Health & Well-Being
I joined a gym about a week ago. It’s probably a bad move, since the only branch convenient to me is just down the road from work, but in the opposite direction from the train, and I’ll have to make a special effort to go there instead of for a run in the park, but I’ve heard that aerobic exercise is of reduced effectiveness without strength-building activities. So now I can play with the weights machines. (Yes, there are also free-weights, but I’m intimidated by the guys in there; I’m foolish-looking enough, compared to all these young, muscle-y, and, frankly, thuggish-looking people. It’s bad enough that the arrangement of the machines is, as always, such that you are constantly faced with facing others working out on their pecs or abs or whatevers, and none of them are ever over-stuffed middle-aged nerds. I’m not there for pick-ups; move the machines to provide some semblance of privacy, please.) I can also use the cross-trainers or the treadmills.

Last night I went in for the first time. I made the rounds of some of the weights machines for half-an-hour or so, then went to explore the aerobics machines. The cross-trainer I got up on squeaked horribly and it was difficult to find a rhythm. Plus, my shin splints kicked in hard almost immediately. I persisted for a few minutes, but since the panel wasn’t operable, I don’t really know how long. I moved off to a treadmill and put in a few kilometres, gradually building up my speed, as I do on the street, and pounding along. These machines are not built for hard running, since as my effort increased, so, too, did the noise, pounding along under my feet. I’m a bit of a flat-footed runner, normally, although lately I’ve been making more of an effort to land on my toes. I read on the BBC news site at some point that the foot is designed to take impact better that way, and it’s easier on your knees. Since running up on my toes also means my shin splints don’t bother me, I’m happy enough, but it’s more effort, and I can really only manage a couple of K’s that way.

The aerobic machine room is a tiered rank arranged in a semicircle in front of an array of television screens, the centre eight playing music videos, and the nine to the left and right playing one of the three commercial broadcast stations. The machine noise drowns out the music, so it would probably be best to bring headphones. I think there’s a jack you can plug into. Or I could just listen to my own mp3 player, I suppose, although I think there’d be some level of audio conflict. Still, I find when I get off a treadmill – and this isn’t new, just something I’m mentioning now – I’m actually a little dizzy. I don’t know why that is; it doesn’t happen running on the street, no matter whether it’s an easy run or hard. It’s disorienting, so music might be a bad idea, might throw off my balance more. I wonder if that happens for everyone. Maybe I’ll get used to it. Or maybe a branch will open near home and I can skip the treadmills and go run in the street after the weights. That’d be good. There isn’t really enough time for both at work, unless I go after hours, and then I feel bad about the cats, waiting for their dinner. Maybe I’m too co-dependent to use a gym.