Page 20 - April-June 2024 Edition

Dick and Rosie Stockley

|Health Feature

BY DICK STOCKLEY

GETTING FIT WITHOUT GETTING HURT

Everyone goes through phases of wanting to get in shape, get fit, lose weight, climb Rwenzori or
run a marathon. There’s a huge market in fitness: from what to eat, what not to eat, what pills to
swallow, which supplements to take, what exercise regime to follow, what gym to join what
trainers to buy. You’ll certainly lose pounds: and dollars, euros and shillings. In UK you can’t walk
into a shop to buy trainers without seeing wall to wall adverts for supplements, protein drinks,
whey, and diagrams of the molecular structure of the heels of the trainers guaranteed to make
you run faster without injury. And you’ve guessed it: the only comment I’m going to make about
shoes is who repairs them. Cobblers. Maybe the elite athletes need personal trainers, extreme
diets, exercise plans and the latest protein drinks: the one they get paid to advertise. There is
one certainty. They all disagree, which is why a new must-read book comes out every year.

I’m 70. Before Covid I ran to work twice a week and cycled twice a week. The reason was the
traffic was so awful I couldn’t stand it any longer and I got to work tired, sweaty and feeling
frustrated. Running and cycling I got to work tired, sweaty and feeling wonderfully self righteous,
passing all those cars stationary at the junctions. Then along came Covid and we were told
running on the streets was attempted murder. I cycled 4 days instead. Now I’m retired living in
the Kalahari and I know what it’s like to struggle to get back into shape. Slogging through soft
sand certainly makes me tired and sweaty but no good feeling, self righteous or otherwise. So
how to get back into shape without pulling a muscle, feeling exhausted, getting knackered
going nowhere and giving up after a week?

RULE NUMBER 1
No pain no gain is silly and dangerous. It might work for pros but not for Mrs. average who wants
to run a marathon in 3 months. Pain means injury means stop. What’s your aim? Whatever it is,
take your time getting there. Start with doing a lot less than you think you can and doing it
often. There’s a lot that happens when you exercise. The body runs on blood sugar, which is
replenished from the glycogen stored in the muscles and liver. If those stores are constantly
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