Good exercise manga

I can't tell if it's a good exercise manga or a bad one, but Genshiken Second Season sometimes leaves me giggling breathlessly at the tremendously awkward situation this cast of misfits find themselves in.  This is unlikely to be actually dangerous on the stair climber unless it makes me laugh hard enough to have an asthma attack, but my manga-reading antics on the exercise equipment have made other folks in the gym crack a smile.  If any of them ever ask me why I'm laughing, I have no idea what I could possibly say, and it's actually more likely that they'll act there because it's hard to keep up your air of reserve when you are leaning drunkenly on the handrails to keep you upright during a sudden fit of laughter when you are already out of breath.

I highly recommend manga as an exercise reward.  Some series are better than others.  Obviously action and shonen titles are good to get the blood pumping, but comedy is a good choice, too.  ANYTHING will work, honestly.  If you find a series you like and want to read but ONLY let yourself read on the stair climber or exercise bike (works with anime, too, if you can do all of this at home), you'll have a REALLY good reason to keep up with your fitness.  You will form a positive association between exercise and treats!  (Granted, you also need a certain amount of self-discipline/control and a regular exercise schedule to make this work.)

Give it a try!  Together, we can help establish manga and anime as part of a healthy lifestyle!


Some fun exercise manga:

• Red River
• From Far Away
• Dengeki Daisy
• Love*Com
• Crimson Hero
• Kaze Hikaru
• Shaman King
• Naruto
• Blue Exorcist
• One Piece
• D.Gray-Man
• HunterXHunter
• YuYu Hakusho
• Bleach
• Hikaru No Go
• Your suggestion here . . .

Hunger, exercise, manga (Yakitate!! Japan)

Competitive bread-making.  I love every ridiculous minute of it.

I read a couple of volumes of manga during my exercise time (stair machine and stationary bike make this possible), and I have discovered once again why reading Yakitate Japan is so dangerous: it makes you really hungry.  Volume 20 made me crave pork cutlet sandwiches so bad I almost fell off the stair machine.  Mmmm.

Check out page 84 of volume 19.  It strongly reminded me of another post I made about one of the odder things that happens in professional Japanese baseball games.  It's just so . . . appropriate that it's Kawachi.  Again, I nearly fell off the stair machine.

NOTE TO SELF: In future, only read Yakitate Japan on the bike.

Along with getting a culinary education, you can learn important facts like the following:

"You all know that pandas are actually carnivores . . . right?. . .  Moreover, pandas sometimes attack people--they have the second highest rate of zookeeper attacks (in first place is the elephant).

"My goodness, I can't understand why everyone loves such a vicious animal.  If people can love this thing, I'd rather they love me instead."

Yep, very educational.


What manga or anime have you found to be educational as well as entertaining?