Team Gym

In advance of our skiing holiday in the New Year, some of the more dedicated members of the party have been meeting up, weekly, at the gym, in an attempt (perhaps a forlorn one) to get fit. Our current gym of choice is Ainslie Park, which I keep wanting to call Astley Ainslie, for some reason. The Astley Ainslie is a hospital, mostly full of old people recovering from serious conditions. I have no doubt that I will end up in the gym there soon enough, but am in no rush.

For some of us, though, notably Filipideedoodaa, once a week at Ainslie Park is no longer enough, and so she has suggested we start going twice.

“How’s six o’clock at Meadowbank on Monday?” enquired F….

“Do you work near Meadowbank on Mondays?” I asked, wondering about the change of venue.

“Well, it’s on my way home if I go home that way” she replied.

There, in one sentence, the logical genius that is Filipideedoodaa is encapsulated.

The whole gym thing, so far, has been a rewarding, but exhausting experience. Last week, on returning home, I felt so drained that I promptly devoured most of a box of Lindt chocolates. I confessed this to the Admin Supremo the next morning at work, who confidently asserted that this wasn’t a bad thing, since good quality chocolates don’t contain very much milk. Or something.

This week, having confessed my indulgence again, this time to Broon and F…, Broon immediately and confidently backed up the Supremo’s claim, and followed it up by claiming that the best thing after exercise is a chocolate milkshake. WELL, I can tell you, that piece of news went down well in my corner, if not F…’s, as she has renounced all chocolate products since a large chocolate bar fell on her head when she was six years old, and being a bloody-minded Welsh redhead, she isn’t breaking her fast for nobody. On further querying, Broon appeared to be quite genuine in her chocolate milkshake belief, and after all, she is a qualified physio, so off I popped to McDonalds, which is on my home if I go home that way. I have resolved to go home that way after every gym night from now on, in the interests of the quick recovery that chocolate milkshakes provide, according to Broon et al, 2004.

I pulled up at the drive-through.

“Chocolate milkshake please.”

“Regular or large?”

I thought for a moment.

“Large please.” After all, I had done thirty reps on that fiendish leg press thing. This gym malarkey is starting to look up. And the gym at Meadowbank is slap bang opposite…. McDonald’s. Good choice, F…

12 thoughts on “Team Gym”

  1. Nonsense! Note to self: ‘research gyms more carefully concerning proximity to MacDonalds and pick the furthest away’. In the best interests of my fellow team gymers of course. The Commonwealth perhaps – now that really is on my way home…

  2. Let me correct you, just this once, Mr Eye. Those involved in the study are, indeed, exercising twice. However, the purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of the chocolate milk on recovery. Therefore the subjects had to have exercised first to create the recovery period. Testing was carried out after this. So, the study doesn’t actually suggest that we should be exercising twice to reap the rewards. Just that we’ll recover more efficiently if we drink the chocolate milk after we’ve exercised. (The subjects exercised twice so that we don’t have to – how kind!) Any questions?

  3. On a separate subject altogether. AQ, I think this may be the first piece of (my) professional advice you've ever heeded, in three & a half years…Not entirely sure how I should take that but, the bill's in the post 😉

  4. Don’t worry Broon, I’m still waiting for my professional advice to be heeded! ‘Chocolate milkshake after exercise not recommended’ for example. Could you not testify to this?

    Granted, it doesn’t suggest twice a day exercise but maybe twice a week wouldn’t be so much to ask?

  5. F: How can I pay heed to your professional advice when it flies in the face of published scientific evidence?

    Broon: The last time I took your professional advice I went to see a very nice consultant who told me that my knee injury had cleared up by itself, and then charged me £100 for the privilege 🙂

    Colin Eye: Broon has already flamed you, so I won’t bother this time. Especially as you keep beating me at squash these days

    Rod: I fear you may be casting aspersions on my character by suggesting the presence of double standards in my approach to large steamrolling global corporates. Regrettably I have little to say in my defence, save that McD’s make nice-tasting drinks and St*****ks don’t 🙂

    Nice to read some comments again… thank you all for taking the time to glance away from Facebook, even briefly 😉

  6. Published scientific ‘evidence’ is not always reliable, valid or generalisable. And I have a feeling that the only thing for which MacDonalds chocolate milkshake can be relied upon is that it puts back on, in the space of a few minutes, all those calories that you have just sweated blood and tears during a 2 hour work out to lose!

  7. “Nice to read some comments again… thank you all for taking the time to glance away from Facebook, even briefly ;-)”

    Still here as ever. :oP

Leave a Reply to JonesCancel reply