As usual there will be the ‘I’m going to get fit’ New Year’s resolutions, in their droves. As usual numerous gym memberships will be taken out, and allowed to lapse (memo; don’t take out any membership that can’t be cancelled). And as usual we’ll all eat and drink too much over the New Year and possibly regret it later.
I mention the Santa Fe Spa not just because I have visited there this year but because of their excellent Facebook Page on whose comments there is so much sense that anyone interested in a) their health and b) how they look should follow. Here’s an example:
’A good way to think about it is to picture the labor of exercise as being rent that you pay for the privilege of occupying your body. You pay rent (or mortgage, or property tax) for the right to keep living in your home, and this seems normal. Using the same logic, you can't expect to keep living in your body for free.
What your body demands in payment, though, isn't measured in dollars. Instead, your body insists on the direct labor of fitness and exercise. If you ignore this rent demand from your body for too long, you will be given an eviction notice much earlier than your lease would have naturally expired!’
Exercise makes you feel better about yourself. It’s as simple as that. It makes you feel sexier, walk differently, and more able to cope with every day stress. It’s also addictive, which in this case for the most part is good. And frankly it doesn’t matter where you work out. At the gym or at home, as long as you exercise regularly (minimum four times a week) and combine cardio and resistance work.
When I’m travelling I try and go to the gym every day. Living out in the wilds (!) of Bucks, when it’s frequently too cold or too wet or both to want to leave home I’ve established a home gym that enables me to get up in the morning, walk downstairs and into the gym. When it’s really cold (and my gym has no heating) I flake on the idea of the bike or rowing machine (having a son who rowed has had its uses) and exercise in my office, to the hysterical laughter of my (other) son who caught me doing Pilates one day and then decided to copy me.
I’m going to write another post about the essentials for starting a home gym. In the meantime you might like to read Pilates – When Where and with What, which is an earlier post on GlamourSleuth and Getting Ready to go Sleeveless.
Get the DVD, buy the weights (and ignore loftily anyone who tells you that bottles or tins will do) buy yourself a mat and have a go. You’ll never regret it.
p.s. Any equipment I suggest will work in your home gym. A good mat and weights are essential for starters.
