What shape are you in?

CJ Mahaney has been posting an excellent series of interviews with other leaders. So far he has talked to Wayne Grudem, Mark Dever, John Piper and Thabiti Anyabwile.

There is loads of good stuff in these interviews, but one interesting angle CJ takes is to ask each man whether he gets any exercise. Here are their responses:

John Piper

I run on the treadmill 30 minutes Monday, Wednesday and Saturday morning followed by a set of back lifts with a Swiss ball, stomach crunches with the ball, and pushups on the floor. I almost always walk to church instead of driving, 600 paces from door to door.

Wayne Grudem

I exercise on average about four days a week. I run in my neighborhood two or three days a week and lift weights two days a week. Usually I run for 25 minutes, but sometimes if have a bit more time and I’m feeling good I’ll run for 40 minutes.

Arizona has such great weather that it’s possible to run outdoors in your own neighborhood year-round. And I drive to a gym about five minutes from my house and lift weights following the general outlines of a program in the book Body for Life by Bill Phillips. A good friend who is a doctor told me that as I age I will continually lose muscle mass and be prone to injuries and weight gain unless I lift weights in addition to aerobic exercises.

My motivation in exercising is (1) I feel better and (2) I want to stay healthy to be able to serve the Lord effectively as long as I can in this life.

Mark Dever

Elliptical for 30 minutes a day in the morning (often before my quiet time). I watch DVD’s (especially documentaries) while I do this.

Thabiti Anyabwile

You put this question here just for me, didn’t you?

I don’t exercise. I don’t have any good reason not to. At the least, I should find time to go downstairs to the gym beneath my office and shoot around a bit. I rationalize my lack of exercise on two grounds. And these are rationalizations, not real problems.

First, I prefer team and competitive forms of exercise. I hate treadmills. The lowest parts of Hades will be lined with treadmills with CNN and Oprah playing for all of eternity. I need competition to enjoy the exercise.

Second, I don’t want to be away from the family for another evening of the week. Now, that sounds all noble. But the truth is, we could walk together as a family. I could do more with the kids that would include exercise. And a hundred other things.

Bottom line: I need to take better care of my body.

So, what kind of shape are you in?!