Madeleine Albright and the Leg Press: Controversy Settled, Once and For All

We’ve received a ridiculous number of emails and reader comments about former Secretary of State Madeleine’s Albright’s claim that she can leg press 400 pounds. We’ve heard persuasive contentions and evidence on both sides. The argument has been more vigorous, spirited, and detailed than the congressional debate over the Iraq war resolution.

But now the Albright-and-leg-press dispute has been definitively resolved. From the Washington Whispers column of U.S. News:

Did you laugh when you read former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s claim in the New York Times to leg-pressing 400 pounds? Well, she knew you would. So the day after the interview, Albright rushed to her Definitions gym in Georgetown and tagged her trainer, Margo Carper, loaded up the weight on the leg press, and completed 10 reps.

“I got a little nervous after I had said that,” she confessed. “So I got off the red-eye … Thursday, and I went to my place and I said, ‘OK, Margo, we have to do this to prove again that I could do it.’ And so I did.” She adds, “Yes, I do leg-press 400 pounds. To what end I don’t know. I could make a vulgar comment.”

Yes, Madam Secretary, please do! Just be sure that a Wonkette operative is around to hear it, so it can be reported in these pages. This town loves a good “overheard obscenity” pseudo-scandal. Just ask Dick Cheney.

Update: Albright has made some nice progress with the leg press. Back in 2001, on NPR, Albright boasted of being able to leg press 200 pounds (and used a vulgarism in doing so).

Is Kickboxing Next for Albright? [USNWR]
Madeline Albright Reveals Exercise Regimen For “Kicking Ass” [NPR]

Earlier: Madeleine Albright & the Leg Press: The Controversy Rages On
An Addendum on Albright’s Athleticism
Madeleine Albright Can Crush You

READ MORE: exercise, fitness, madaleine albright, secretaries of state

Madeleine Albright and the Leg Press: The Controversy Rages On

The afternoon has been a bit slow in terms of news. So let’s take you back to the great debate over Madeleine Albright’s ability to leg press 400 pounds. We reported about it, and then we questioned it.

Several of you now question our questioning. One of Secretary Albright’s students at Georgetown writes:

I’ve been following your coverage of the great Albright leg-press debate and have some fuel to add to the fire. I am a student in her class at Georgetown and in our most recent class we discussed her leg-press abilities in between discussions about Kosovo and Kim Jong Il. She told us that she slowly worked up from small weights, adding a few pounds on each time. But she asserted that she most definitely can leg-press 400 pounds. And seeing how fit she looks now—she’s lost a lot of weight since she was Secretary—I wouldn’t doubt her. With guns like that, she doesn’t need diplomatic security anymore!

We just saw Albright on CNN — she was promoting her new book — and we’re inclined to agree. Maddy’s looking svelte these days.

And this is just for starters. After the jump, a frighteningly detailed defense of Albright’s ability to leg press four hundred pounds.

READ MORE: exercise, fitness, madaleine albright, secretaries of state

An Addendum on Albright’s Athleticism

In response to our recent item about Madeleine Albright’s ability to leg-press 400 pounds, a tipster tells us:

I used to work out at the same Georgetown gym as Madeleine Albright. She is actually quite strong and is very dedicated in her workouts. But I find it hard to believe that she can leg press 400 pds since she seems sort of fragile up close. Unless she uses the cheating leg press machine.

She sweats a heck of alot and looks well like an old eastern European hag without the make-up, made up-hair, and cute suits with pins. All that being said, she was always nice to all the other clients in the gym and didn’t chatter on her cell phone like other high powered folks in the same gym when she was doing her cardio exercises.

Madam Secretary: Please wipe down the equipment after each use. Thanks.

Earlier: Madeleine Albright Can Crush You

READ MORE: exercise, fitness, madaleine albright, secretaries of state

Madeleine Albright Can Crush You

I WILL BREAK YOU LIKE TWIG

Holy Shit.

In an interview in the The New York Times Magazine that will appear this coming Sunday, Madeleine Albright reveals, among other things, that even at 68, she works out three times a week “and I can leg-press up to 400 pounds.”

Uh, wow. Yeah, we all had a bit of fun with Condicise, but it turns out Albright is not only the most fit Secretary of State, she’s also the scariest. And she doesn’t even need dominatrix boots. We don’t think she’ll be palling around with Barbara Harrison any time soon, though.

Seriously, are we gonna find out next that Eagleburger could bend iron bars with his bare hands?

‘NYT’ Sunday Preview: Madeleine Albright Can Leg-Press 400 Pounds [E&P]

READ MORE: condicise, condoleezza rice, exercise, fitness, madaleine albright, secretaries of state