Vintage

Almost everyone has different reasons for why they do (or don’t do) exercise. And for those that do it, their ‘fix’ comes in many different forms. Personally, while I try to play different sports and be as generally active as possible, one of the forms of exercise that I do very regularly is to hit the gym – weight training in particular. And these are my reasons why…

1. To keep healthy. I would say that this is the reason that the majority of older gym-goers do what they do. Essentially, they want to access the multitude of physical benefits that regular exercise or gymming brings – such as weight loss or maintenance, improved cardiovascular strength, improved base fitness, de-stressing, releasing endorphins (feel-good hormones), improved blood-flow, etc. For me, I definitely subscribe to this approach. Exercising regularly helps me feel exponentially more alive and energetic, and the knowledge that I’m out there burning calories a few times a week soothes my conscience when I’m eating something a bit naughty, or out having a few drinks with friends.

2. To look good. From talking to a number of other young people, this seems to be the number one reason that they gym regularly. The girls want to lose weight (if they’re a little on the heavy side) or keep themselves slender (if they’re at their ideal weight/shape). They target their butts, legs, waists, arms, etc. through cardio, light weights, aerobic classes and the like. The guys are split into two distinct camps, though. The one camp is trying to lose weight and shape up, by focusing on cardio, and throwing in some weight-work for good measure. The other camp is actively trying to bulk up, focusing almost solely on weight-training. They want the big arms, big chests, strong backs and muscular legs. While I personally fall more into the second camp (I do most of my cardio outdoors), I do acknowledge that pumping iron also burns plenty of energy, and definitely contributes to me keeping my waistline in check.

It’s here that most people stop, when explaining why they gym. To them, the above two reasons are all they need to keep going. For me, though, there are two more reasons…

3.  Functional strength. It’s all good and well having bulging muscles from uni-directional weight-work, but if you can’t use the strength for everyday uses, then you’re not much more than a prancing pony. For instance, I know a few guys who are absolute mountains of muscle (think custom-made-shirts-big), but who struggle with day to day functional strength. Ask them to throw a punch, and they hit like a girl (no offence, ladies). Throw something heavy at them, and they can’t fabricate a decent catch. They’ve only trained their muscles to work within a highly specified range of motion, which is not helluva useful in the real world. I like to know that I am strong enough to handle whatever situation the world throws at me. It could be the mundane, like having to carry a 25kg bag of dog food with no handle, or move furniture on my own. Or it could be the extreme in an emergency situation, like having to lift somebody out of a hole with one arm, or lifting a tree that’s fallen on someone (I’ve had to do both). I always remember the scene from the movie “Poseidon” where the youngster gets caught under a metal light rig that’s fallen. He had to call for help, but help’s not always around; I’d like to improve my chances of being able to push the light rig off on my own.

4.  Able to take a beating. The final reason that I try to maintain a good amount of muscle and strength is to be able to take the hits that life gives you. In both the metaphorical sense, and the physical. A few years ago, when studying kung fu, we had a portion of the class which was dedicated to “iron body training”. Essentially, this was where we got the life pummelled out of us, class after class, in order to build up our resistance to bodily damage. And it worked like a charm. I’m nowhere near as “iron” as I used to be, but back then we were able to have poles broken across us, and punch concrete walls. You get the idea. Anyway, this whole “being hard” thing was brought to the forefront of my mind in a big way recently. A few days after Christmas last year, I was involved in a pretty big accident. A drunk driver (not wearing his specs) pulled across me, and I was unable to avoid him. We hit him pretty hard, and my car was a total write-off. Thankfully, myself and my two passengers were wearing our seatbelts, and survived with only very minor injuries. My girlfriend, who was in the passenger seat, was thrown against her seatbelt pretty hard (it’s an old car, so no airbags). My buddy, who was in the back seat, got the same treatment. While they both only had minor scrapes and scratches, they both complained about feeling bodily bruised, sore and achy for a few days afterwards, having been tumbled around a fair bit. Myself, all I had was a slightly bruised knee. I had ridden out the impact using my arms on the steering wheel, and braced my legs against the floor, and my body had absorbed 99% of the force of the impact. The next morning, I woke up, and wasn’t stiff or sore in the slightest. And I attribute it 100% to being physically fit and strong – my muscles acted as a shock absorber, and protected the rest of my body from what could have been devastating effects.

So, now, I hope you can see why it is that I gym so regularly. Often, my friends think I’m a bit touched in the head: “Dude, you can gym another time, come for a drink instead.”; “You won’t die if you don’t go to gym.” Now they know…