Views from the Exercise Room Archives

Losing weight quick fixes just don’t work. When a woman queried Quora “Is doing 100 squats a day just as beneficial to weight loss as doing situps,” I lost it. I couldn’t remain silent. I was mortified. Not just because one woman was so utterly clueless. But because the majority of people worldwide are so utterly naive. And fat. I’ll give you two statistics just to perk you interest.

In World War II, the average American soldier weighed 144 pounds.

Between 2012 and 2014 the average American male weighed 197 pounds. While the average American woman weighed 169 pounds. That that was six years ago. I’ll virtually guarantee that American women and men are fatter and heavier in 2018. But get this. The average American woman is only five feet four. While a lot, perhaps the average Thai women are about five foot three. And weigh less than 99 pounds. One of my favorite Thai women is over five foot five. This is my friend Kwan. And she weighs less than 100 pounds. Does she have a sexy attractive body? See for yourself on this video. One of many I have of her.

https://youtu.be/ji36g-4Rphc

Most Americans have become an alien species. Its like comparing an elephant to a tiger.

Compared to the World War II generation of American women and men, Americans have evolved into a fatter more elephantine form of the human species. While even in 1960 when I was in my early teens American men and women were quite slender in comparison. Sadly, the rest of the world is following the American example. And here I’m including the Brits, Germans, and even the Chinese who are rapidly turning into a race of fatsos. The Thais also, but thankfully they are still lagging far behind. The human race has entered a new alien world of sugar, carbohydrates and no exercise.

The problem is most people world wide look to Losing weight quick fixes.

I used to have my own physical fitness room while I was farming. Notice the Universal Machine system which I used to do sit ups, weights, etc. This was twenty years ago. The Universal setup cost me $3500, but it was only just another losing weight quick fixes. As for the room itself. I converted a one car garage into what you see here. I put large mirrors across an entire side of the room which created the illusion of lots of space. Another side I wall papered with mountain scenery. The effect I wanted to create and I think I did create was when I was in this room I had entered a different world. I adored this room. It cost me $10,000 back then and no doubt it would cost well over $20,000 today. But it was worth every penny.

You and many people think spending just five minutes a day will result in weight loss. Squats and sit ups will only tend to tighten people up.

They are useful only as a small part of an overall fitness program. Here’s what it takes. Aside from a while host of other things that I won’t get into here including proper diet.

I exercise here in Thailand at a five star hotel which has an exceptional fitness center. My favorite machine is a $10,000 plus elliptical machine. I spend about 70 minutes on this machine which exercises pretty much of the entire body. Within the first 10 minutes I’m sweating all over the machine (the fitness center is air conditioned). I will not stop until the machine tells me I’ve burned 750 calories.

The Jack Corbett beer exercise machine answer to losing weight and/or becoming physically fit.

One regular beer is around 160 calories. Light beers are 100 to 110 calories. So in 70 minutes I’ve burned off 7 light beers. But over the short term….I’ve lost about one kilo….2.2 pounds over this 70 minutes. That’s how much sweat runs all over the machine, my shirt and my shorts.

Now let’s assume a person burns the same amount of calories over an entire day as he takes in through consumption of food and beverages. Theoretically this person will neither gain or lose weight. If you want to lose one pound you must burn off 3600 calories. But it’s going to take me…..5 seventy minute sessions to lose just one pound.

I can use treadmills (which I tend to get injured on) and sometimes I will run 7.5 miles. And now I’m usually swimming one hour a day.

One of the stair climbers at my fitness center at the Centara Grand Mirage Hotel. The elliptical machines are in the front row with the stair-climbers behind them. You can watch television on the screeens in front of the elliptical machines and stair climbers. Of do what I do which is to insert a usb which contains my favorite exercise music. On the elliptical machines the music increases my pace because I’m almost flying to the music. But the stair climbers are even more challenging than the elliptical machines. For me they do not work well with my music. And they are just too boring. But when you go like hell on either the elliptical machines or stair climbers you are not looking for Losing weight quick fixes.. Especially when you are on these machines for mo;re then one hour.

The most effective machines are the elliptical machines and stair-climbers. Rowing machines, which are highly regarded, won’t even come close to a good elliptical machine when it comes to losing weight.

I don’t come here to talk to other people while I’m exercising. I focus on just three things….the music which keeps me pumped up, how fast I’m going, and how many calories I’m burning off.

So here’s the results of my fitness programs.

When I lettered on my varsity college cross country running team, the team was doing two workouts a day. With the first workout consisting of an 8 to 10 mile run. I was 19 then and I weighed 162 pounds. I am now 71 years old and my normal weight is 165 pounds. Right now I weigh 158 to 160 pounds and I don’t know why I’ve lost weight.

I will have to admit one thing though. At the fitness center I laugh a lot at most of the people exercising around me. Some of them plug in their smart phones into the machines which tell them to exercise for ten minutes. The elliptical machines can be set from a low of one to a high of 25. I set mine at 18. A lot of people set theirs at 1 because they have no idea of what they are doing. Then there’s a lot of guys who get into the weights. They do a set. Takes one minute. Then they look at themselves in the mirror for five minutes. Then they do another set and strut around the room for five minutes.

Now, this is not to take away from the pros who come here also.

There’s the German who was a professional tennis player in Germany. He uses a lot of machines but he also plays tennis everyday. Or the Swede who headed the entire hotel chain physical fitness centers throughout Asia. Jasper will do a lot of chin ups, then he hits the weights. Then he hits this machine, then that machine, then the treadmill or elliptical machine. He won’t rest for thirty seconds and while he’s exercising you don’t even talk to him. Or the American who is a stuntman, and has even played bit parts in movies. Or the fifty year old Thai guy who had bypass surgery on his heart whose doctor recommended lots of exercise. He’s not a pro, but when he comes to the fitness center he spends 2 hours a day exercising. But most guys who come here give me a lot of laughs.

Bottom line is you gotta pay big time if you plan on getting anything worthwhile. it’s going to take lots of concentration, thought, and hours each week of hard work. And do not rely upon Losing weight quick fixes.