I have joined a gym. I (quite literally) took the plunge yesterday and decided enough was enough. Thanks to the kind lunacy of my friend Fie, (THANKS GIRL!!) I am now a member with my own combination padlock and everything!

After having a fairly terrifying induction with a lovely personal trainer/instructor type blokey, I then tried out the equipment. (I might add that it was terrifying because there is a scale of unhealthiness and I was well and truly past that scale every time….!)

I haven’t set either of my feet in a place of ‘leisure’ (Ha!) or ‘health’ (Ha again!) for many years. I think it is about 12?? So my body has no idea what has happened. But let’s just say, for arguments sake, that today, it HATES me. It doesn’t want to perform simple tasks like walking and moving gently. It aches. Even in places I didn’t know I had places.

It is nice to know that even small amounts of exercise begin to train and teach your muscles what they are actually there for. I am a dormant woman breaking free! Ouch! (It hurts to type. Must be more gentle….Ah! That’s better.)

I am hoping that I don’t get bored after a week and stay at home. My training person is aptly called WILL. He shall from this day, be re-named as WILL POWER, in my head any way!

That’s what I need more than anything right now! Will has a similar chest measurement to myself, arms like thighs and drinks “powershakes” in mysterious colours. OOOHH. (I have no idea what they do, perhaps just give you a sleek, but heavily-purpled colon?) At any rate, I am game. Will and the gym are up for the challenge of turning me into a less flabulous girlie… Woe betide me if I don’t do it! I don’t want the wrath of people with real muscles after me!!

Anyway, there I was in the pool last night, trying to work off the ache from the gym and wondering what on earth I was doing amongst the sleek and the slender. I decided to reward myself with a short time in the sauna for being a very good girl.

Enter hilarious northern man.
Now, I am not being funny, but I don’t really like sitting in a boiling hot airing cupboard with a sweaty, hairy male with whom I am not in any way aquainted – nothing between us but a bit of ill-fitting lycra (on my part) and tesco’s swim shorts on his…well parts…

But, that aside, we had a great chat. He started telling me all about his son, now a marine in Afghanistan. When this son was little, his father (my open-pored-lobster-red friend) dared him to play a game called “Garden Patrol.” The rules were simple. He had to sneak into everyone’s back garden on his road without being seen. Before his tea.

He shared this proudly with me.
Thats right! Proudly!
I think he honestly believes that because of that game his son got the taste for danger and is where he is today. He may be right!

Much entertainment was had as we talked further. What a funny guy!

My children are very encouraging about ‘Mummy going to the Gym.” They were brushing their teeth last night and telling me how much weight I had lost. IN ONE DAY. I felt like I’d walked into a Peter Kay monologue.

“I think you’ve lost hundreds” said Tom “Must be all that swimming!” he continued, with a winning smile and a powerful “thumbs up.”

“Thanks Tom,” I said. “But I haven’t actually been yet.”
Tom, missing the importance of what I had just said, continued in the same vein for some minutes… It was hilarious. Bless them.

But it got me thinking. Unwittingly, we teach our children many things about life, themselves and God by what we dare them to do and what we dare ourselves to do. Like my crimson pal last night who dared his son to peg it through people’s gardens (to the sad end of his neighbour’s newly-built greenhouse, I might add) to the simple act of me saying I need to get fit, we teach our little ones priorities.

What priorities do those around you know you have right now? You may not have spelt it out but it will be clear by what you watch, why you get out of bed and what is on your calendar.

Check with God what your goals should be and what He has asked you to do. If He is not in what you are attempting, no amount of will power (not even my friend WILL himself) will get you to your desired goal. But with God all things are possible.

Blog updates over the coming days will hint at my progress!