presidential fitness

This photograph of Barack Obama leaving a gym makes me wonder what his fitness routine will be like come January; indeed what he does now. I know he plays basketball, and no doubt he'll be able to organize that at the white house;  though maybe he'll need to recruit secret service agents who happen to play. Does he use machines like the stairmaster or treadmill? Does he spin? He doesn't seem like an elliptical kind of guy--those things are too easy. Maybe he lifts weights. Does he sweat a lot or a little? Will the White House have a fitness room? Does it already? W. probably rides one of those windy stationary bikes.

When he's president, will he schedule a fitness session into every day?

These questions don't, at first glance, seem to bear on the important issues pressing on this nation, but they also kind of do. He seems like the kind of guy who needs to exercise for sanity and focus (something I can relate to). On the one hand, it would seem pretty difficult for the most powerful man in this country to find time to work out, but on the other hand, not at all. I know people have written about the obsession with presidential fitness, which in the popular imaginary usually slides into fitness to lead (think FDR and Houck and Kiewe's book). There's also the obsession in the popular press with such matters, but this is the first time I've actually started to pay attention. I'll probably try to track such matters here, so if anyone sees related articles, please send them along.

Comments

[Becky Howard]

y'know, I've been wondering exactly the same things. And if he plays bbl with the ss agents, how real will the competition be? How does one close guard the President?

But mostly I've just been thinking how wonderful it will be to have a President for whom fitness is a way of life. Very refreshing. He could chair his own council on physical fitness.

[dhawhee]

After I posted this and got on my bike to go somewhere, I wondered the SAME thing about guarding him, Becky. So, let's just say the photo above (taken yesterday or today) is of him after a game of pickup with his regular guys. Do they play rougher? Take it easy? Try their best to act like nothing is different? I feel certain that versions of "commander in chief" figure in to their trash talk anew.

And I totally agree with you about having a president for whom fitness is a way of life. Fitness *and* rhetorical artistry. Now I'm all giddy again!

[Ron Greene]

It is my understanding the dubya is obsessed with exercise, very much a way of life for him see: http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-243-297--12357-0,00.html

[bonnie kyburz]

i exercise to stay sane, but i let it go, too. good reminder, then, this. also -- the photo says more. it's a pretty interesting power story, there, w/ metaphoric value too obvious to point out here but worth considering with younger students of rhetoric and design.

[dhawhee]

I just had a conversation with our department head in which I learned that HE PLAYED BASKETBALL WITH OBAMA IN GRADUATE SCHOOL. at harvard. mind blowing. if said head would care to comment on his playing style, i know blogos readers would eat it up. specifically: where is his best shooting spot? what's his best skill? just how smooth of a player is he?

my guesses: baseline, crossover dribble, very.

not that i'm able to remember such details about players i played with in graduate school. make it up for all i care.

[caraf]

For the last 8 years we have had a president very focused on fitness - e.g., http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-243-297--12357-0,00.html and http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/nov/22/usa.georgebush

Say what you want about 43, dude can run and bike. I'd be wary of attempting to equate sheer commitment to fitness to fitness to lead!

[dhawhee]

har! i had no idea that W. mt. biked. but the real question is this: does he hoop?

[Leslea]

I read somewhere that Obama exercises first thing, very early, every morning. Michelle does the same thing -- great article about her in Essence (if I remember correctly) that talked about her exercise habits. She said that she went through a phase when her children were very little where she didn't take such good care of herself. Then she realized that she was setting a bad model for her daughters, and made it a priority to exercise and eat well. She gets up around 4.30am (if I remember correctly) to work out every day. Now THAT is the sign of a great role model first-lady.

[dhawhee]

Super cool, Leslea. And good to see your name pop up!!

[Paul]

From this week's Newsweek:

"...Obama was wearing long sweatpants; alone among the players he did not remove them to reveal the skinny legs beneath. Obama is not a natural under the hoop. He doesn't glide. His motion is herky-jerky, from the dangerously high bounce of his dribble to the way he pumps his knees when he runs, chest out, like an Army recruit running in formation. But he could show surprising quickness, snapping a crossover dribble in front of an inattentive defender and driving past him for a layup—a savvy departure from the unhurried, deliberate pace at which he usually plays."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/167755

[dhawhee]

awesome.