martedì, novembre 07, 2006

Tally ho, team players

I haven't been to the gym since my grandfather died. I have for classes and stuff, gentle ones like Pilates and tai chi (yes, Pilates is pretty gentle at my gym - lots of old bones), but not to work out properly. I forgot all my stuff there when I left for England and my locker was cleared, and I've felt too silly - and lazy - for weeks to do anything about it.

I have a fairly active lifestyle outside of gymmy shit, so I still look recognizably hourglassy, but it's always funny to see my body sort of shift around when the only muscles getting used are quite select. It means I have a pooch - a very oddly shaped one, but I like it - and I'm wondering if there's some way to keep it now that I've done something about the stuff that was cleared away and can start going to the gym again.

Sometimes I think fuck gyms. My grandfather played rugby and when that got to be too much transitioned to golfing and lawn bowling. He played some sort of sport until he was around 92 and kept watching it afterwards, though never football because he was a bank manager back in the day that still meant something. My dad is in his sixties and still playing football - his nose is twistier than a Roald Dahl short story - and transitioning into golf. All three of my brothers golf, Elvis also playing Ultimate and Magnum playing hockey.

I think what I'm trying to get at is that it's a good thing to get alot of pleasure from using your own body in a way that isn't all sexy or based on some sort of masochistic gymmy pain-gain factor, so I've put away any highschool dislike I may have had for jocks. There was a fair amount. Half the local OHL team went to my highschool and they were not nice to women. But who cares. That shouldn't chase the rest of us away from the institution.

Nonetheless in the city it's easier to just go to the gym or maintain an active-ish lifestyle (ie no car or public transport). It's all I can do to make it to one regular appointment with Monsieur, who's flexible about hours. Having some sort of a team expecting me to show up somewhere all the time fills me with the sort of suffocating dread I felt when I was single and imagined getting back into a long-term relationship.

8 commenti:

Anonimo ha detto...

Why would you need to go to a gym if you do pilates? Between that and the walking all over town, I'm sure you're doing quite well. I used to do yoga regularly and sometimes think I should do some outdoor activity but it can be difficult. Cardio exercise is important but can be easy to put off until - never. I think there's nothing wrong with a seasonal pooch. It always goes away in the spring when the bike comes out, doesn't it?

Melbine ha detto...

God bless ponches/pooches - whatever you want to call them!

I also hate team sports, I could never handle the pressure of others depending on me to catch the ball, not strike out etc. Yuck.

Jocks have their place I suppose. I found that the girls that followed them around like puppy dogs in high school just enabled their arrogance and self-righteousness to do whatever the hell they wanted.

Anonimo ha detto...

The only good thing about team sports is that you can't slip out of them. When you're the only one who knows your workout schedule there is no one to hold you to it.

Well, it's a beautiful day and screw work - I'm going for a walk. That's a workout.

Mistress La Spliffe ha detto...

Well, Pilates is easy to skip too and cardio makes me really happy. If I can get half an hour a time every day (on top of the bicycle commute, which you can do year-round more or less in Toronto), mood-wise it's way, way better for me and for the people around me.

I like the pooch, I wouldn't mind making it a permanent feature.

Anonimo ha detto...

Excerize is powerful to liven the mood. Something I always forget in the gloomiest days of winter...

Mistress La Spliffe ha detto...

A well-balanced combination of exercise and perogies get me through seasonal depression, no sweat. And lots of morning sex helps too.

Anonimo ha detto...

Well that's out of the question for me this winter. I'll have to learn to start indulging in chocolate.

Mistress La Spliffe ha detto...

You can have the perogies if you just get the boring potato kind - they're good with black bean sauce instead of the standard meat and cheese based loveliness.

The morning sex, I can't help you with.