Working out at home or in the gym? What do you say?

This year, I made a resolution to try to get back in shape. I bought some size 38 pants in the fall, and I took a picture with wifey over Christmas and my face was, well, a bit more rounded than in some I remembered.

I have been a member of the YMCA since 1988 and used to play basketball in the Dowd location like a demon. I met a lot of lifelong friends there, but after breaking my wrist badly in '95 -- trying to dunk a rebound -- I gave up hoopin' and hoopin' pretty much was my only exercise.

So I slowly gained weight because I ate the same. Finally I decided to do something after seeing that picture over Christmas.

Getting to the YMCA was going to be hard because I have two kids and a full time job that has me running all times of the day and night. I went to the YMCA and met with a trainer and got a workout regimen even though I knew it would be hard to follow.

I figured I'd better try working out at home. We have had a treadmill here for a number of years (one of my previous failed experiments), so I dusted it off and began using it. I found, for me, it was much easier to hop on, turn on "Golf Central" and go, any time I felt. Didn't have to get dressed or drive to the gym.

As it turns out, the people from EFI Sports Medicine recently sent me a Total Gym to test. It's much better than the cheapy version you'd buy at Dick's and better than the one you see Chuck Norris advertise on television, too. She's not cheap, at about $2,400, but EFI offers several payment plan options that make it cheaper than buying a gym membership in some cases.

And let me tell you, Total Gym works. I get just as much "burn" as I do on the YMCA machines and I don't have to wait in line to use them, so I get a consistent cardio workout too.

I asked two friends -- one who works out regularly and one who has never worked out -- to come by and test out the Total Gym with me. I'll be reporting the results here over the next few weeks. And, if you have home exercise equipment or prefer working at the gym, I'd love to read your comments here.

NOTES

-- iH7 has a couple interesting back to school products. One is an iPod alarm clock with dual speakers. So instead of waking up to your favorite radio DJ or some music you hate, you can wake up to music you love (and your parents hate). Plus, with the great speaker array, it'll sound better than any clock radio you ever tried.

The other gadget is iH31 boom box. Yes, it's a boom box for your iPod. I remember my first cool boombox. Used eight C batteries, which would last for about two hours.

I took mine to West Charlotte High, pumping some sweet go-go ("Drop The Bomb") and had everyone rocking -- until I ran into the assistant principal. He confiscated my box on a day when we were having an outdoor festival and I was going to be sure to have all the cute girls around me, plus that upperclass junior cheerleader I liked so much.