let 'em go out and hit the track and pavement for a few miles.