David Taylor has been walking with us since the Summer. I asked him why he joined SE Fitness and what he has gained in the last 5 months:
“As I faced retirement from a hectic and pressured career and becoming a state pensioner, I viewed with trepidation the range of activities that some men had chosen, from the avid world traveller, the enthusiastic silver gap year student, becoming a really bad golfer or cruise addict to the soporific stupor of days spent in the local pub listening to others past exaggerated adventures over a carefully nursed pint. Worse still seeking the solitude of the shed!
I decided that in order to get the most bucks for my pension ( live as long as possible) I would try to regain in part a level of fitness that I once had as a hockey player. Delusional I know but I thought it worth having a goal even if it would ultimately prove unattainable.
In preparation I struggled, wheezing around the streets in the summer months at what I told myself was power walking, but in reality was what others would call leisurely strolling, in the sports gear that once used to fit over distances that I had previously consumed in half the time.
My wife tactfully suggested that I join a fitness group where wearing tights wasn’t so embarrassing and as a result I contacted Sally Ellis who invited me to join the walk plus group on Thursday mornings. I met the trainer, Becky who outlined what to expect and mentioned that I would be the only man in the group. The women were very welcoming and after an initial warm up the group set off at a cracking pace around Sutton park. It took me several weeks to finally keep up and begin to enjoy the very real benefits of regular exercise. I have lost weight, felt fitter and according to Sally I have better pelvic floor muscles so buoyed up by this improvement I joined a second walking group. I am now able to scamper around the park and still have enough breath left to talk. Since Christmas I have joined a running group and I am looking forward to eventually being able to run 5 miles non stop- but there is still some way to go. I am still the only man in the walking groups. Perhaps the lure of the golf course or the warm bonhomie of the pub or the dank gloom of the garden shed is sufficient for some men to feel fit and alive. It is not. Men get more out of your pension by keeping fitter longer and join me please – you don’t have to wear tights!!”