The Bottom Line On Being A Writer
The Age
Tuesday July 19, 2005
Gym junkies come in all sizes - no matter how long they stay at it, writes Sharon Gray.
I'M THE grumpy old woman at the gym. "Hi, Trace. Hi, Dee. Hi, Shannon!" That's the others, the cheery young girls in hipster trackies and bra tops, yakking away over the machines about their hangovers and how gorgeous was he, eh! But grumpy old me, aloof and silent, props up a book, because it is the only thing that keeps me in harness long enough to break a good sweat.Pop music, five channels of soundless daytime TV (the connections are all busted) and impossible dreams of reversing my body clock just don't cut it.I've been hitting the gym an average of four times a week for eight years now and while it must be doing me a power of good on the inside, the outside bears not the slightest evidence of my ever having done anything more arduous than lift another piece of cake. I had hoped for more, but if that's how it has to be, then I must consider the state I'd be in had I not pounded out so very many kilometres and hefted so many weights. Such is the legacy of living one's life in front of a computer.Like so many people, the harder I work, the stiller I sit. I measure my pain in shoulders tense as steel and a little sobbing cry as I raise myself from the chair. Aiyy! I gasp as blood-flow returns to my numb bum. Obviously I need hard, regular exercise and I take it, squeezing my money's worth out of the annual fees while still looking like a sack of halfcooked potatoes. Not that there's anything wrong with that.For a few years, I ran a card where you enter everything you've done every day. When it's full, some young thing I've never met "marked" it, adding comments such as : "You're doing great! Add another weight now."But gym staff, who boast a high turnover, doubtless due to low wages, have no idea what it means to have old broken bones and aching joints. Their bossy encouragement is not helpful.While not cheap, mine is a grotty gym in a poor area and we don't seem to attract powerful young executive types or ageless blonde mums. Plenty of huge men with elaborate tattoos, though, and soft shy older women working gently alongside skinny young boys and girls sweating blood like their life depends on it.I chose a gym subscription over private health insurance because I could not afford both.I may not look "toned", but my blood-pressure is textbook and I do not get colds and flu like I used to.Not so long ago you could claim gym fees and shoes if you had top range health cover, so how about a rebate on annual gym fees for those over 55? Isn't that a real investment in the health of the generation that's going to break the system?
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