Anyone that knows me knows that I love to multitask.

Watching a movie, doing homework, having a conversation on iChat, all while paying attention to my puppy as he begs for snuggles. Yup, I do that.

So, as you can probably imagine, the concept of combining a workout with ANYTHING else is going to make me happy.

My go-to workout of choice lately has been the elliptical.

Why?

A few reasons:

• At my gym, all of the cardio machines have a built in television. For some reason, the TVs on the ellipticals are nearly twice the size. Yes, please. I would have no idea about any of the current events and world news if it weren’t for these TVs.
• The elliptical has a built in jack for the iPod/iPhone, which lets me plug in and jam out to my favorite tunes instead of the horrible music they pump through the speakers.
• They have a built in DESK on these machines. YES!

Why does a desk make me so happy?

Because, as crazy as this sounds, I love to read while on the elliptical. Love it. I can stay on the machine for hours if I have a good book. I’ve done this quite a bit. When I was reading Good Omens by Terry Pratchett, I would stay on the machine until it maxed out [at 99:99] and then I’d refill my water bottle and start again. I lost quite a bit of weight the week I was reading that novel!

Some common responses I have to give:

No, I don’t get nauseous. [I get asked that almost every night by someone at the gym.]

No, the bouncing doesn’t make it hard to read. [The desk keeps the book stable.]

Yes, I can read my book and listen to my iPod while checking out CNN’s closed captioning. Thank you, ADD-generation.

If anyone has been struggling with cardio lately and finds themselves unmotivated at the gym, I would strongly recommend checking out the elliptical machine. I realize most people don’t enjoy multitasking as much as I do, so I’d suggest bringing a Nook/Kindle or downloading an audiobook to your iPod. Once you are distracted, working out becomes much easier. When I’m deeply engaged in my book, I forget about the effort I’m putting in. My legs just glide, my arms just pump, and I keep moving. The book transports you out of the physical redundancy and helps take your mind off of the workout.

If you’re not much of a reader, I bet a movie would have the same affect. Bring your headphones, plug into the TV or a tablet, and flip to the FX Channel. They always have a drama, thriller, or action movie on in the evenings, and that is bound to keep you engaged.

With that being said, I think it’s time I downloaded a new book to my Nook and got my lazy bum to the gym. Taking my own advice!

Happy workout and bon appetit, my friends!

~ Tori