By LMQC Battle of the Bulge blogger, Alan Sivell, St. Ambrose communications professor, RAGBRAI-er, pizza lover and longtime weight watcher.

If I don’t get my daily exercise, I’m a bit off kilter. (Okay, cranky.) Call it “committed.”

So when I see someone else who looks similarly committed (my wife says “obsessed”), I see a sympathizer.

I thought I saw one in Greg Voss, the new branch executive of the Davenport North Family Y. Every time I work out over the lunch hour, there he is, too, pedaling furiously on a stationary bike.

I introduced myself and asked about his routine.

Greg says he loves to work out at noon if he doesn’t have another obligation.

He spends 40-45 minutes on the bike without an iPod or phone.

“I don’t listen to anything, largely because I have always been the type to want to hear what’s going on around me,” Greg says.

Instead, he thinks.

“I think of my family, and also think through challenges and potential solutions to work-related situations.”

“I also listen for equipment that may not be functioning properly.”

Greg says he started exercising regularly when playing sports in middle and high school. He liked the feeling he got after a game or practice and he’s been at it ever since.

“Many people weren’t quite as active, but I stayed with it. I played recreational basketball, racquetball and started running. I liked how I felt.”

So much so that he pursued a health education degree at the University of Wisconsin, Lacrosse, and has worked at Ys around the Midwest since. He started at the North Y last May.

Greg says he loves the fact that the Y serves the whole lifespan, from kids’ activities and prenatal classes, to the 90-year-olds who work out on the elliptical machines.

He also likes the fact that no one is denied access to the Y because of financial reasons.

For now, Greg is happy with his routine of an intense ride on the bike. But he is thinking about adding some weights and resistance training to his workouts.

“And possibly yoga,” he says.

Turns out Greg is not as obsessed as I am about working out daily … or at least that’s what he claims.

He does admit to planning his days around a workout, sometimes several days in advance.

He says it benefits the whole person: emotionally, socially, intellectually and physically.

“By being in here, with all those dimensions, you become a better person overall,” Greg says.

I couldn’t agree more.

Learn why Alan exercises … and how to manage your “gym anxiety” if that’s what’s keeping you from joining him.

Meet Battle of the Bulge blogger, Alan Sivell. Alan is a communications professor at St. Ambrose University and a former reporter for WQAD-TV who has exercised – and dieted – his entire life. Read Alan’s other blog posts.