A2Z Challenge - Day 7 - Gym

Before I start today's post, I would like to thank all those who have been dropping by my blog, reading the posts, and leaving comments, some of them quite insightful. I have been reading them all. 

My apologies for not being able to immediately acknowledge your efforts, because of my packed daily routine. Yet, I chose to do the Challenge because it's still doable, though I might be occasionally lagging a bit.

Please be assured that I will return your visit and leave my comments, as I catch up during the weekends, and as and when I get some time.   

There was a time when I used to go to a nearby gym, mainly to walk/ jog on the treadmill and do a bit of exercises on the various apparatus.

But I discontinued after nearly a year; because I realised that most of the benefits we get out of doing those simple exercises in the gym, one can easily get by doing similar exercises out in the open air. I was also feeling the closed environment of a gym, a bit constricting.  

So, I go to a nearby park, daily. Bengaluru is lucky that way. There are many parks, and most of them have equipment for basic exercises.

This is not to say that gyms are of no use. But before we decide to sign up to use those machines in the gym, one must ensure that those higher levels of exercising are indeed needed. Professional gymnasts, athletes and sportspersons are definitely people who need to train in a gym. 

Besides them, there are also many non-sportspeople who would like to professionally train like sportspersons. That's also fine.

However, anecdotally, I have seen that there is a sort of misplaced fascination with 'gyming', almost like a fad, especially with youngsters: sort of an obsession with how one's body looks. 

Another trend that I have seen is some people go to the gym, vigorously and strenuously exercise for a few months. They then lose interest, and not only stop going to the gym, but also stop exercising altogether. So much so that they slip into a sedentary lifestyle.   

That's indeed dangerous, not just for the body but for the mind too.

Recently, there have been many instances of people who are 'very fit', 'healthy' and 'athletic', losing their life, because of over-exercising and thereby putting their body into too much of stress and strain. A simple web search will throw more light on this.

What is important is not going to a gym and exercising. What is important is exercising to our personal requirement, without putting our body into too much of stress. 

Finally, it's all NOT about 'looking good'. It is about being healthy.

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This post is part of the blogging challenge in April every year, wherein bloggers put up one post a day, from A to Z, every day except Sundays. 

I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z. I am also on A2Z April Challenge.

Image credit: Pixabay