Obama maintains fitness routine

Barack Obama is maintaining a rigorous fitness routine involving one-and-a-half hours a day in the gym as he prepares to take over as US president.

Barack Obama is maintaining a rigorous fitness routine involving one-and-a-half hours a day in the gym as he prepares to take over as US president, the Washington Post reported Thursday.

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The 47-year-old, who assumes office on Jan 20, uses the gym time for lone reflection as well as physical fitness, the paper quoted close Chicago associate Marty Nesbitt as saying.

While Obama hardly had time any more to visit friends or read novels, he regarded the gym time as something of great importance which left him simply feeling better.

Pictures of the future president holidaying over Christmas in Hawaii also showed, the newspaper said in its front page report, that the regular workouts had left him with a washboard stomach worthy of a male beauty contest winner.