Lifts v. "Little Kicks"

           I know. I know. Once you start reading this, you are going to assume that I am serving up an ice cold bottle of Haterade and to an extent I am but bear with me. So, it was a few months into my workouts and as I will espouse often in this blog, people are creatures of habit. Eventually, your schedules are going to start synching up with other gym-goers and you will inevitably start seeing the same people in the gym. So for around six weeks, I came to be in the gym as the same time as an individual that I will call “Little Kicks.” I didn’t know his real name. It is not like we wear name tags. I always wear headphones in the gym and that limits my interactions and conversational engagements. I am not anti-social or a jerk. I often make eye contact, give thumbs up of encouragement to the elderly ladies on the cardio machines, and I am happy to talk after my workouts when my headphones are off. But during “game time,” I am there to work.

           Now, the Wellness Center that I work out at is pretty darn small. It is essentially a one room facility. So for about six weeks, I found myself working out alongside “Little Kicks.” Now, I will be the first to tell you, I don’t know what he was training for. Maybe he was looking to build stamina. Maybe he was doing the cardio to train for a marathon or cycling. He was in a lot better shape than me and his body fat percentage had to be pretty darn low. And most of the time he had a girl working out with him that had a killer body. She had that “onion booty” – a butt so good it brings tears to your eyes.

           So next to the free weight squat rack is a television and this duo would come in and perform some routine by following along with a DVD. I don’t remember what it is called. I know there are dozens of these programs out there. Billy Blanks has Tae-Bo. There is Insanity, P90X, and whatever the flavor of the month of those routines is. (I honestly cannot remember which one they were doing. Something called T-25, maybe?)

           Now, the goal of any exercise routine is to get that heartbeat elevated. That is burning calories and that means burning fat and losing weight. Seriously, if you looked at that guy and you looked at me, you are taking advice from that guy over me any day of the week. So, whatever he was doing, it was working for him. I guess.

           I never try to paint myself as better than anyone else. But there was a moment where I could see him out of the corner of my eye. Here I am loading up heavy plates on the squat rack. I am pushing iron. I am clanging and banging. And here he is doing his exercise routine that involves all these hops and jumps and little kicks (hence the nickname).  And despite my 20% body fat, I just felt like that if the Most Interesting Man in the World walked in the gym, he would see me racking the weight, sweat dripping off of me, and all huffing and puffing. I think I would get his nod of approval. Whereas I feel like Little Kicks should have his Man Card removed from his wallet.

           I guess at the end of the day, you can JUST do cardio. I see gym goers all the time that come in, hit the treadmills or the elliptical machines, walk their miles and then go home. I was speaking with one older lady in the gym who tells me she walks four miles. I will not lie to you. At a brisk pace, I do not think I could walk four miles straight. Being on the treadmill for an hour has zero interest to me.

           But the counter to this cardio argument is that if the goal is to elevate that heartrate, I would rather do it through steady lifting. The cardio person is burning calories and fat and getting their endurance up. I get all that but to me you are not building anything. I would rather get that double dose of success by burning calories through lifting weights. No one ever jumps off the treadmill, stands in front of the mirror and flexes their legs. It makes me much happier to complete a chest routine or an arm routine and then stand in front of the mirror and perform a Front Double Biceps or the Most Muscular pose.

           I often hear ladies commenting on how they want to look like So-and-So from Hollywood. They want this girl’s booty or that girl’s butt. But I never see them on the squat rack or doing deadlifts or one-legged cable kickbacks. I want that one two punch of exercise where I am lifting weights and getting cardio via lifting. If just cardio is your thing, then by all means, get after it. But I still feel if you want to see real improvement, you have to pump iron. And that is not just me saying that. That is medical science that is pushing heavily towards resistance training for weight loss.

           So, clanging and banging. Or little kicks. Choice is up to you.