SURVIVAL CLASS

Following on from my last post about being pre-diabetic......

When the problem was first diagnosed from raised sugar levels in my blood a few years ago, my GP suggested I be referred to our local gym for 12 free NHS-funded gym sessions. I was introduced to the lovely Gloria who took me on a tour of the gym and showed me what all the equipment was and got me exercising on them. She took weight, height, BMI and many other measurements and said she would update those as the weeks went by. I have never been a particularly sporty person - in fact I hated it with a passion at school and I even tried to be hockey goalkeeper, so I wouldn't have to run around the pitch!! I have never kept up sport in my adult life, so approached this new venture with somewhat nervous trepidation.

Surprisingly, as the weeks went by, I found I actually enjoyed exercising on the equipment and at the half-way stage all measurements were taken again and it was found I was losing a little weight (not that I had much to lose) but other statistics were reducing or improving, such as body fat percentage, muscle strength and cardiovascular endurance. A lot had improved by the end of the 12-week stage and a blood test revealed that I was no longer pre-diabetic.

The gym of course then asked if I would like to become a permanent member on senior citizen rates. The rates were so reasonable and far less per month than I was already paying to do a single pilates class at my local church. The gym rate would allow me to do hundreds of classes per week AND use their swimming pool AND use the gym whenever I liked - all for less than  I was paying for those 4 pilates classes per month. It was, as they now say, a no-brainer. 

I try to do three classes a week. One is a class purely for those of us who were referred from the NHS. A lot of the participants have high blood pressure, or have had heart attacks or strokes or maybe like me were pre-diabetic. The class is reasonably gentle with exercises that increase heart rate or with the use of weights increase muscle strength. I find I'm the most energetic one there and that gives me a lot of kudos.

On another day, I do two other classes back-to-back for anyone over the age of 60. The first of these two is what I call my manic class. Another lady calls it her survival class. The teacher is a lovely woman who herself is over 60 and plays fast beaty music in the background but I think she thinks we are all 16 and not 60. By the time you have done one of her 45-minute classes, you come out nearly on your hands and knees with the sweat pouring off you. I always feel I have achieved something by the end, but often half-way through I am clock-watching waiting for it to be over! Occasionally I will find the time to do some zumba classes or go into the actual gym itself, but parking fees often dictates how long I'll spend there and how often. 

Who knew, I would discover exercise in my seventies? Maybe I'll be one of those people who run the marathon in their nineties.