AQUA SOMETHING OR OTHER….

Deciding on a bit of cross training to rest a painful extremity – a persistently aching left big toe, (not my invention - Big Toe Pain has its own website) - I headed to TOTALFITNESS for my first taste of “Total Aquatics”???***??? To be honest, it wasn’t so much the big toe pain as the voucher for two week’s free trial kindly supplied by Jenny Thompson that got me there.

Lined up with a dozen others in the shallows we faced instructress, Fran. Others gyrated in line with her shouted instructions that echoed incomprehensibly round the pool. Seeing that I wasn’t really getting the hang of it, she moved the bench across and proceeded to demonstrate movements sitting on the bench; arms and legs flailing in the air. It appeared that we were supposed to be doing aerobics but under water. With several years of aerobic classes behind me, I knew the moves – knew them but couldn’t reproduce them in that uncooperative medium. I tried, but as soon as I’d got ‘Grapevine Left’ going, Fran was already into ‘Grapevine Right’ while uncontrollable currents were still carrying me in the original direction. My ‘lunge’ and ‘scissors’ weren’t too recognisable either.

It got worse when, half way through the class, Fran brought out the coloured floating “sausages”. Apparently I was supposed to stand with one foot on this wayward article while kicking the other out in front. The Blue Sausage had other ideas and, unceremoniously, tipped me off returning forcefully to the surface. It got even funnier when, strolling through Woolworth’s the next day, I found that they were actually called ‘Water Noodles’ and that I could buy my own for £1:79 in the sale.

Fran, water, strange movements and Water Noodles all conspired to make my cross training not only rather farcical but also a form of exercise unlikely to get me much fitter. So it’s back to running. See you next Monday………..

Written by: Dawn Lock

Submitted: 27^th April 2006

Edited by: Brenda J Earnshaw WRR Website/Magazine Editor