Not wanting to become totally sedentary I decided to join the gym in Chippenham. Stiffness runs in our family and my mum became almost totally de-conditioned. To be fair she hated exercise from childhood; she would exercise if the physio was standing in front of her; but wouldn’t do anything in between times. She couldn’t see the point of it. I have a better relationship with exercise and also a dire warning of the consequences of not doing enough! I have tried various training courses run by my good friend Sam Charlwood, who is an amazingly experienced and enthusiastic trainer. Or an equally interesting course run by Jo Kitts which is weight training from a yoga based mindset. What I discovered is that I am hopeless at doing exercise at home. My weights would sit reproachfully in the corner literally gathering dust. The yoga based exercise was excellent but I needed something more frequent. So I girded my loins and signed up for the gym.It has the usual array of weights, machines, mats and equipment; it’s also open 24 hours……. and is clean and well organised. What I hadn’t expected is that it’s a really friendly place. I nearly fell over when one of the managers greeted me by name (you know who I am?). Maybe once seen never forgotten :-). I was struggling to get a bar onto the stand – just managed it when a kind hulk about 4x my size said ‘don’t struggle love, ask one of us”…… again I nearly fell over. He’d noticed my struggle, I was really touched by the offer of help. Last week I was practising some lifting and was watching someone on my left lifting but with a different technique. I was wondering whether I was doing the wrong thing. To my right was a chap about to lift 180kg!! I asked him what chap on the left was doing – he explained and then said my form doing the lift was better. Honestly I was gob smacked; he then explained that he had been lifting for 20 years – hence the 180 kg – don’t think I’m going to get to that! Plus also don’t want to consider how old I’ll be then. But he gave me some really helpful advice and encouragement and it has really concentrated my mind. I am now going 2-3 x a week and have goals; one of which is attending a one off yoga class in October. This is the type of yoga I did 15 years ago and it’s going to be a stretch ha ha ha. So I am practising ready for the event and am being disciplined about it. I am also beginning to notice some of the benefits of exercise in myself. I’ve started to chat to people in classes; admire the strength and flexibility of others, marvel at some of the gym attire and also the age range of attendees. I feel empowered and supported and like I belong somewhere; acknowledgment and recognition are really great things. You feel part of the warp and weft of the community and it feels good. This is the gym I go to – I can highly recommend it – all life is there!https://www.puregym.com/gyms/?search=sn14%206duI also spoke to my colleague Mags Milan today and she recommended a channel 4 programme called Superagers which was made by Michael Mosely which I will watch with interest. |