Desperate measures
Is it supposed to hurt? Getting fit I mean. It took me 15 years to get fat but I’m hoping to get fit PDQ.
When my friend Pat told me she was thinking likewise, we trotted off to the leisure centre and signed up for a 16 week fitness course - making a start on the treadmill.
Such determination is to be commended! After just three minutes my back could stand it no longer and I moved on to the bike.
That didn’t work either because my legs don’t bend very well since the knee ops.
So there I was sitting on a gym ball like a great elephant trying to balance with just one toe on the floor while everyone else seemed to be jogging, cross training and pumping iron at a manic pace.
Pat didn’t get on much better, after 15 boring minutes on the treadmill she switched to the exercise bike and found her feet wouldn’t reach the pedals and couldn’t balance on the ball for toffee.
So, not to be defeated we looked up the pool activities and arranged to try the water aerobics the following week.
It was fun to start with, about 30 of us bounced up and down the pool in time to the music. The buoyancy taking the strain from our bodies.
I was well into it by the time YMCA came on. But half way through the class the bunny hops, felt like kangaroo leaps.
Knees up, arms down, arms up, stomachs in, stretch backs, point toes, and the non-stop action continued. Those girls at the leisure centres must be mega-fit to give hour upon hour of lessons like that.
In an especially painful and puffed out moment I casually mentioned to all and sundry that Sheila our instructor only needed a small black moustache.
Side stepping through the water should be one of the easiest moves but when the legs don’t connect with the brain it’s not so easy. By the time I have stopped moving to the right, everyone else has turned and is well away to the left and I land up out of sinc.
Eventually the class is over, everyone is pink and smiling and the changing room turns into a hub of chatter as we all shower and change.
And somehow we realise we’re not puffed out and tired, we feel exhilarated and realise we have enjoyed the last 45 minutes so much that we are hooked.
But as we were leaving I couldn’t believe my ears when one of the ladies told Sheila that I had likened her to Hitler!
So although I’m really looking forward to the next session I’ll be hiding behind Pat.