Thinking on my feet

Today will be the 9th Valentine’s Day my wife and I have celebrated, I’ve had several jobs where I’ve been one of the very few male employees; a ratio of 60 to 5 was the most extreme. I certainly don’t miss the anxiety created by some of my well-meaning female colleagues, ‘what are you going to get her’ ‘don’t get anything it’s too soon’, or ‘oh you must buy something etc, etc. Luckily I met my wife in the spring before our first, there were no issues at all, there never were. There were no mind games, no one else kept on the back burner, it’s always been so straight forward.

I can remember being stood in the florists the day of our first surrounded by some very uncomfortable young lads, all trying extra hard to look tough.  I set off an hour or two later to catch a train to her flat only to find myself stuck in the middle of a football riot. It just kicked off without warning, only moments earlier it was just a normal quiet street, then all of a sudden there were dozens of police baton charging a baying mob of complete idiots.

I stood there holding a bunch of flowers and some food I’d bought from the fish mongers for our dinner that night. It was one of the most absurd situations I’d ever been in, of which there have been many. I came away unscathed, I missed my train, but I did get a police escort to the station.

My wife always laughs out loud at the start of Sideways when the guy takes forever to get to his friend’s house; he stops for coffee, reads the paper and then blames his lateness on traffic. My reasons for being late that night took some convincing, I should have taken pictures on my phone, but I had my hands full.

I was reminded of this incident yesterday, the gym was rammed and wasn’t at all expected.  I’m still not sleeping much at all so I just stood still for a while wondering what the hell I was going to do.

I went a did a few sets of leg extensions so I could at least get a few minutes to think of a very flexible workout, and also hope for the gym to clear out a little.
I’m fortunate in that I know what I’m doing, if I was a newbie I’d hate being in that position. It’d be the same if I lacked the assertiveness to get stuck in and compete for free pieces of equipment. Some gyms can be full of bullies, or people who like to plod through a workout oblivious to the fact that there’d ever be anyone else waiting to use the equipment. I prefer training off-peak, I’m less likely to be exposed to many of the worst kind of gym stereotypes.

I’m now excitedly waiting for the doorbell to ring so I can take delivery of my new kettlebells, I’m also busy scanning the classifieds hoping to find a used olympic bar. I can’t help but think of the opportunity costs of every potential purchase in terms of ‘how many boxes of nappies can I buy for that?’, it’s been this way for over five years now. The cost of two 20k plates would buy me 8 boxes, I also don’t know where I’d fit a 7ft bar in my house.

There were a couple of highlights mind, I started my chest workout with a few sets of DB presses on a swiss ball. I never used to like these but they felt great, DB behind the back wrist curls were too, I also added weight to the reverse wrist curls. My forearms were nicely pumped, or for those you who are more Generation Y, swole.

One thing I am certain of, no matter how erratic my gym visits can be at the moment, I am always going to have covered all the essential basics, week after week.

Happy Valentine’s Day