4 August 2012

One Day. Gym Craze


I am absolutely fascinated by this gym craze that seems to have swept across the nation. I don’t know about you but I certainly don’t remember such an obsession a few years back. Gyms keep popping up everywhere: on large lots in suburbia, tiny cramped spaces in inner city and in make-shift halls in rural areas. These days it’s easier to find a gym than it is a toilet.

Now I’m all for health and fitness – I think it is fantastic that people are taking exercise seriously, but I do think that a lot of you have gone a little mad. What happened to the love-hate relationship we are all supposed to have with exercise? That’s why it amazes me that these gyms are all so busy, all the time. Don’t any of you feel like having a day off? And some exercise is pretty absurd… Stepping inside a Fitness First, the first thing you see is all these people on treadmills. Don’t you realise you’re running nowhere? Wouldn’t you like to see your scenery change as you move? What’s wrong with a jog around the block, in the park or, if you are especially adventurous, on the beach?

I was in Sydney at the start of the year for work. Whilst I was there I stayed at a motel in the city and when I looked out my window I had a perfect view into the gym class across the road (I was tempted to join in from my room, but resisted) and I was struck how bizarre it all is. To see 20 people crammed into a tight room trying to mimic the complex movements of the instructor (and for the most part failing, I’m sorry everyone) left me in a fit of giggles. When did we all start taking these classes so seriously? I mean there were people in there who wouldn’t have even wanted to dance at their own wedding, let alone for fun in a stuffy room full of people in front of a mirror.

And all this 'checking-in' nonsense has got to stop. "<insert name here> wow great spin class, I just burn 1000 calories!" at Fitness First. We don't care! That's great you're at the gym but go for yourself not for other people's vision of you. I think it's time we stop with this pretentiousness. Exercise if you want, and if not, well then sit back, relax and enjoy that Mars Bar, after all we only live once!