Kids, cartoon characters, and You.
Kids say the darnedest things. Sometimes i get asked why my forearms look like Popeye's or why my calves look like I've stuffed bowlingballs in my socks. That part of my physique is genetic. What's not genetic though is my homegrown New England love of donuts and my media-induced fear of looking like a pink Pillsbury Doughboy.
Downtown, behind a popular restaurant and down some stairs to below streetlevel, is the gym. The Platinum Superhero Gym. Of course there's no signage and it has a pretty exclusive membership, but i assure you it's there. Right there, sitting innocuous-like, in the middle of everything. You'd never guess.
Sometimes it surprises regular people to hear that even supers with extraordinary strength need to hit the gym. Actually, that's the difference between being able to lift a car off of someone and being able to lift a bus. It's also helps prevent a forced supersizing of your wardrobe. And there's also the fact that most of us age normally as well, so... you gotta do the tighten-up or face some octagenarian sagging.
Anyway, today was an "arms" day. 10x150Kg on the bench, a few leg adductions, 10x100Kg two arm chest fly, a few leg abductions, 10x150Kg military press. Then 2 kilometers on the treadmill at 25kph (inclined). Then arms rotation again. Then 10 kilometers on the treadmill at 20kph (inclined). Then arms again. That's 45 minutes of sweat right there. Since I'm doing this during my dayjob lunchbreak, i don't really have time for much more than that. One cold shower, quickchange, and brisk walk later... I'm back at the office.
If you're not doing anything (and the U.S. Surgeon General estimates that 60% of you aren't), you gotta do Something. Nobody's gotta get hulked-up or superskinny, but everybody's gotta get Active. Start by taking walks at home and taking stairs when you're out-and-about. Ease into Stage 2 by fitting actual workouts into your weekends. Eventually, you're going to have to get more of a routine going. It can be something casual like jogging around the neighborhood or messing with some sports or (if you're as undisciplined as I'm prone to be) lock yourself up in a gym. Whatever. Every responsible citizen should sweat for at least 45 minutes, 5 days a week.
That includes me and you.