Bench press

Perhaps not!

Walking out of the gym last night (there’s a phrase that I never imagined saying) I was required to go past a bank of excerise bikes. Up until recently I thought a spin class consisted of pirouettes until someone fell over, and why would you pay to do that? Is the instructor in on it or just there to catch you?

Anyway, sitting on one of the bikes was the mother of one my daughters school contemporaries. She was obviously a seasoned attendee and our shared ‘out of puff’ expressions said more than our whole conversation.

Not being at all aquainted with gym etiquette I stopped for a chat. She carried on cycling and we discussed on a very superficial level our habits of attendance. We had made eye contact and a nod last week which gave her the impression that I was also a veteran. I soon rectified this notion and informed her that it was still week one for me.

I know that my natural buff physical condition takes people off guard and can lead to many false assumptions as to my activities, it is a saving grace for others that I wear loose clothing. Please be aware of the ironic nature of that last section!

Our cycling friend assumed that I had been down at the weight lifting corner and was pressing heavy iron. I had, in fact, gone back there and performed one of those ‘looking for a friend’ maneuvers and walked back out. Because of the time of day the weights section was bustling with testosterone oozing bodies, there was hardly room to swing a cat (a deceptively good workout) far less two 8kg dumb bells.

My initial reason for joining this establishment was not to become rippling and large, it was to strengthen those core muscles that seem to be disliking being on the wrong side of forty. I do venture into the weight corner to perform my lunges each time that I go, why doesn’t lunge sound very manly? Even if I was holding a sword I would want a better word than lunge as I ran someone through.

That is what I do though…..lunge!

Forty times on each leg with 8kg in each hand, as I am reliably informed that it is going to strengthen my lower back with repetition over weeks. Having a husband of a similar age our cycling mother gave me a knowing nod of recognition as I told her of my motivation. We remembered that in the recent past medical advice was to lie still for a muscular pain in your lower back, not so now.

Herein lies my musing for today..core strength.

I have never had the misfortune to hit a tree with my car but I have tried to pull one out of the ground with my car. I had cut through everything that I could see and still the stump refused to budge. It was at that point I learned about the tap root, this sucker goes vertically down from the stump and takes some finding let me tell you. But when that baby is cut the stump comes away relatively easily.

My spiritual and mental core strength has been hugely depleted over the last few years along with my physical strength. In building up the physical it is almost metaphorical of the inner work taking place simultaneously. Used to be that nothing would rock my world, and I mean nothing. To start again in every sense has been an unexpected journey that I would not have chosen.

For the next stage of my life there is obviously a different me that is needed and that is fine, lying prone mentally, spiritually and physically is not going to achieve this but pushing to grow, is.