I know why!

I'm in San Diego for the Annual Meetings of the AAR/SBL. Over the years, I've noticed a trend. Back when I first started doing this, if you got to the workout room after 6:00 AM, you had a limited choice of equipment. I prefer a stationary recumbent. It used to be they would have three upright bikes and two recumbents, plus elipticals and treadmills. I sometimes ended up on an eliptical.

But over the years, the number of people in the workout room has dropped—and the number of bikes had dropped. This hotel has one each of the bikes, as well as four or five treadmills and ellipticals. Because of the small number, I went to the workout room yesterday at about 5:40. Sure enough, someone was on the upright bike, but that left me the recumbent. Interestingly, during my half-hour there, only two other people came in to workout; one on weights and one on a treadmill.

Knowing from experience that the first day of the conference always has the biggest turnout in the workout room, I went down at 5:30 to ensure getting a bike. No problem; no one else was there. When I left at 6:05, here's what it looked like:

Yep. No one was there. I'll bet the restaurants won't have that problem! And that, my friends is why the waistlines of Americans are getting larger.