Hitting the Gym

With the kids back at school Sally-with-the-farm (as opposed to Sally-up-the-road, they're different people) and I have decided to get our derailed fitness programmes back on track and so Monday night saw us in the stable that her husband has converted into a gym.

It's really quite a comprehensive set up and beats my bench with free weights hands down, but there is a big difference that we discovered as we got down to business. Now, not many people know this but my very first job was as a fitness instructor and so I got to boss Sally around and tell her what to do.  I'd created a programme that was quite comprehensive and took a book with pictures and everything.  However, when we got into the bench presses with the barbell we found that we were exceptionally pathetic at it.  We couldn't work out why we could only bench press 1kg at each end of the bar, and then a max of three times.  We should have been able to do at least 12 reps.

It transpires that the gym is set up for men, so all the weights are quite large and the bar of said barbell weighs 20kg on its own, meaning we were pressing 22kg and not the 2kg we thought.  No wonder my shoulders ache today.

Anyway, I left Sally with a programme for a further 2 sessions before next week and I've got a different one to go with my dumbbells, but this morning Sally is moaning about cramp in both feet and so I suspect I'll have to go back to whip her into shape before next time.  It's much more satisfying to order others about than to take ones own medicine.

The point is, with 3 clear months until Christmas, there's a good opportunity to get yourself into shape before the indulgences start (or in my case, restart as Summer was a bit of a disaster).  September is almost as busy for gyms as January so either take up one of their offers, get yourself out into the countryside walking, grab a bike or take up some other activity that you really fancy.  There's a very real truth in that you never feel worse for exercising.  The thought of it is awful, the reality of it is often awful, but you always feel better - go on, let the Olympics inspire you and give it a go.