We are pleased to announce that as of March 4, 2025, an updated Rich Text Editor has been introduced in the MyFitnessPal Community. To learn more about the changes, please click here. We look forward to sharing this new feature with you!

reading while at the gym, really?

145791013

Replies

  • Posts: 1,626 Member
    I wish I could read a book while running. But the words would bounce around too much and I wouldn't be able to see where I was going and knowing me I would trip and break my ankle. Plus like you said, I wouldn't be able to focus on working out. Music serves me better. If I really wanted I could listen to a book on tape but I don't really like those, I prefer to actually read.
  • Posts: 29,136 Member

    Perhaps if you read more, you'd realize that it does make sense. Try picking up a book...

    I have a house full of books, I just don't bring them to the gym....

    amazing how some of you assume because I lift I do not read...that is pretty ignorant and stereotypical
  • Posts: 63 Member
    What's wrong with exercising the body and MIND? Reading is anything is great in my opinion!
  • Posts: 7,045 Member

    I said in my opinion and then asked for feedback ...

    Never said my goals should be their goals...but I was assuming that people go to gym go get optimal results, so wouldn't you rather get everything out of your hour that you can?

    You don't really want honest feedback, you just want everyone to agree with your "opinion".
  • Posts: 1,439 Member

    I have a house full of books, I just don't bring them to the gym....

    amazing how some of you assume because I lift I do not read...that is pretty ignorant and stereotypical

    Stereotypical, yes. You've definitely proven that with this thread. Ignorant, not in the slightest.
  • Posts: 29,136 Member
    What's wrong with exercising the body and MIND? Reading is anything is great in my opinion!

    never said reading was bad..I love to read
  • Posts: 650 Member

    I dont care...

    I asked for opinions on the topic..and thank you for sharing yours...

    :flowerforyou: I am kinda grumpy tonight, LOL.. While I do see what you mean, I have felt "judged" by my intensity in the gym in the past, so it just touched a nerve
  • Posts: 29,136 Member

    Stereotypical, yes. You've definitely proven that with this thread. Ignorant, not in the slightest.

    hmmm I am the ignorant one but you just spout off with nothing behind it....
  • Posts: 29,136 Member

    You don't really want honest feedback, you just want everyone to agree with your "opinion".

    I do ...but you did not provide any...you just jumped in and blasted the topic and my motives....
  • Posts: 29,136 Member

    :flowerforyou: I am kinda grumpy tonight, LOL.. While I do see what you mean, I have felt "judged" by my intensity in the gym in the past, so it just touched a nerve

    understood..

    It was not an intensity critique ...it was just ..why wouldn't you want to get all you can out of your workout? I just feel that reading would hamper maximal results...but hey, I might be wrong..
  • Posts: 7,045 Member
    OP, your motives are quite clear in several of your replies.
  • Posts: 29,136 Member
    OP, your motives are quite clear in several of your replies.

    pray tell, what are my motives?
  • Posts: 1,091 Member
    I was thinking about this a little more and going back over yesterday's run and today's both of which I used the zombies run app during for different reasons. My Wednesday run was 5.5 miles home from work in the blazing hot sun, 87 degrees. I decided that the story line playing in between my music would keep me from thinking too much about how hot it was. I kept a steady pace of about 6.2 mph for the run. It was lovely and I remember the mission clearly even a day later.

    My run on the treadmill I did at 6.5 with intervals between 7.5 and 8. Ended up averaging 7 for 3.5 miles. Much more intense. I tried to recall what happened in the mission, and I can only remember the very beginning which happened during my .25 warm up at 6mph. So I'm using it to distract me, but I'm so focused on the workout that I have no comprehension. So even though there was a storyline, it didn't keep me from focusing. I worked harder than the longer run at a slower speed, but the longer run was actually fun.
  • Posts: 1,384 Member

    understood..

    It was not an intensity critique ...it was just ..why wouldn't you want to get all you can out of your workout? I just feel that reading would hamper maximal results...but hey, I might be wrong..

    It's like walking and talking. Some people are capable of doing BOTH. Heck, I could run, read a book, AND listen to music at the same time no problem...

    ...As long as it is on a treadmill and I don't have to worry about running off a curb or into a bush.
  • Posts: 207
    I normally play games on my iPad or iPhone while using the elliptical... It passes the time for me, otherwise I get bored. I have actually gone pretty fast(20mph while at lvl 6) while doing this too so I don't think it necessarily takes away... Yes, I could be using both arm handles to exercise my arms but I go kayaking a few times a wk and started swimming so I figure I get my arm workout then.

    When I use the treadmill I can't play games tho... At least not if I want to maintain a faster speed... But I do watch Netflix sometimes, or listen to music.
  • Posts: 29,136 Member

    It's like walking and talking. Some people are capable of doing BOTH. Heck, I could run, read a book, AND listen to music at the same time no problem...

    ...As long as it is on a treadmill and I don't have to worry about running off a curb or into a bush.

    you have a strange obsession with walking and talking...are you researching a book on the topic?
  • Posts: 1,384 Member

    you have a strange obsession with walking and talking...are you researching a book on the topic?

