''Is
everybody sweating now?'' cried Laci, out front of the spin class, his voice
rising above the energetic Latino music, his legs pedaling the bike at what
seemed like a thousand revolutions a minute. I glanced around. The men in the
class certainly were sweating, the moisture strafing through the backs of their
shirts as their muscles strained to keep up. But the women, who seemed to be
doing just as well without exerting the same effort, weren’t; or not nearly
so much, and something more akin to a healthy sheen coated the blonde on the
bike ahead of me. I was wondering why men seemed to sweat more than women, but
before I had time to fully develop this thought, I glanced down at my feet and
noticed that a veritable pool of water surrounded my bike area. I was soaked,
as if someone had poured a watering can over my head.
The first four weeks of my three-month fitness program at World Class have elicited
a number of surprises. One has been the fact that I actually look forward to
each session. Actually, that’s putting it mildly. It might be a cliché,
but I never thought exercising could be so enjoyable. Sport has always been
enjoyable, but this is altogether more intense. It’s the machines. I had
always looked at those contraptions with a certain distaste, and the people
who use them as being too vain for their own good. I mean, it’s not as
if their physiques had been built up nobly, from baling hay for instance, is
it? This has to be put into perspective though, and it is unlikely I will ever
lift another bale of hay in my lifetime. For that matter, I’ll probably
never indulge in serious physical labour again. The machines are there for a
purpose. They are there to help stop our bodies from falling to pieces, which
in the absence of bales of hay, can so easily happen.
World Class has a machine to exercise just about every muscle, and my workouts
have involved using at least three sets of machines each time. I usually begin
with a cardiovascular workout, something to get the heart pumping, and because
Gabriel, my trainer and a model of physical fitness himself, is wary of putting
too much stress on my lower back he advocates against doing anything high impact,
such as running, and usually has me doing a cross training session for the first
20 minutes. Then it is onto more machines, where I put my arms, legs, chest,
stomach or shoulders to the test.
World Class emphasises that what you do outside the gym can help just as much
as what you do in it, and I’ve been able to stick to their suggestion
of eating a series of six small meals, rather than a normal breakfast, lunch
and dinner. They have also given me a soy protein powder sold through World
Class which, when blended twice a day with soy milk and a banana, or fruit juice,
provides exactly the daily amount of protein one needs.
The second point of interest is that I’ve been in there early in the morning
– 6.00 most mornings, to be exact. World Class says that a morning workout
is the best time of day, which is not idle talk. I can get through a fairly
strenuous workout and be showered and changed and ready for the day ahead by
8.00 am. An early start with intense physical exercise naturally makes you more
tired as the day progresses, so by 11.00 fatigue has set in and I am ready for
bed, which is as it should be. Sleep then comes quickly and lasts until I wake
the next morning and do it all over again. It’s a great routine and hopefully
I’ll be able to continue it once the three months are over.
