Obama's Workout Regimen

Being elected president forces a man to take inventory of his life, so Barack Obama has trimmed his schedule to the bare essentials. He's not in the White House yet, but gone are the hours he once spent reading novels, watching television and obsessing over the daily transactions of Chicago's sports teams. He eats out only once every few weeks. He visits friends rarely, if at all.

But one habit endures: Obama has gone to the gym, for about 90 minutes a day, for at least 48 days in a row. He always has treated exercise less as recreation than requirement, but his devotion has intensified during the past few months. Between workouts during his Hawaii vacation this week, he was photographed looking like the paradigm of a new kind of presidential fitness, one geared less toward preventing heart attacks than winning swimsuit competitions. The sun glinted off chiseled pectorals sculpted during four weightlifting sessions each week, and a body toned by regular treadmill runs and basketball games.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[doesitexplode]

keep bowing to your new god. i seem to remember another president another political party thought couldn't make any mistakes, even when he was caught lying to the entire planet.

all these obama day-to-day picture obsessions = bush clearing brush on his ranch.

and before you ask, im about as crazy liberal as it gets.
i just don't worship people. any people.

[NotMcCain]

Oh, Eli, Eli.

Methinks from your wording that you could benefit from an hour or two at the gym regularly yourself.

Obama finds mental rejuvenation in exercise. Think about what a powerful role model he could be for pudgy, out-of-shape journalists!

[Agentlady007]

Since Mr. President to be Obama can play anywhere he wants, I think we should build a nice gym in The White House for him.

[GrainOSand]

Body and mind developed under strict discipline...that does pay dividends...if only we could bottle it, or better still, if only educational systems could figure out a way to implement it within the curriculum such that it is obvious it pays dividends...thereby motivating the individual student to do the hard work involved in realizing the dividends. When you have a healthy body it promotes a clear mind and the reverse is true. When the mind is strong and free of clutter and baggage, the body is more readily conformed to the will of a mind of vision and creativity in living. The two go hand in hand. There is bad food and practice for the body as well as there is for the mind. This leaves the deeper question of the spirit untouched, but the article is not speaking to that directly and therefore I will not either. Suffice it to say the spirit does bear on body and mind and the spirit is not the mind.

Take care of the vessel carrying the engine allowing one to journey to the horizon of their spirit and realize the uncharted waters of their potential. Take moments to focus on the body and the mind and therein realize the lessons, the challenges, the hopes, the delusions, the strengths and the weaknesses. Explore you to the fullest, no one else can do that hard work and it is every you that makes a society. Mr. Obama is channeling the disciplined life.

[GrainOSand]

Of note for the above comment is the term "educational system". The primary educator in that system is the parent or are the parents. The public and private learning institutions are but secondary or ancillary to the primary cause and responsibility of the parent. The call is for a collaborative effort in education not a “magic wand put the blame on the system” solution. It does take a village to educate a child, but a child needs a home and that is not just a roof over the head, food on the table, and a TV to be distracted by. The bottom up approach to transforming society requires that a neighborhood intervene on behalf of individuals. A neighborhood rallies around itself, then a community, then a city, a state, a country...a world. It all starts at home, and home is where the heart is. These are old truths that remain as yet, fully explored for their potential. We have just begun to heal and just begun to be born, to break free of the substance that is not conducive to life lived well. Transformation continues at the micro level as it has throughout the ages. The compelling nature of now are the broad movements of change, the macro transformations that are occurring in our midst. Now seems to be a convergence and the friction of now will be the birth of our future. Get your mind, body, and spirit right for the days ahead. Mr. Obama reflects this understanding.

[curiousasheck]

Obsession with the human body has typically been a signal of the decline of all great civilizations.

[curiousasheck]

This will be different though having a President who's actually physically fit.

[curiousasheck]

The sun glistened off chiseled buttockorials sculpted like fine specimens"

ROFLMAO man you people are to much ya know that?

[Sabreen60]

Do you know how ign0rant and jealous you sound - like a junior high school kid. Any doctor worth his salt will tell you the more stress you're under the more you need to exercise. Anybody with half a brain knows this.

[robeson]

Obama is showing way too much ball. If that picture is correct, I could shut him down easy.

[ckfan]

LOL. I think you have this thread confused with the shirtless photo thread.

[walk0nwalls]

Yeah it's good that he exercises

I can't hardly make time meself, ionno i just can't get into it.

Maybe i'll try though.

[Sabreen60]

Do try. If you start off with just 30 minutes a day of aerobic exercise you will be amazed at how much more energy you will have. It's hard to get started, but once you do you'll be glad you did. The PE is pushing 50 - not old by any stretch of the imagination, but it's when issues such as hypertension and high cholesterol become more of a risk - unless one is already overweight.

