Good question, I was just wondering that today. After falling off the wagon studying for Step I, it took my until now to get back to the gym regularly, and I was curious if this is all a waste of time if I'm going to go back to lazy ass habits during my away rotations and then once residency starts. Any testimonials out there ? Do you have time to just go to the gym and do something, or can you actually still do a program, complete lifting and cardio and all that good stuff ???

dont be shy, speak up people....any pods sportn' some massive guns???

No muscle guns or even a resident here, but from what I have seen and heard from residents, it may depend on the program. Ease of access to the gym from the hospital when on call, etc may be a big factor.

I'm a pod intern and I don't have the time, but I'm not as motivated as some. When I get time I usually try to read instead of beef up. my fear of being a skinny punk is far overshadowed by my fear of not being 100% prepared to handle stuff when it rolls in without crying wolf to the chief backing me up.

If you are single and are highly motivated I'd say you can hit the gym 1-3 times per week depending on the season and how busy your service is at the moment. If you are married then your wife would probably rather that 3-5 hours a week be spent with her. Time gets very scarce when you are a resident, but if you love what you're doing, who cares?

Taking care of your body makes the mind sharper.

I work out regularly -- like 4-5 days a week. I'm an intern. I've had horrible months as far as hours, but I find that I get stressed out if I don't work out. Being in decent shape makes me sharper in the hospital. I do pushups in the call room, do curls-for-girls at home even postcall, do whatever it takes, even if it's for 10 minutes a day. It's better than doing nothing.

Besides, you guys better uphold the ortho image. We don't want them general surgeons to think they can kick our @#$%&. They're scared of us. Let's keep it that way.

You pussies better hit the gym. No nerds in Ortho.

i agree. I have a squat rack in my basement, so i can do squats, bench, military and most basic power exercises (no leg curls, pulldowns, etc). But you would be surprised how easy it is to not do it even if it is in your basement. Usually when i get home my choices are :eat, sleep, read, workout. Often i do the first two and run out of time/energy before the last two, getting to only one. If i have a big case in the OR the next day i will read. If i have clinic i will lift. I usually manage to lift in some form 4 times a week, but we have a pretty soft intern year. As far as general surg residents, i think if i lost in an arm-wrestling match to the ones here the other residents would kick me out!

I totally agree about having to make time during residency. I took the first 6 months of intern year off from the gym and I noticed that I was starting to look skinny/flabby and I was agitated all the time. I've noticed that after only being back at it for about 6 weeks I'm already a much more pleasant person. I have no problem making it to the gym 2x a week. Those are my upper body days. I guess I could go more, but that would mean doing lower body. Never been a big fan. And I know bonedoc will disagree with me here, but chicks dig the upperbody. . . . . . .curls for the girls baby

You can't spend all your time with your face buried in a book. You have to do regular things whether that be weights, biking, soccer, or competitive jacks

if any of you applicants end up at case western you can be on the lookout for bonejock. He will be the one who is face down on the floor b/c his pecs and arms were so huge that his scrawny little legs could not support him any longer Just kidding...

Bonedoc,
You're not kidding, actually you hit the nail right on the head. bonejock and I go way back. I've seen him many times try to keep his massive pecs off the floor to no avail.
To answer the question of others, I am able to make it into the gym 4-5 times a week with no problem; at UK we have to keep a bench to step one ratio greater than 1.5 or a BMI > 34.

Hitting the gym ain't to difficult here. We have two in the hospital. One's very small but has a good bench for flats and incline and about 300 lbs of weight to load. The other gym is very nice. Has a ton of cardio stuff, if you want to look like an ER resident. But it's also got three sets of dumbbells (only up to 55lbs though) and Hammer-Strength stuff. It's really nice and both of them are 24-7. You can lift on call if you're not getting beat up to bad with consults. Because of the easy access, I have to have a really good excuse to not hit the gym 4 times a week. Haven't lost much at all since my lazy ass days pretending to be a medical student. In fact, I'm going to go hit it now. Good luck and keep the mass up so we don't start lookin' like a bunch of pansy-ass general surgeons or internists! )

funny how this forum allows the word P-U-S-S-Y but not H-E-L-L-O.