I've now had five sessions at 1 To 1 Fitness Studio in Napier over the last couple of weeks. Why? Principally to strengthen my legs in the event that I have my knee replaced sometime soon but also to get my legs fitter because they were getting very loathe to move in the morning which at my tender age was not a Good Thing. I'm not very good at self-motivation when it comes to things like gyms which is why this is a good option: no slacking and the whole of your fitness regime supervised and monitored - a sort of shared personal trainer service.
Anyway, I digressed. I was obviously a bit fitter than I thought because even on my first day before they upped the hardness regime I had no real difficulty with the equipment which involved the cycle, cross-trainer and the walking machines. Upper body exercises and weights were quite another thing and my muscles screamed for me to stop and only my stubbornness managed to get me to the end of each set exercise: just. Until today. Today on the worst exercise (crunches) they just shouted loudly. Wow. Progress.
As I was doing the crunches and realised my muscles were not screaming but shouting I thought of what has become one of my favourite poems:
Not Waving But Drowning
by
Stevie Smith
Nobody heard him, the dead man,
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning.
Poor chap, he always loved larking
And now he's dead
It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,
They said.
Oh, no no no, it was too cold always
(Still the dead one lay moaning)
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.
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Glad your muscles are shouting and not screaming; I exercise in a pool and on a recombant bicycle twice a week and enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Terra. I do some exercise in the The Family's swimming pool and I have an exercise bike on Lewis but I need the will-power to use it regularly. I have to be honest: I can't say that I enjoy it.
DeleteI always find 'Not Waving but Drowning' a little depressing. It's a bit too near the truth for me.
ReplyDeleteYou'll be on the steroids soon and posing on the beach.
It should be a depressing poem, Adrian, I agree but, very oddly, I don't find it so. As for posing on the beach I could never have done that in my fittest, youngest days: ridicule is not something I enjoy!
DeleteFor me, the simple truth is: when I do not get enough exercise, I pay the price myself, pain being the currency. And since it is largely in my own hands how well or unwell I am, it would be stupid NOT to go to the gym and get other exercise by walking, running (not at this time of the year, sadly!) and dancing. There is a bit about that in a rather old post of mine, one of the first ones shortly after I started my blog:
ReplyDeletehttp://librarianwithsecrets.blogspot.de/2009/03/moments-of-clarity.html
Well I went over to your post Meike and spent some time there thinking about it and commenting. I never had your extreme incentive but I would certainly have benefited from more specifically targeted and consistent exercise at certain times of my life.
DeleteThat's a sad favourite poem for a pollyanna man...? Glad you feel you're making progress though. I'll hopefully be allowed back to my pool exercises after New Year.
ReplyDeleteFunnily enough, Monica, although I know that it is sad I never look at it that way - perhaps because I am a pollyanna person.
DeleteI'm with Adrian. You'll soon be posing in GQ magazine and making lots of money from your new found career.
ReplyDeleteGlad your body is working with your mind.
Very sad poem, but it does make you stop and think.
It doesn't take a lot to make me stop Virginia but it take a huge amount to make me think.
DeleteAlternatively: It doesn't take a lot to make me stop, Virginia, but it take a huge amount to make me think.
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