There's a really good exercise culture here in SA, and things happen earlier in the morning - e.g. more people work 8-4 than work 9-5. There are two major gym chains: Virgin Active (was an SA company, went into admin and bought by VA) and Planet Fitness (nothing to do with the US PF)
Both charge around 40 pounds a month for membership for there. The gyms have a pool, couple of studios, cardio machine area, weight machine area and free weights area - typically couple of squat racks, 3 BP benches 3 incline benches, 8-10 adjustable benches, DBs 2-60kg, Olympic bars for all benches and racks, and fixed bars (straight and EZ) up to 60kg. They're open 04:00 until 22:00. Both chains also have a more upmarket gym that charges twice as much, but has less free weights kit.

As I mentioned earlier, things are earlier in the morning. I leave home at six and see people out running and cycling. I train from 6:30 until 7:30 at a VA gym near work, getting into town ahead of the traffic. It's busy at that time but I rarely have to wait for a squat rack of BP bench. I can do that and be in work soon after eight. The times I have trained in the evening, it's been busy but less so. Being a chain gym means I can use another VA near home at weekends....5 minutes drive rather than the 15 minutes to the city gym.

Get a dog and walk, best free exercise you'll find and far less boring than plodding along on a treadmill in front of Sky News or MTV.

Got a cat at present who would not tolerate a dog.

This is potentially a problem. I had to give up previously because I developed tennis elbow. Got to the stage where I was struggling to hold a newspaper in my right hand! After lots of treatment that cleared eventually. Since then I have developed a neck problem, which means I should not use weight machines
- at least with my arms. So, I will probably be restricted to leg-based aerobic activity and a few leg presses. My worry then is, as you say, can I stick the boredom and will I then mess up my knees through overdoing things? My problem is I have an obsessive nature and if I get over the initial boredom and get into going I just overdo things and do not take account of my age!

You should just give up then.

Or get some sensible advice that gets you on to a sensible programme.

I had been nursing my legs through some quad tendonitis lately, but they felt good this morning, so I decided to load up the bar on squats today. After warmming up I kept to just 5 reps at 120kg, then another 5 at 140kg (I've hit 6x140 before but powerlifter style low bar and wide stance, meaning less ROM) then another 10kg for a set of 3 at 150kg. The third might not have hit parallel but the first two were beyond parallel. Another set of two reps, then back down to 140kg for five again that felt easier than first time around. 120kgx8 and 100kgx12. A nice final squat session before going on hols

Not true. If you get a puppy then the two will soon get used to each other, and become bosom buddies. Indeed a relative did just this 2 years ago now, its funny watching the two grooming each other. Last week they have now introduced a new kitten. With no problem whatsoever.

If you get them together I think that works. I do not believe there is any way our cat would tolerate a puppy. It's taken her over 14 years to let us stroke her and we feed her every day!

Are you sure its a cat that you have ?

You seem to have a good example of why people should not keep wild animals as pets, release it in the garden and see if it comes back, if it comes back only at feeding time then don't feed it and see if it comes back tomorrow, if it doesn't come back tomorrow then its gone - go buy a dog and start your exercise routine with it.

Oh, it'll come back. It'll have a well-established feeding-station round, and will visit each feeding station daily. I don't know how many no-feeds it would take to cross any given one off the cat's list, but after 14 years I should think it'd be a lot

It's not going there for the conversation or newspapers.

I once knew a vegan girl who had convinced herself that she'd managed to turn her cat veggie.

I didn't bother trying to convince her otherwise because all she'd have done then was keep the cat inside to prevent him getting his feline dose of McDonalds or Burger King from the neighbours

No need for a gym, complete waste of money and just an excuse to post "Just got back from the gym. Really knackered after that workout!" on Facebook.

An Xbox One and Kinect Fitness. I dropped around 2lb per week and a radical diet change using these.

But if your goal is to put muscle mass on, you can't do that with just an Xbox can you? Yeah you could/would gain to size but nothing like you would in a gym.

You could stand in the living room with the xbox on the floor and then bend down and pick it up (unplug it first) and lift it above your head before returning it slowly to the floor again - repeat this lots and lots of times but ensure that a friend is standing alongside you to catch it if you fatigue.

Wear proper long socks with your trainers and a tee-shirt with a catchy slogan or "Pineapple Studios" on it and you have just about captured that genuine gym experience, for free.

Hardly genuine though is it unless you have a living room full of stunning girls in tight lycra bending over in front of you pert firm butto................. Sorry got to go.

Stop looking through my windows!

hit a 180 deadlift single to finally take me past where I was before doing my back in earlier this year

That's a good, bar bending lift. Almost as strong as me

5x170kg, 4x180 and two at 190kg. That was early this year though, and I've barely deadlifted since, concentrating on squats and benching instead.

the 180 was after a snatch and clean and jerk session just playing around, reckon I could get 190 fresh. Hit 150x5 beltless today, really need to build that core/posterior strength a bit because the difference a belt makes is pretty embarrassing



Also got back to playing rugby at uni so lifting will no doubt take a hit but actual base fitness/strength levels should come up a bit

Day 20 on the wagon.

Yeah, no doubt strength will take a hit once rugby starts. I only started to get properly strong once I'd finished playing and coaching - even just coaching was a problem because of the time it took.

Very well played mate, hope it's still going well.

Have so far only lost eleven pounds since Jan (started at 13.7 stones, would love to be 12 stones eventually), difficult but will keep trying.

Am ashamed to admit that on weekends I drank a stupid amount around 06-09 especially. Thankfully those days are gone now, but do still enjoy five-six pints of Boddingtons on a Saturday in my local, gotta have a bit of what you enjoy eh.



Bought a second pair of running trainers not long ago (to gradually replace my others which are quickly wearing out after 1-2 years). Bought this new pair from a well-known sports chain, and Jesus do they push you for the add-on's:

Gel inner-soles? No thanks

Protective spray? No thanks.

Trainer socks on special offer? No thanks.

Grrr!!

Even more annoying, was that to me, although the trainers were only cheap (£20) they are Lotto which has been around for decades and I was sure they'd be good enough for what I needed, but the cashier kinda half-dismissed them suggesting I go for a £60-£70 pair. I thought, if these are that bad, why do you stock them then? And the retail industry wonders why so much trade is being lost to online shopping...

Having said that, if you're going to do a lot of running, investing in a decent pair of trainers is money well spent, along with a proper pair of socks. Inner soles shouldn't be needed if you get the right pair and if you want to keep the trainers clean with spray you aren't doing it properly.



I got my trainers from a specialist shop and had gait analysis done to get me the right pair. They suggested, but didn't push, a pair of Twin Skin socks and I got some, which was a fantastic purchase. Not had a blister since I got them and I've run a lot of miles since I started up again.

think layer of vaseline on the feet, does the trick just as good

in fact so good you dont even have to put the trainers on