I think I might have to join a gym. I hate the whole body fascism gym-bunny thing but I also don’t like the fact that I’m getting fatter again. Previously I lost weight through a mixture of cycling and swimming – I used to swim three lunchtimes a week at a pool round the corner from where I worked. This really helped in the run up to the 2007 Etape.
Unfortunately we moved offices in early June, too far from the pool I used to use and there is no pool near my new workplace. Since then weight has being going back on rapidly. An obvious answer would be to swim before and/or after work but the logistics of that are poo and I suspect I wouldn’t do it.
There’s a cheap (£28 per month) and fairly basic gym round the corner from the new workplace and I’m considering joining up, just so that I can do something exercisey at lunchtimes. I’ve thought about running but I’m in Southwark and the stop-start nature of the busy streets round here wouldn’t make for great running. I do see people running on the South Bank on the Thames Path but it’s very busy, particularly at lunchtimes and I find a lot of the runners there to be f*cking rude barging their way through the crowds.
Exercise before and after work isn’t really an option other than the cycling I’m already doing, as I already get home around 7pm at the earliest. I’m also not getting up to do anything before going to work.
I don’t want to do any more cycling than I currently am (on track to easily exceed 8,000 miles this year, way more than my previous best total last year of 6,700 miles)
So barring any good ideas anyone else might have*, lunchtimes at the cheap gym seems the way to go – rowing, cross trainer, a bit of running on the treadmill and spinning classes from time to time.
*Giving up beer, although obvious, is not an option either people.
