On Why I Killed My Inner Hamster and Stopped Going to the Gym*

*and bought a bicycle instead

News and media these days are obsessed with obesity, whether it is affecting the nation, our kids or even our pets. Doctors and GPs here in England are being issued instructions on how to discuss the topic with their patients as the decision is now to regard obesity as an illness, that needs urgent treatment. The message still doesn't seem to be getting across as one woman the other day was chirping "I am trying to do my bit in helping kids have 5 helpings of fruit and veg a day - I gave my kid a bag of crisps just now!". I nearly fell off my chair and it took me a while to realise that she obviously thought that since crisps were made from potatoes, that would count towards a helping of vegetables.

Therefore in the age of 'healthy diets', getting more exercise, joining the gym and whatnot being touted as the tricks of survival - I have gone and done the exact opposite: resigned from the gym. This is not actually, because I prefer not to exercise - it's because I believe gyms are partially to blame why people prefer not to. Sounds a little counter-intuitive, but let's elaborate:

The good aspects of joining the gym are the following:

• Getting a variety of different types of exercise for the whole body
• Having access to a qualified health instructor to advise and inspire you to improve
• (hopefully) fit, attractive men to look at if you are a woman
• (hopefully) fit, attractive women to look at if you are a man
• Creating a routine out of getting exercise
• Gadgets readily available for you to measure calories burned, heart rate etc. to illustrate the progress you are making
• Option to exercise AND watch telly at the same time.

These are some of the selling points people use to advertise joining a gym and now, rather than it being the pursuit of a few steroid-enhanced monkeys, it is quite normal and acceptable to tell your friends you go to the gym and moreover, it even gives the illusion that you may consider your body to be a temple, by merely turning up there regularly. However, having a been a regular gym-goer myself for many years, (I blame a bad back and crap weather in the winter) I have taken the plunge and resigned. What made me do it? Things that swayed me were:

• The price - going to the gym nowadays seems to be impossible unless you buy a membership, monthly subscription, a special session with an instructor (costs more)to set up your exercise program (doesn't matter if you already have one!) and a fitness assessment (even if you give them the numbers in advance they still like to do it themselves and it costs). It even takes time to register, so if I wanted to go today to do a 100 sit-ups in the gym that's juts opened around the corner, I can't. I first have to be talked to like a moron, explained the gym rules, give my credit card details for membership and bank account details for monthly subscription, then book appointments and finally days later (regardless of whether I'm a professional athlete or not) I might have some fleeting chance to actually sit down and do some exercise. If this wasn't enough to dissuade you then read on.

• When being given the tour of the gym you are continuously reminded by chirpy lady in tights that the gym is a social venue, with many activities being arranged for the gym goers like dancing, picnics, fun days out, pub lunches and whatnot. Am I a social misfit if I prefer to go to the gym, do some exercise and then go home and continue the rest of my life, without feeling obliged to partake in some social day out with people I normally only recognise when they wear their trademark leotards? Call me weird, but it is the truth.
• Women who put make-up on when they go to the gym (enough said)
• Men who look like they have inhaled helium and spent the day roasting over a slow fire and who like to roar when lifting weights
• Smell of old rubber ingrained with sweat
• Telly in the gym (the times I go to the gym are never the times when there is anything decent on and I simply can't fathom cycling  35 km to the sound of Trisha or a soap.
• Concept of plenty of energy spent albeit nothing visibly gained (the Hamster syndrome) - it would be cooler if you could participate in powering the lights for the city (or your telly) by cycling on the exercise bike (how's that for motivation) or charging up your Ipod with body energy... I'm getting carried away now, but it is disillusioning to do that much sweating and get nowhere.