    Just easiest thing to compare it too. We are dealing with simple minds here after all. I don't want to use a comparison that might tax what little brain power you have.
  • Posts: 29,136 Member

    Just easiest thing to compare it too. We are dealing with simple minds here after all. I don't want to use a comparison that might tax what little brain power you have.

    my brain power is quite fine...you are the one that keeps repeating herself ....
  • Posts: 1,384 Member

    my brain power is quite fine...you are the one that keeps repeating herself ....

    Only because you have to grasp what I said the first time. And apparently the second time.
  • Posts: 29,136 Member

    Only because you have to grasp what I said the first time. And apparently the second time.

    no I get it, you are a bumbling idiot who is on repeat....
  • I could read while I was walking, if I was on a treadmill. Running, probably not, but that's because I'm still a noob, so the only thing I can focus on is not dying.
  • Posts: 372 Member
    I could read while I was walking, if I was on a treadmill. Running, probably not, but that's because I'm still a noob, so the only thing I can focus on is not dying.

    This.
  • Posts: 816 Member
    If I could read while on my elliptical I would be on there way longer than I am now. I love to read. I would push myself for one more chapter over and over again. I wish that were an option.
  • Posts: 202 Member

    again we are off topic here ..but this is fun so whatever...

    My original point is that you would get more out of it if you concentrated on the actual routine. you go to the gym to improve health and fitness, right? So why wouldn't you want to get maximum results?

    I noticed it on a rest break and it got me to thinking, hence this thread...

    I work out at home, but do have a small gym available in the apartment complex. Today, I was about to go to the gym because the power went out (and thus, the air conditioning). So in theory, I wouldn't have gone to the gym to really exert myself (I probably would have walked on the treadmill at a high incline), but rather, to pass time and avoid the heat. The point is, one never knows why people do the things they do, unless one's a psychic. Whilst the vast majority of comments do seem to indicate such behaviour might stem from trying to avoid boredom during exercise, etc. one should not call such behaviour "fail", as that is a tad judgemental.

    P.S. In the rare occasions I do go to the gym, I don't read.
  • Posts: 7,045 Member
    Motives: judgemental pride, arguing and having to be right.

    Your quotes OP:

    I mean we can't go to the gym for an hour without brining a book or tablet, really?
    don't you think they would have better progress/results if they concentrated on their routine for an hour?
    My thought is that people get more out of the gym if they focus on their routine rather than a book ...
    ..reading and working out are anathema to me...
    its my thread, so its my book :)
    everything else = epic fail/not trying hard enough
    I am just curious as to how one reads while on treadmill and that they could get BETTER results focusing on routine...
    maybe she would of lost 50 if she put down the kindle
  • Posts: 76 Member
    I am a nursing student and fully plan on reading while on the treadmill, bikes, etc. and have done it before as well as seen many many people doing the same thing (at least at the gym on campus-it's the norm) I HAVE to cram study time in whenever I can. I also read while at the doc office with my kids, at the park, even during lunch sometimes AT restaurants. I've been known to bust out some serious stacks of flashcards wherever I can. I don't see it as a fail...I see it as having awesome multitasking skills ;)
    Oh...the machines at the gym on campus have those little book holder thingies...it's for holding books so people CAN read while working out.
  • Posts: 1,384 Member
    no I get it, you are a bumbling idiot who is on repeat....

    You know, of you are going to insult someone for being an idiot you might want start your sentence off with what we call a "capital letter".

    No I get it, you are a bumbling idiot who is on repeat...

    Also ellipsis typically only have 3 periods.

    Just fun things to know so you yourself won't look like a "bumbling idiot" as well. :)
  • Posts: 301 Member
    I saw someone on a treadmill reading a book today, and it kind of got me to thinking. If you are on a treadmill running/walking whatever, how can you concentrate on reading a book? Another person brings in a tablet and sets it on ground in front of them when working with some of the machines...weird..

    In my humble opinion, if you are reading book or watching a tablet while at gym then said person is not working out hard enough and/or are not concentrating on routine.

    I mean we can't go to the gym for an hour without brining a book or tablet, really?

    curious what the rest of you think ....read/tablet = yes, no, or epic fail ....

    I do this on the treadmill and the stepper (which by nature is not exactly fast). I do the treadmill at a fast walk at a HUGE incline. It does wonders for my buns even though I am not going fast. The book is a wonderful distraction to both of these types of workouts. I don't always have to be going as fast as I can to get a decent workout.
  • Posts: 846 Member
    Yep, I am one of those book readers the OP doesn't get. I have asthma and had asthma since I was a kid. Specifically, I had what amounted to uncontrolled asthma courtesy of a school district that handled that situation so poorly I suspected that what they called gym teachers probably wouldn't call the hospital if there wasn't blood involved. I was not the only one either - several students I knew personally were in the same boat. It got ingrained: do not run because if something bad happens nothing will be done about it.

    Since then, I've actually been able to use my medication but for years I handled it the way I did before graduation: don't run. I hit the treadmill occasionally now but like hell I'm doing it without a book or at least some good music to distract me from the fact that I'm doing something that I learned to associate with trouble for a reason.
  • Posts: 605 Member
    I work 80 -100 hours a week. I will multitask in any way I can. I regularly bring my iPad to the gym...and yes, I can read while walking, and running. However, I'm usually trying to catch up on Game of Thrones or Walking Dead, etc. I do my lifting at home, so when I'm on the treadmill or whatever, I just need to motor through it.

    Some of us CAN walk and chew bubble gum. :bigsmile:
This discussion has been closed.