- Jez from British TV Series Peep Show
As a rule of thumb, it is probably best not to adopt
the philosophies of Jez from Peep Show.
This is a man who once said “stealing just makes everything very cheap” and
whose attitude towards important documents is to “sign and recline” and wait
for fate to take its course. However, I believe that Jez’s opinion on gyms is
spot on. Running on a treadmill, how is that fun? OK, I can set the treadmill at
speed I desire and adjust it from time to time, but while running outside I can
also change my speed by, erm, running faster or slower. Yes I could hop on the
exercise bike and learn that over one hour I would have ridden 10 miles if I
was on an actual bike. Or how about this - I could ride 10 miles on an actual
bike and go somewhere, enjoy some fresh air, face the challenges of the up
hills and the joy of the down hills, and look at something other than a wall, a
graph monitoring my heart rate, and middle aged women wearing expensive
athletic gear kidding themselves that they are getting a workout by walking
with ridiculous arm motions on a treadmill.
Like Jez, I have not paid to join a gym,
because I am a member of the free gym called the world. For example, consider
my weekly grocery shop at the local Jewel. I could persuade my roommate to
drive me there, I could offload some of the bags onto my girlfriend if she has
joined me, or I could even make more trips per week and buy a smaller bottle of
milk to make the bags lighter. But instead, once a week you will see me
returning from Jewel loaded up with heavy bags in both hands, lifting them
above my head, stretching my arms out sideways to work different muscles and
even bicep curling the bags as I walk. By the time I make it home with sore
arms, I have strengthened my upper body with this cheeky workout that was free
and didn’t even take up any extra time!
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| Jez from Peep Show, a fellow member of the world gym. |
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