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Tuesday, April 17, 2007

It's Gym Space, But Not As We Know It...


I've final taken the plunge (quite literally as it has a pool) and joined our local gym. Highbury Pool Highbury Leisure Centre has just had a £1.6m refit and now sports a pool, three gym rooms, two studios and a sauna. I've not actually set foot inside a gym in over three years but the double impetus of an ever expanding waistline and slight wheezing after walking up even the shortest flight of stairs has spurred me to think again. Heart attacks before you're fifty are so last century.

The membership set me back the princely sum of £517 plus a £50 joining fee which I guess is a high enough price/incentive to keep going regularly. No point in wasting the fee. I've promised Stu I'll give myself ten weeks to get into it.

The membership I chose (Izz card Platinum) gives me access to everything for free so we went swimming on Sunday (Stu thirty lengths, me a paltry twenty) and last night I went to a step class (how 1990s?). I used to go to step three times a week yesteryear at the Y but I'd not done it in over a decade. It soon came back to me though; 'repeater knee', 'straddle', 'superman' and 'round the world'. And no, I wasn't the only man in the class. Just. God, I ache this morning. But I feel better.

Has anyone got any tips for starting out back at the gym?

13 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:50 am

    My advice is don't start at it too hard because you'll never go back.

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  2. Anonymous11:16 am

    Keep a record of what you did (what weight, how many reps/laps, etc) and you can see how you improve over time.

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  3. Anonymous12:26 pm

    just take it easy, small steps and all that. If you keep it realistic you are more likely to stick it out...Oh and cutting down on the beer helps :-)

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  4. Thanks. All good advice. But whaaaaa...?! Cutting down on beer you say? That has to a be a step too far! :-)

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  5. Has anyone got any tips for starting out back at the gym?

    take it slowly to start, really just work into it gently, make sure you have recovered from the last workout b4 u start the next. as u progress the time needed to recover will shorten and b4 u know it u will be gym junkie! : )

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  6. Anonymous6:54 am

    treat yourself to a beer at the end of the session as a carrot to get you there and through it. hehehehe GMAAVRIKN

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  7. Ah, that's more like it beer and carrots.

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  8. Anonymous7:28 pm

    Found you via google, how's the gym going?
    i have been looking at gyms (LA Fitness/Virgin/Izz) based on the following criteria: Price, Swimming Pools, cross-London gyms, Fit Men and racquet sports.
    Unfortunately Izz is winning - so do you think it has been worthwhile for you so far?
    Do you get free racket sports with your membership? What about free tramampolining?

    Cheers,
    Ronald
    blog.treasurelondon.com

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  9. I wish I could say that I'm keeping the gym up but sadly I've lapsed :(

    Izz is a good gym - the winning thing for me is that it's nearby. Izz does have a city wide agreement too I think.

    As for racket sports... I'm not sure.

    God luck!

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  10. Anonymous1:27 am

    In the end I joined Izz and so the next few months will be a struggle to see if I can keep going enough to keep it good value! (that's the plan but...) The 2 mile cycle to Highbury Pool a few times a week is more exercise than I had been doing on its own :D

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  11. Good luck with it. Say hi if you see me!

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    ReplyDelete
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