Battling The Demons

The gym I go to is in Place Lux, home of the Eurobrats. It’s about a ten minute walk from where I live in Schuman. Normally, I’d walk it as it allows me rub shoulders with so many important people from the ‘Institutions’ and also admire all the lovely ladies who spend their days having long lunches and coffee breaks in there, as well as being harassed by some of the brutes in our club.

We had a bit of rain for a few days so I hopped in the car the last few times. Parking is a nightmare over there but not on these visits. I got the exact same spot on three different occasions right bang in the middle of the square. In fact, it was right outside one of my favourite pizza places in Brussels. It was a ridiculous challenge to my once a week commitment. I passed though....just.

Others have been easier. No more Coke. Check. Actually, once you give up something for a while you lose the want for it. I’ve stuck to the water all of January, not even deviating for an OJ. I did buy a box of green tea but it remains unopened. Baby steps.

Another ‘demon’ on the hit list is chocolate/biscuits. This is a nightmare. Initial target was to cut down, primarily by boycotting my twice daily visit to the sweet machine at work. However, I found a loophole in this as the coffee shop type place at work sells a mean brownie. Report card currently reads ‘could do better’. I did manage to give up the animal biscuits. The lad in the corner shop is devastated that he can’t charge me €3.50 for something that actually has 90p printed on the box anymore.

The purpose of all of these measures is not to lose weight, it’s just to live a little healthier and get a bit fitter. Although it is in some way linked. One of the ‘goals’ I referred to but didn’t detail in an entry last week, due to some vain form of embarrassment, was about body fat. This is my new thing. There is a link between that and general fitness as I understand. I sit too comfortably in the average category, around 20%, and want to reduce it. 13% is a suitable target for the next two months. Mind you, after week 2, minimal progress has been made.

Sidelining the demons requires strict routine. I’m currently working through the Kinsale lads’ gym programme and also starting to do the core work and flexibility stuff more diligently. Actually, the flexibility is something which I’ve actually seen some quick results from and this is definitely something we should all be doing and can be done with no equipment and while you are watching tv. Anyway, I read this week that if you break your routine once, the chances of getting back into it are slim. It is indeed a challenge.

From a workout point of view, it hasn’t been such a problem. January and February are laid out with a clear plan but continuing to eat well is a challenge for a number of reasons. Firstly, you need to be organised and have the right food in the house to make sure you don’t take the easy option and eat out. Living where I do, that would be easy as the streets are laden with restaurants.

Secondly, you need to expand your recipe book. Man can only eat so many chicken fajitas (with nothing except chicken!), salmon or lasagne. Actually, when you get into it, cooking isn’t so bad but it’s time consuming and if you’ve had a long day at the office, it’s the last thing you want to do. Still, as our friend McGurn tells us, you can train all you want but it’s not worth a toss unless you’re filling your body with the right things.

Thirdly, snacking is problematic. When you train more you get hungrier so you’ll often be sitting at your desk and need a snack. Of course, the easy option would be to head down to the machine. To avert this, a constant supply of fruit occupies my desk. Sometimes I eat it, sometimes I eat the brownie but it’s getting better.

Anyway, Monday night now means spinning. I absolutely hate that class but you sweat like a maniac in there so it must be good. Still, I quite like the instructor Carmen, in her I can’t quite figure out which kind of foreign accent, berating me for not putting enough tension on the bike. I certainly never expected to be accused of not creating enough tension. So, whilst bopping away and feeling the legs burning I was wondering why the hell I was bothering with all this crap.

Of course, I kept repeating the stuff about being fitter, healthier and injury free. Then I came home and turned on Sky Sports News and I see Gavin Henson is out with a torn calf muscle for three weeks. So, I started thinking, fellas like him have world class trainers and facilities but still suffer injuries. I wondered, if you took a team at the top of its sport and a team down at amateur level, would you observe a noticeable difference in the numbers or types of injuries? I’m not sure you would.

So what’s the point of it all? Jesus!