Obama's jetset fitness trainer helps shed pounds, adds to global warming

The Washington Times ^ | 2/28/11 | J. P. Freire

[Lmo56]

With a schedule as hectic as President Obama's it must be hard to stick to a training regimen without help -- but why does he insist on having his old trainer fly out from Chicago to D.C. regularly when Obama and his wife exhort the rest of us to drive less? And in a recession? According to Ashley Parker at the New York Times, Obama's fitness czar Cornell McClellan comes out to D.C. every week:

Mr. McClellan grew up practicing martial arts, eventually earning a black belt, and as a college student realized that he had a knack for working with people. He owns Naturally Fit, a personal training and wellness center in Chicago, and now spends part of his week in Washington at Mr. Obama’s request.

“It was an easy sell for me, because I thought of it as kind of a duty, to serve the president,” said Mr. McClellan, who works out with the first couple, often in the early morning, at the gym in the White House residence. Mr. and Mrs. Obama both try to exercise for at least an hour every day, and Mr. McClellan says he usually sees them two to four times a week, depending on their schedules.

David Axelrod says he lost 25 pounds under McClellan's watch, but that comes at a steep cost for those as environmentally minded as the Obamas: 50,000 lbs of carbon emissions. That's how much carbon emissions are involved in McClellan's flying back and forth every week for a year (according to TerraPass.com) ...

[Lmo56]

WTF ???

[Trajan88]

I don't understand ... it is not hard to exercise. Get on a bike (stationary or a real one) and pedal... it is not rocket science prez... you can do it (even looking like a dork on a bike, you can do it).

If you want to really get motivated, head to a military base near D.C. and run with the troops... or is that beneath you and the Mrs.?

[TChad]

Richard Simmons?

[baddog 219]

Who's Michelle's trainer... Col. Sanders?