Yes, Sir!

I will attempt this in my cubicle.

I've always been thankful that I didn't work in a place where my job depended on my physical fitness. The most physical activity my job has required is perhaps running across campus in a pair of heels when I'm late for a meeting, or trekking up the really big hill (that we call a mountain) from one building to the next. But there is no one waiting for me at the office door at 8:30 a.m. with a scale and a measuring tape, and for that I'm quite grateful.

There are of course professions where your physical fitness is demanded. My Dad, a career firefighter, threw up when he finished (and passed) his agility test to get into the department. We can't have firefighters who get winded trying to save someone from a four-story building. It's probably the military that makes the most depends on its personnel. I remember a friend who returned from Iraq obsessed with exercise and weight lifting. Turns out boredom breeds healthy habits.

I decided to take a page from the whole Army lifestyle thing and try a boot camp class a couple years ago at a gym. At 5:45 I ran stairs, hills, lifted sand bags, and did these horrible push-ups on cement parking spot markers. It was rough, but it worked. I had more energy than I knew what to do with when I came walking in the office door at 8:30 a.m.

So it came somewhat of a surprise to read a Times article this week that says the Army is doing away with a lot of those sit-ups and push-ups in favor of exercise that resembles yoga and pilates. Seems the Army has a weight issue too. In fact, a report says that "between 1995 and 2008, the proportion of potential recruits who failed their physicals each year because they were overweight rose nearly 70 percent."

I don't know about you, but sometimes I think I'd make more progress if someone was barking commands at me at the gym rather than telling me to breath in through my mouth and out through my nose. Or was that in through my nose and out through my mouth? 

You can read more in "Making Soldiers Fit to Fight, Without the Situps."