Work it out

One day, not long after I turned 30, I finally woke up to the fact that I needed to do some exercise. Other than yoga, and a desultory bit of running which I never managed to get into, I really had not done any exercise since I was at primary school. I got away with it for a few years, but after 30, as everyone knows, your metabolism slows and you start to balloon if you continue to eat too much and exercise too little.

The first step I took towards getting fit was to buy a fitness video. Somewhat shamefaced (because after all there is something a bit sad about exercising at home alone, in front of your TV, following orders from a complete stranger), I browsed in HMV until I found a video that didn’t look too bad. It was Tae Bo.

It sounds a bit daft but I would credit Billy Blanks, Tae Bo’s energetic protagonist, and his hard-faced sidekick, Shelley, with giving me the impetus to start exercising and with showing me the benefits of regular exercise. Packed with motivational catchphrases (From the sublime: “You gotta wanna work at it, baby. You gotta wanna DO IT!” to the ridiculous: “Walk by faith, not by sight”), the videos show a group of (mainly) women exercising vigorously to a thumping soundtrack. The moves are easy to follow and involve kicks, punches, jumps and squats, adding up to about 30 minutes of exercise and stretches.

After a bit of wheezing and cursing, and stopping half way through, gradually I started to be able to do the whole programme straight through and I realized that getting through the whole thing made me feel really good about myself.

You can’t help wondering about who these people are, and I was particularly intrigued by Shelley, who had abs of steel, and rarely smiled. You can’t help warming to Billy too. He means so well, and he tried so hard, and he cares about his people. Let’s face it, this is no soap opera, but the diversity of participants (big and small) makes this an exercise video that’s truly democratic. And it worked for me.