[rollingdivision]

The same reporters who so greatly admire Obama's lithe figure derided Bush for his training schedule. Former Post writer Jonathan Chait famously attacked Bush three years ago in an opinion piece for the Los Angeles Times headlined "The (over)exercise of power."

Recounting how President Bush ran 3.5 miles a day and preached more cross-training to a federal judge, Chait fumed: "Am I the only person who finds this disturbing? . . . What I mean is the fact that Bush has an obsession with exercise that borders on the creepy."

Chait argued that Bush's passionate devotion to exercise was a dereliction of duty. "Does the leader of the free world need to attain that level of physical achievement?" he jeered. "It's nice for Bush that he can take an hour or two out of every day to run, bike or pump iron. Unfortunately, most of us have more demanding jobs than he does."

Can you imagine any member of the Obamedia mocking the incoming gym-rat-in-chief this way?

Fit Republican president = Selfish, indulgent, creepy fascist.

Fit Democratic president = Disciplined, health-conscious Adonis role model.
From Malkin IBD opinion piece

[wanj]

Bush's discipline ends at the gym and starting wars.... Obama seems disciplined in a lot of things. That might be the difference IMHO.

[Sabreen60]

Maybe if B000sh hadn't taken so many vacations, the one person in the press (I guess that means the entire media to you) would have been less likely to criticize him. B000sh took more vacation time then any other pres!dent in modern history.

[Carol06095]

I agree with you rollingdivision. You can't have it both ways. Either the exercise is good or bad. And it's that way for both of them. So, decide, is it good, then complement both Obama and Bush. If it's bad, condemn both Obama and Bush.

[wembakoy]

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Thank you for making difference. Only people helps people.

[bygollymissmolly]

The sun glinted off chiseled pectorals sculpted during four weightlifting sessions each week, and a body toned by regular treadmill runs and basketball games.
----------------

So now the direction the MSM will go is to cheapen the image of the POTUS. Why is this news? Bush was in pretty good condition. I didn't see the obsession with talking about his physical condition or how he looks without a shirt.

Get a grip folks. We have real problems in this country and finally a POTUS who has a possibility of fixing these problems. Let's not cheapen his image.

[sixx]

You can see from the photo that Obama is a lefty. Notice how he exposes the ball to go right.

[Petrovas]

Here is his work out regimen.

Take a look who lobbies (bribes) the most.

Allocate the stimulus (bail out) to who pushes for the biggest pork.

[PhilipTaylor]

Sounds like you are full of pork!

[bygollymissmolly]

What a perfect description of your beloved George Bush. Talk about projection.

[rubygreen]

This country has been bloated for far too long. I wonder if having Obama be in great physical shape as long as he doesn't become a muscle head, will inspire the rest of the population, especially the young, to get off there @ss' and stop eating all the junk. Gym time at school should be increased and required. It's always amazed me, I have clients who have young children, they don't miss a day at the gym and yet they all have fat, unhealthy kids. Go figure. It doesn't have to be an obsession, just a little exercise and good food.

[JSDKoeln]

I am 46 and have a similar routine to PEO's... but I've been doing it for 3 years since I had a heart attack. And, hey! I have better abs than O!... ;-) He's right. He's an inspiration to a lot of the Joe (one too many) Sixpacks out there. Fitness is a good thing and it helps with ALL aspects of one's life. I am in much admiration of him.

[Sabreen60]

I also can bear witness. I'm older than you (by several years) and I'm in the gym 4 - 5 times a week. I look at it as if it is a second job. Yeah it's hard, but believe me at my age working out is easier than living with aches and pains. Also, I don't have to take medications, which I was taking several years ago before I starting working out. I always tell young people to start while they're young and never, ever stop.

[benne]

He's inspired me to make a New Year's resolution to begin smoking. After all, smoking has been proven to help one keep the weight off.

[Sabreen60]

Do you get paid for being a jealous j.e.r.k? 'Cause you shouldn't be one for free.

[benne]

Too many Americans refuse to smoke, even though it has been proven to help one keep the weight off. We should all follow Obama's healthy lead and take up smoking.

[bygollymissmolly]

Well, since he no longer smokes, I guess that will be a problem.

God, the envy and bitterness that is coming out of the loser right is getting worse and worse every day.

You really do need to look into getting some therapy to deal with these feelings of yours, otherwise you are going to have a hard time making it through the next 8 years.

[sueNaustin]

Are you necessary?

[wanj]

Jeez! Bitter much?