How Nerds Exercise

The picture is kind of dark, but you should be able to guess what it is. Yes, ladies and gentlmen, it is a DDR mat. (For those who might not know, this is Dance Dance Revolution.)

Exercising isn't fun for most people--I say most because there are those out there who do enjoy it--and I, obviously, don't particularity like it myself. When I was still in college I had a glorious rec center to visit, and I did make use of it despite the stigma involved.

When you are fat, people don't want to actually see you working out. Well, I don't know how it is for males, but this is true for fat females. At least, in my experience it is. You are subjected to staring, laughter, disparaging comments from those around you, and shitty treatment at the hands of the gym staff. These are the same people who make comments about fat people needing to exercise--get on the treadmill or something like that.

Granted, I had friendly support for my gym days and learned to ignore the assholes working out around me. I took the general attitude that the females were most likely what Christopher Moore termed as "fuck puppets" in one of his books. I think it might have been A Dirty Job. I'll double check the quote at another time. Point is, these little gym bunnies could very well go screw themselves for all I care.

Now that I have graduated and left my wonderful gym behind, I have nothing more than the little room with the meager offerings at my apartment complex. This gym is a nice thing to have, but when there are only two treadmills (one of which is always busted), one elliptical, a bike, and a modest weight set, it's not exactly the easiest thing to work out in. There are usually people filling the place, and honestly, I have lost what confidence I once had.

So, my roommate and I agreed to do something a little different and a lot more fun. We walk around the complex (me with weights in hand). We can make it around 3 and a half times in 30 minutes. We also decided to break out our DDR mats and follow the arrows to weight loss. It is imminently more fun than going to the gym, and it burns more than the walk.

Tonight was discouraging. Oh, we are both out of shape.

DDR was made for people like us, though. Nerds who want to exercise without leaving their dark little cave. In our case, this is our apartment. Couple the DDR with the laundry I had to do--3 trips up and down 3 flights of stairs--and I figure we had a pretty successful run. Granted, I still cannot do that well at Butterfly. Damn you, smile.dk!!!

Frankly, I don't care how lame it might make me. I like it, and it's fun. It also probably annoys the ever living crap out of my downstairs neighbors.