When exercise turns bad

Madonna's ex-chef, Eric Ienco, revealed to the National Inquirer that her daily routine involves getting up, having a coffee and then doing two, 2-hour exercise sessions of yoga and Pilates. Yikes. I'm tired just thinking about it.

He says: 'Madonna puts herself before the kids. When she adopted little David, he arrived at her home from Africa, and three hours later, she left to do pilates. Wouldn’t you think she’d want to spend the entire day with her new son?' Well, I would but then I'm one of those crazy people who doesn't do 4 hours of Pilates every day. Hang on a minute... have I got crazy mixed up again?

Two key observations:
1. If an ordinary, non-Madonna person (ie everyone but Gwyneth) tried to fit that much exercise into her daily routine (a full-time job, transiting, housework, eating, sleep) it would leave less than half an hour a day for sitting on the couch. Bahumbug to that.

2. If Madonna is the representation of what that much exercise turns out, I definitely don't wanna do it. I don't want to sound like one of the haters who uses 'Madonna Arms' as a euphemism for everything that's wrong with over-exercising, but I will. Apart from not looking that good, her obsession with exercise has seemingly skewed her priorities.

Please know this isn't a whiney 'celebrities have everything, poor me' moan. Rather it's a reminder not to let this type of privilege de-motivate you. Just because you can't do four hours a day of exercise, it doesn't mean you should do nothing at all. It's a reality check that too much exercise might actually make you ugly – and that Madge is probably jealous of your half hour walk combined with an ability to enjoy time with family and friends.

PS I do feel bad that she fell of a horse.