Across the road from our home is a hotel with a leisure club, of which I am a member. The dictionary definition of leisure is ‘the use of free time for enjoyment’. I agree that the people who use the club facilities are using their free time, but as for the enjoyment part, you could never tell it by their faces. The grimaces, grunts, and groans which is displayed in the gym defies the dictionary definition. Sometimes some of the people are grumpy with it! The fitness gurus tell us we have to punish our body. No gain without pain! Yeah, right!
I prefer getting out on the road for a wee two mile run. But, when the weather is inclement, (nice word for miserable!) I resort to the gym and the treadmill, if I can get on one.) There are three running machines, so I thought I could just go over and get the stuff done. Uh, uh. I had not provided for the fact of it being January, the busiest month of the year. Everyone from sixteen to sixty and over have made their New Year resolutions. (See blog No 6, Good Intentions). They have totally pigged out over the Christmas season, they sat in front of the one eyed Cyclops (TV), and now they are franticly working at reversing it all in a week! You can see the look of grim determination in their faces. The guys come in with the muscle shirts, the towel round the neck ready to sweat it out over the equipment and everyone who happens to be in the near vicinity. I dread the long haired ones, for when they shake their head you get the sweat right in the face, not a good experience. Of course, they are all trying to out do one another in how much weights they can pump and how fast and long they can last on the treadmill. Posers!!
Then you get the ladies. Ah, the ladies. They have gone out and bought the latest in keep fit gear, all colour co ordinated of course. Everything matches, from the shoes to the sweatband and their lipstick. The sweatband is obviously just for show! Now they are ready to go for their wee walk on the treadmill. (Even the name sounds like an instrument of torture) They set the miles and the speed, which is usually a leisurely shopping pace, switch on the ipod and away they go, for the next hour! Hence the reason I couldn’t get on the treadmill. These ladies seem to come in two’s or three’s and they love to have their conversations as they walk. Bless them, they really do seem to enjoy it and conform to the dictionary definition of leisure.
When I did eventually get on the treadmill,I ran off two helpings of Christmas pudding, three bowls of trifle, a tin of Quality Street and some other stuff! I must say, I really did feel the benefit of the exercise and with a bit of effort, I can see my way to getting slim, trim and energised. I won’t go into the logistics of diet and exercise now. We’ll look at that another time. I am sure you are thankful for that!
I have now sussed out when the best times are to go over to the gym so I can get on the machines, but the weather is getting better so I will be able to get back on the road. No glamour there, just Ron Hill trackies, yellow jacket, beanie hat and red face.
At this time, let me mention a wee incident that occured on one of my two milers. A lorry driver gave me a whistle. He obviously saw me from the back with my blonde hair sticking out from under the beanie hat and thought he was whistling at a much younger woman! That'll teach him. The cooncil workers are however a great encouragement. While digging their customary holes in the road,, (Which usually can take up to a year on the same hole) they will shout "You're doin great there, just get the knees up and legs pumping"!! They see me from the front, and obviously think I need the encouragement. Bless their hearts!
Anyway, it is nearly the end of January and all the grim determination over in the gym will have dissipated. The keep fit gear will be laid to rest in the bottom drawer, the gym machines freed up, no sweat will fly about and all will return to normal. What bliss.
Life is so daily, just like exercise, should be...............
