Big Picture

It's no secret that exercise can make your mind and body feel good. But what if what ails ya' is the state of our planet? Working out all day can give you a healthy heart; it's up to you to put it in the right place. A good way to start is by asking...IzzitGreen?

Factoids n' Stuff

• "Exercise is a dirty word. Every time I hear it I wash my mouth out with chocolate." -- Peanuts, Charles Schulz
• "The single thing that comes close to a magic bullet, in terms of its strong and universal benefits, is exercise." -- Frank Hu, epidemiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health (source)
• Exercising can help your brain grow new neurons, improve your memory, and boost your processing speed. (source)
• In the US in 2005, 17.6 million went to the gym more than 100 days a year.
• The US Health Club Industry generated about $16 billion in revenue in 2005, almost as much as the GDP of Iceland. (source, source)
• The majority (57%) of gym-goers in the US are women (source)

What Goes In?

You and your cross-trainers aren't the only things that have to make a trip to get to your gym. You came from across town or across the street, your cross trainers from—well, that depends on whether you wear New Balance or Nike. But what about the cotton towel you use to wipe off your yoga or sit-up mat? Or for that matter, what about the yoga mat itself? Growing cotton uses 10% of the world's pesticides. Conventional mats contain vinyl and phthalates, which have negative health effects. Does your gym offer alternatives, like organic cotton towels or natural rubber mats?

There’s a lot that goes in to your gym: exercise machines, weights, lockers, mirrors, water, electricity, furniture, TVs, light fixtures, candles, soap, building materials, sport courts. Each one of these things provides you with an opportunity to ask "IzzitGreen?"

What Comes Out?

It takes a lot to keep temples of sweat from smelling like a gladiator's armpit. Some of that stuff goes out in the trash, down the drain, onto your skin, or into your lungs.

• How does your gym keep its pool from turning into a cesspool? Chlorine, the most common pool cleaner, can adversely affect your health after long term use. Does your gym use a greener option, like ionization, ozone, or a salt system?
• You're polite and disinfect the equipment when you're done, but what's coming out of that spray bottle? Does your gym use paper towels that get thrown out, or reusable rags that will live to see another wipe-down?
• Your friends appreciate it when you shower after working out. Your watershed appreciates it when the shower heads aren't constantly dripping or, better yet, if they are low flow.

How's it Run?

While you're working up a good sweat, your local energy grid is working up some serious wattage keeping things running. Unless you live in Seattle or Hong Kong, you probably can't harness the calories you burn to power your gym...yet.

• The biggest energy guzzlers are treadmills and elliptical trainers. Many exercise bikes and rowing machines, on the other hand, are powered from your effort. Not all treadmills are created equal. By looking up the treadmill model that your gym uses, you can find out how much energy it uses. Treadmill motors with a higher horsepower rating consume more energy for each minute you are running.
• TVs also use lot energy. Does your gym leave its TVs on all the time, or only when people are using them? And just like treadmills, some TVs are more efficient than others. You can find out how your gym's TVs stack up here.
• When it's hot outside, the gym may be the only place you can get your core temperature up without fainting. Does your gym go overboard on the AC, or keep it in check?

What They Care About

If you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything, right? But if the environment doesn’t have its health, well…

Your health comes not only from the things you do, but also the things you touch, inhale, and imbibe. Are the people that work at your gym or yoga studio aware of the environmental costs of the things they use in their gym, and how those can affect your personal health? It’s not always easy to know how to run a green gym, but if the people in charge are attuned to some of the problems, they’ll be more apt to adopt—or even create—solutions.

What to Ask

• What kind of detergent do you use to wash the towels?
• And do you wash them cold or hot?
• Are your TVs and lights on timers or sensors, so that they turn off when no one is using them?
• What do you do with old mats, broken exercise machines, and worn-out weights?
• Do you use low-flow shower heads?

What to Do

So maybe your gym or yoga studio isn't the greenest (although they do have the best core strength classes and steam rooms). What can you do?

• Slurp from a reusable water bottle (preferably one that is bisphenol A free).
• Exercise outdoors when you can.
• If it's too hot or cold to sweat outside, try the indoor track instead of the treadmill, or the stairs instead of the stair stepper.
• Bring your own paraben and phthalate free soaps and shampoos, or your own organic cotton towel.
• Kickball is all the rage these days. Join a rec sports league, like Social Boston Sports.
• Remember being at camp where you only got 2 verses of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" to lather up? You don't need to be that extreme, just keep your shower time brief!

Find Out More

• Organic Athlete brings together vegetarian and vegan athletes from across the country. They even have a vegan cycling team, and "yes, [they] get [their] protein from plants."
• "How to Green Your Fitness Routine" by Green Living Ideas has info on both participating and spectating.
• Want to power your computer with your bike? Here's how to do it.
• Ever wonder exactly how much power your treadmill uses? Yahoo Answers and the blog "Saving Energy" tackle the question.
• Grist's Ask Umbra weighs in on eco-yoga mats.
• Green Yoga Association (Oakland, CA)
• Fair Trade Sports makes environmentally and ethically sound balls, equipment, and clothing.
• "15 Green Sports Stars" named by Grist.
• The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Sports & Environment
• New York Times topics: Exercise
• Bicycle powered laptop computer at MIT's Alumni/Wang fitness center