November 08, 2008	Saturday	Ziqa'ad 9, 1429

MIAMI: He breezed through the rigours of a marathon 21 months on the campaign trail. On polling day he mixed it up on a basketball court. And within hours of his election victory, Barack Obama was back in the gym for another gruelling workout. Has an American president-elect ever been fitter for office?

Exercise, Obama says, is the key to remaining fresh and focused in the face of a punishing schedule. “The main reason I do it is just to clear my head and relieve me of stress,” he told an American fitness magazine. “My blood pressure is pretty low and I tend to be a healthy eater.”

While presidents before him were keen to display their physical fitness – Bill Clinton, for example, would take three-mile jogs through Washington’s National Mall, accompanied by a posse of secret service agents on bicycles – few could match the dedication shown by the early-rising Obama, 47.

“Most of my workouts have to come before my day starts,” he told Men’s Health. “There’s always a trade-off between sleep and working out. Usually I get in about 45 minutes, six days a week. I’ll lift [weights] one day, do cardio the next. “I wish I was getting a 90-minute workout,” he added. But even at his current pace, Obama will have spent at least another 2,700 minutes in the gym before inauguration day on January 20.

Although he is now the most famous member of the Washington Sports Club chain of gyms in the US capital, his celebrity status has not always guaranteed admission. In June, a front-desk employee demanded that he show an ID card when she failed to recognise him.

Obama’s passion is basketball. Aides expect him to replace George Bush’s beloved baseball field on the White House’s south lawn with a basketball court.

He might like to dip into a copy of The White House Workout, a fitness plan inspired by President Bush’s “Healthier US” initiative, for ideas. The book gives a sneak peek into Bush’s fitness routine, which includes jogging on a treadmill while travelling on Air Force One, cycling, weight-lifting and stretching, six days a week.

With its jogging paths, fitness trails and gymnasium, the White House offers Obama numerous workout opportunities. But with its lavish kitchens, gourmet chefs, state banquets and culinary traditions that include sculpting a scaled replica of the White House in chocolate each Christmas, it also poses plenty of temptations.

While Ronald Reagan was known for munching jelly beans, Jimmy Carter for snacking on peanuts and Bush for choking on pretzels, Obama also has a favoured snack: Planters Trail Mix, consisting of nuts, seeds and raisins, washed down with organic berry tea. His vices include smoked sea-salt caramels in milk chocolate.—Dawn/Guardian News Service