Fifteen Minutes

I think I saw this poster in a magazine many, many years ago. It kind of imprinted in my mind what a male body could look like. The model was Scott Madsen, but I did not know that then. And I didn't really care. All I cared about was that the man in the ad looked like the super heroes I saw in the comic books I read. Little me did not know that to achieve that shoulder-to-waist ratio you needed a ton of work, dedication and blessed genetics. 

Many a gay man has probably looked at that poster/ad and thought: DAYUM! I'm sure that ad also became the blueprint for gay men to achieve a 'desirable body'. I've seen an exercise machine in many, many apartments and houses where men dedicate hours to working out with those steel and rubber machines in order to achieve Scott's proportions. It's not easy, mind you. I do know some men who look like Scott, but they are either professional athletes or have been very athletic all their lives.

I am not very athletic. Truth be told, I'm not athletic at all. And I'm terrified of exercise machines. I'm always afraid I'm going to let some of those weights fall or that a fucking barbell is going to break something because it slipped from my hands. I'm not very dexterous when it comes to pumping iron, natch. 

All this came to me because Infidel was talking about some radical changes he made during the pandemic. Changes that have affected the way he eats and his overall health. I realized that I, too,  have made some changes. Changes that I literally did not notice because they've become part of my daily routine.

During the pandemic, one of the thing that has kept my sanity is organizing my day. I have had to divide my day by activity and place in order to not go mad with boredom and inactivity. I knew the video conferences (fuck you, Zoom) would keep me glued to a screen for a big part of the day, so I had to introduce some kind of exercise that would make me move and leave the house so I would not become a blob. 

So the first thing I do in the morning is fifteen minutes of light exercise. Well, at least I think it's light. I found AllBlanc on youtube (well, youtube, with its stalker boyfriend algorithm suggested it) because I used to do a quick seven minute workout by Lifehacker that now is all but forgotten. Yep. I graduated from a seven minute workout to a fifteen minute workout AND a walk/run every day. That has saved my waistline and has added an excuse to leave the house and sweat a little.

The fifteen minute routine (I change it to a 30 minute AllBlanc routine when it's raining or when there's three feet of snow on the ground) and a mile run/walk have become a staple during my weekdays. Sometimes I skip one or both during the weekend because I'm busy doing other stuff or because I'm going on a long walk in one of the forest preserves around my 'hood and that makes up for my daily workout.

I sometimes secretly wish I did have Scott's body, though. I think it's beautiful, very Greek in its proportions. But I am a realist and I know I will never achieve anything similar to it unless I would get a trainer and five hours a day to dedicate just to exercising. I'll have to do with my average build and my slightly ectomorph body and my tendency to like Ikea cookies too much. I'll never be a mesomorph, like Scott. I'll never have that stomach or those arms. And I'm ok with that. 

This body has served me well and I'll keep doing my little workout and my mile runs. They have helped me keep my sanity for a year. And they have also allowed me to indulge in those Ikea cookies more than once.

XOXO

P.S. this is the longer indoor walking routine from AllBlanc