So what's my solution? I have to be honest and confess that I had to think about this for a while - a) because I am, like many others, a creature of habits and not going to the gym entailed me having to think what else I was going to do to get a similar (or better) result in terms of exercise and b) Because not going to the gym means if you do some running, cycling, walking or roller-blading you actually GO SOMEWHERE and that means you need to think of routes, distances, time, environment etc. and that's a hell of a lot more thinking needed than just sitting on an exercise bike, so here's what I did:

• I love cycling so i bought a road bike (no point with mountain bikes in London, the gearing is all wrong and designed for forests and here you get mainly tarmac with a few decorative trees on the side of the road)
• Pair of running shoes
• Roller Blades (great idea, I later discovered that rollerblading in London is lethal, because of the state of the roads and hence these are a special treat reserved for visits to nice parks with good road surfaces)
• A Suunto T6 - this is a great watch as it comes with heart rate monitor, but you can also buy a bike and foot pod for it and these things are remote transponders you attach to your shoe or the wheel of your bike, that communicate with your watch wirelessly and track your speed, distance, altitude - you name it, all recorded to the watch. You can then attach the watch to your computer and keep track of your fitness level and improvement in training using a special program set up to your exact stats. Great for all gadget nerds, but moreover - a great way of keeping track of your performance out there in the real world, outside the gym
  
• Lastly, One of those Rubber Band stretch things, which allows you to exercise your arm muscles and shoulders, by pulling the stiff rubber band. Great way to tone arms and do what you used to do in the gym on those massive machines with weights.
• All this for less than a year's subscription to the gym.

Benefits - exercise for me now means not only fun, but fresh air, distances and locations, going up a real hill is infinitely more fun than cycling up a virtual one in the gym and moreover, I can instantly see that I'm improving - not only getting fitter, but that hill I used to hate is not so scary anymore  so I have both fitness and confidence and last but not least, I can chat to people when I feel like it, I can ignore the folk in Lycra and cycle past them as I'm not stuck in a confined space listening to them grunting. Bliss!

Comments

[Dave Phan]

While I agree with you on most points about the gym, I have never had any trouble with the sign up procedure like you mentioned. I have been a member of four gyms and each of them you walk in and either sign a one year agreement or pay month by month. I have never been asked a question about anything other then my credit card info. I walked in and within five minutes, I was working out. At my current gym, it's just 9.99 a month and it's open 24 hours. The stereotypical gym atmosphere seems not to apply there as I only see normal people doing average exercises. I think you should try and find a better gym. There is no replacing a 20 mile ride on a nice cannondale bicycle but the gym offers so much more than that. I think you just have to not worry about everyone else and go there for what you are there for, the exercise equipment. Just ignore everything else.

[Ricardito]

And you forgot to add one of the main reason I can't bear gyms: the unbearable amount of possers looking at themselves on the mirror while they pull some weights.

[Audiolathe]

Good points all around - and all those of you without the sea of Lycra to put up with... count yourselves lucky.

On Free weights and resistance training - maybe I need to state that being female, my interest is not so much in building up muscle mass (which I believe guys probably are, but building up stamina and burning fat. Cycling up big hills and getting up on the pedals, wrestling the bike does build muscle too, but not all over. So there is certainly a role for that too.

[rosie]

yeah, i suppose the thing i like most about going to the gym though is the fact that there's no one there who judges you for what you're wearing, or how sweaty and gross you look while pounding away, because everyone looks equally disheveled and ruddy-cheeked, and they're all too busy gazing mesmerised at the TV monitors anyway. Plus in my gym there is a distinct absence of lycra, for which i thank god every day :)

[Eponymouse]

What about resistance training? Cardio is not all it takes to stay healthy into your old age. Don't even try to tell me your rubber bands are the equivalent of free weights.

[Audiolathe]

You are too right - and I can confess to having severe struggles of motivation when the weather is terrible and yes, motorists are by default blind. I think there's a business opportunity here of simple straightforward gyms, that let people get on with what they want to do and stop pretending to be a 'lifestyle' brand - make it pay as you go and all that. I would gladly go back if my local gyms did that!

Thanks for your comment!

[localgymmember]

The disadvantages of gym memberships you listed are too true, but their are good reasons to have one. How many gym members are killed by motorists riding stationary bikes or jogging on treadmills? I would say a large negative to biking is traffic hazards, their have been three fatalities this year alone in my area. The roads are lethal, people just don't see you until you are under their tires.. dead. Furthermore, roads are seldom paved for bike traffic, it is expensive and uses up more land to provide a true safe bike lane any decent distance. Also, who wants to bike outdoors when it is 30 below zero with a windchill and icy slick roads? Like to get caught in the rain on a bike? How about a swim in December? Gyms have their place and their advantages are substantial.