Gym or swim
There was an Edinburgh Festival many years ago where I was a performer in a residency from a London based music organisation. Unlike many of my fellow musicians, I also happened to be a theatre practitioner, so I took the opportunity to see as many shows as possible. Along with this, I used the gym in the Royal Commonwealth Pool every day – something I wasn’t able to do in London, due to my busy work schedule.
When I returned to London, many friends, acquaintances and other associates complimented me on my newly reshaped physique. Obviously it was nice to get such appreciative attention, but keeping up the fitness regime was not a sustainable option for me, once I was back on the treadmill of my working life.
As a result of this, the muscles soon turned to flab and I found myself in a quandary, since I didn’t have the time to work out on a regular basis.
It was almost ten years later that I summoned up the courage to get back into regular gym attendance. When I did so, I went to a gym that placed most of its focus on weight lifting, with no reference to cardiovascular exercise. I guess I must have developed more core strength, but my physique remained more or less the same.
Being away from home on another occasion (in the USA) gave me the opportunity to take time out to look at my dietary and exercising habits, leading to my current routine. This time my physique changed again dramatically and I was mindful of the need to incorporate the habits into my lifestyle. It’s interesting to me that I’ve only started deriving pleasure from regular exercise relatively late in life.
