Shaping up.

I'm not the worst shape of my life. I am slowly becoming less round and more straight up and down. That said, and to my wife's chagrin, I am far from the Triangle Man I once was.

I once wondered how someone gets fat. I mean is it a conscious decision or does it sneak up on you. For me it was a failure to recognize what was keeping me in shape to begin with.

Let's see, how did I stay in shape all those years? I would have to say that the answer is floating somewhere between the discipline of organized sports, accessibility to exercise facilities, the lack of a full time job or other major responsibility (or in other words "the student life"), and the motivating force of impressing the ladies.

Now, I know that my wife will jump all over me for the last point. Let me just state for the record that, yes, I still do want to impress her and to have her find me attractive, however, to my credit the other elements which were necessary from my shape preservation were a little harder to come by.

I have had the benefit of participating in organized sports since 3rd grade soccer. I can still remember our blue shirts and that Ben Donberg was our star player due to the fact that he kind of knew the rules. We sucked our way through 3000 orange wedges and crushed just as many HI-C juice boxes but sadly we failed to score one goal in the entire season.

As I look back I did get something besides the self-esteem-boosting participation trophy. Each team I have been a part of has made me run until I puked or almost puked. Now, you are thinking to yourself that puking will get you in shape. This is not the case. It is just a side effect which occurs when you have been lazy in the off season.

In my basement (by my basement I actually mean my parent's basement even though it can also apply to our current residence as well) I had a gym. I had everything I needed: a bench, a squat bar, dumbbells, a curl bar, a sweet pull-up bar, a place to jump rope, and a CD player. My brother had all sorts of Death Rock like Metallica and ACDC to get the blood flowing whereas I had one CD, the soundtrack to Chariots of Fire. I still can hum most of the songs and several are in my mental playlist when I sing my son to sleep.

From Junior High to College I was a rat at several gyms, basketball courts, and pools. All of which were within a very convenient distance of my home. I also had the time to go. Looking back at the "student life" which seemed so stressful, I envy the flexibility and spare time that I did have.

Well, I hate to cut this short but I need to be getting to bed. I will have you know that after a long hiatus from the gym I am becoming a morning regular. I hope the next time you see me you'll think more of me while seeing less of me.