As you might have noticed from some of my previous posts, I carry a bit of extra weight around with me.  It bugs me.   That’s a good thing – being overweight comes with all sorts of wicked side effects ranging from joint pain to heart problems to greater risk of all sorts of dread diseases, to metabolic syndrome, to just plain looking bad at the beach.   I can’t just accept those kinds of consequences as “just a part of who I am.”

But as I’ve been hitting the gym lately, I’ve noticed at least two really great things about being overweight.  I offer them to you not as justification, but as encouragement.  Here are a couple of reasons the gym is a great place for those of us who carry a little extra weight.

We Burn a Ton of Calories

Seriously – if I put a little effort into 20-30 minutes on an eliptical trainer, I can readily burn 400 or more calories.  Do you have any idea how long and hard some 5′6″ 115 pound waif or some 6′0″ 145 pound ectomorph has to work to do that?  Fact is, the simple act of moving my bulk around takes some work, and that work means that I burn a lot of extra calories.  Thanks to all of those extra calories, those of us who are really out of shape can make some impressive gains when we start exercising, even if we’re doing a pretty simple workout.  Meanwhile, the skinny fit people have no choice but to work harder.  Much, much harder.

Speaking of doing lots of extra work…

We Have Freaky Strong Legs

Perversely, carrying a lot of extra weight is a really great way to strengthen your legs.  Take our aforementioned waif and make her wear a backpack around all day every day with a couple of 45 pound weights in it.   She’ll have to lift all that extra weight every time she takes a step, climbs the stairs, or even just gets up out of a chair.  Do you think she’ll build some muscle in her legs doing that?  You bet she will.  Well, guess what?  I’ve been doing that “workout” (and more) every day for years now.

I’m just getting back into strength training after a long layoff, and I can’t lift what I used to.  I’m kind of embarrassed about it to be quite honest.  But put me on the leg press and all of a sudden I turn into Hercules.  Why?  Because the act of pushing 300 lbs. around isn’t that much harder for me that just standing up.

Conclusions

So there’s a little bit of encouragement for all of you who are carrying a little extra weight around.  The gym can be an intimidating place for the out-of-shape, what with all the skinny healthy three-hour-workout-every-day-and-I-never-eat-anything-but-green-tea-and-protein-smoothie types running around.  If you’re anything like me, you might be haunted by the vague sense that all of those fitness robots are staring at you.  But here’s the truth:

Yes, they’re staring.  They’re jealous.  Drink it in.

Postscript:

After I wrote this, I hit the gym and spent 30 minutes on a elliptical trainer at a moderately challenging pace.  Sure enough, I burned just under 500 calories.  Awesome.