Opinion: Almost Exclusive! Awed German reporter describes a Barack Obama workout: ‘He didn’t even sweat!’

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Forget all this presidency, politician and White House stuff. You’re never going to convince Judith Bonesky that Barack Obama isn’t a No. 1 all-star, world-scale, international ever-loving hunk of a celebrity.

And now, with a hat tip to loyal Ticket reader Kate, we have Bonesky’s own account of her own encounter with fame from the German magazine Bild. It’s really quite exciting! We can discern that by all the exclamation marks she uses. Like this!

The headline:

The story is breathless too, which is appropriate for a workout. According to Bonesky, she was exercising in the gym of Berlin’s Ritz-Carlton hotel while thousands of other excited Germans gathered in a platz to hear Obama speak during his recent European campaign trip.

It was 4:02 p.m., she remembers, when a guard told her, ‘Barack Obama is about to come and train.’ We can only imagine the excitement!

Twenty-eight minutes later, in case you’re counting, He shows up and in his deep voice says to her, ‘Hi, how’s it going?’ His actual words.

Bonesky picks up the story: ‘My heart beats. ‘Very good, and you?’ I say. Obama replies: ‘Very good, thank you!’

‘Obama (with toned arms and a strong back) puts on his headphones for his iPod to listen to pop music. He hums quietly. Then he jumps on a fitness bike. He pushes three times on the pedals –- but then can’t be bothered with it.

‘He goes and picks up a pair of 16 kilo weights and starts curling them with his left and right arms, 30 repetitions on each side. Then, amazingly, he picks up the 32 kilo weights! Very slowly he lifts them, first 10 curls with his right, then 10 with his left. He breathes deeply in and out and takes a sip of water from his 0.5 litre Evian bottle.’

Didn’t we tell you how exciting this was? And you’ll never guess what Obama did next: 10 situps. Judith was counting.

Then he was done. But Bonesky mustered all of her courage to ask for a photo with him. Even though he’s American, he was very nice about it. Judith continued:

“‘My name’s Judith,’ I reply. ‘I’m Barack Obama, nice to meet you!’ he says, and puts his arm across my shoulder. I put my arm around his hip –- wow, he didn’t even sweat! WHAT A MAN!’

The Ticket would never lie to you! But in case you don’t believe us, here’s the English translation of the breathtaking Bild article to see for yourself! There’s also a nice photo of the two new BFFs!

--Andrew Malcolm!