Just got done chatting with Ken Griffey Jr. in the clubhouse and he told me he dropped seven pounds, mainly because he changed his eating habits slightly and also was able to do more work than last year once his knee surgery got done on Oct. 11.

Griffey had knee surgery the previous off-season, also in October, but also was bothered by a bone spur that kept growing larger as the winter and then last season, wore on. Now, that bone spur has been removed. He says he was able to do more work this winter and that resulted in some of the weight loss.

He appears slimmed down over last year -- at least in terms of excess bulk. His chest area appears larger in terms of muscle. Anyhow, we'll know what kind of shape he's in once he starts working out with the team.

Griffey hired a personal trainer for his son, Trey, a budding high school football star in Florida, and says he packed on 25 pounds of muscle. Trey was apparently working out so hard on a treadmill in the Griffey home that he burned out the motor.

"I go in there and there's all smoke,'' Griffey said. "That thing cost me ten grand.''

Not sure whether that's an entirely true story, but treadmills have been known to burn out. Not the $10,000 kind, mind you, but we'll choose to believe this tale. Anyhow, the reason I'm telling it is because Griffey says that when he saw his son's results, he started to copy a lot of what the trainer had him do -- minus the treadmill part.

"I don't do treadmills,'' he said.

Here's another good exercise story, courtesy of Griffey. I warn you, you're not going to believe it, but it is apparently true.

Griffey says a friend of his just had an exercise bike shipped over from Italy to the Griffey household and that it can burn 2,400 calories in an hour. No, that isn't a joke. And if true, it's pretty incredible. I was just on a regular stationary bike at our condo last night, going at a pretty good clip, and burned 450 calories in a half-hour. That's 900 in an hour on my bike, and trust me, it was a decent pace.

Well, this Griffey bike, which just arrived yesterday at his home, so he hasn't started using it yet, can go nearly three times that clip. Sort of a Lance Armstrong kind of pace. Here's a link to the bike, known as PhysioRed.

The bike apparently uses "recycled spinning" to burn 10 times the calories of a regular bike by using biometrics to correctly position muscles etc. while pedaling. It also has infrarfed light that does all sorts of tissue repair and stuff.

This sounds like an infomercial, but let me tell you, if this calorie-burning thing is accurate, guys like Griffey would have all their problems solved. They could work out three times a week, eat a Slim Fast once in a while and lose all the weight they need while still hitting the golf course for hours on end.

Sounds like his perfect retirement gift.

Problem is, it costs $21,000 (according to Griffey). You get an HD TV on the bike with that, apparently, but still, I could go buy a Harley for that money, throw in a giant flatscreen and still have pocket change for a low carb chef while burning my regular 450 calories every half-hour.

Ah, to be rich and famous.