Another Pair Of Eyes

Gym

March 3, 2009 on 11:47 pm | In Life, Thoughts, University | No Comments

This post might be a bit scatterbrained. Forgive it. It is only young.

In the last week I have, for the first time in many years and only for the 3rd or so time in my life, entered that strange world that is the Gym. The alien looking pieces of equipment crouching in a whitewashed room; that peculiarly gym-like smell, the whooshing noise of the rowing machines that follows you wherever you go and the rhythmic thump-thump-thump of someone pounding it out on the treadmill. Everyone there looking slim, trim and expressionless.

No smiling please: this is a place for grim determination. The gym shares something with the London Underground in that unless you know someone pretty well, you say nothing at all. I’m sure if they provided copies of the Metro it would almost be indistinguishable – the vague smell of sweat, random noise and the tinny sound of someone listening through headphones to something almost familiar.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the quantitative aspects of the gym world. 32 minutes exactly on the cross-trainer, 387 calories burnt, and distance covered…well, not far. 2km. The gym machines thrive on numbers: 2000m on the rowing machine. 2 minutes, 11 seconds average/500m. 134 steps per minutes on the trainer. Avg. 196 Watts…numbers numbers numbers. I even added my own numbers while lamenting not bringing my own headphones with attatched music player: 16 vanes in each section of the air vent in front of me, 3 sections, 8 vents in the room total, 384 vanes total. They certainly keep your head engaged enough to avoid a part of the boredom associated with staying in one place while apparently going somewhere.

For all that, and much to my surprise, I actually quite enjoyed it. It was different, and it lets you drift into your own little world which requires no focus at all on anything about you – if I did the same running, I’d get flattened or trip over a kerb or hedge or skate park or whatever. It gives you a feeling of satisfaction – 387 calories? That’s about this much:

Shame the rest of that was eaten by me earlier, otherwise I might even be down a few calories instead of up a lot. If only I’d paid attention to the rowing machine I might have been able to claim more. The gym brings out your competitive streak – you want to beat yourself, grind yourself down and wear yourself out. you come home and shower and feel refreshed, and its refreshing to do so.

Maybe I don’t hate the gym after all – perhaps the boring, monotonous first couple of times were just a blip (or perhaps I’ve gotten more tolerant of boredom and monotony!). And as I need to get fit, fast, there’s probably few better ways to do it.