Exercise Outdoors
Sun Herald
Saturday May 6, 1995
DO gyms sometimes get up your nose? Do you get fed up with sweaty workout studios where there's no room to throw anything more than a temper tantrum? Do you have trouble colour-co-ordinating your lycra leotard with your sweat band? Then take a different fitness path. Go back to the basics of cycling, bushwalking or roller blading.
Clive Robertson, who hosts radio 2GB's breakfast show, is a man who would never venture into a gym.
"I get harassed when I go to the gym," he said.
Yet, despite his almost mythical stature as a world-weary commentator on the human condition, and not one to go over the top very easily, he is very passionate about exercise. Particularly cycling, and in the country.
But he wouldn't say where he exercises.
"People will run me over if I say where it is."
Robertson, who started cycling in 1967 and is remarkably fit for 49, said that aside from its health benefits, breezing along quiet country roads was one of the best experiences he knew.
"There you are cycling along the road past paddocks and cows, dodging snakes in the summer. Farmers wave at you, and its wonderful, wonderful! And you keep on going until your tired," he said rapturously.
And getting tired for Robertson might mean having some 110km a day under his belt.
Cycling is hitting its straps at the moment but then so are all the other outdoor pursuits.
Mark McKeon, managing editor of the Melbournebased Ultra Fit magazine, said people were turning away from "institutionalised fitness", particularly gyms, and turning towards outdoor activities in a very big way.
"There has been a decline in gym memberships in the past couple of years and an increase in sales of home gym equipment and increased participation in outdoor recreation activities like jogging, cycling or just getting out there and a flying kite.
"Gyms are only catering for a minority of people who are already fit."
There's probably no better way to build up cardio-vascular fitness and tone muscles (particularly legs and backsides) than cycling.
John Thacker, from the Clarence St Cyclery, said: "If you do a few kilometres two to three times a week it's good exercise. As long as you work up a sweat and are breathing a bit hard."
There are a number of rides you can do in and out of Sydney with like-minded folk. The Bicycle Institute of NSW produces a calendar of rides organised by various bike clubs and a booklet called Cycling Around Sydney, which has maps of most Sydney bike tracks.
Thacker suggested the best bike for the amateur enthusiast would be a mountain bike, which is sturdy and suitable for rough terrain, or the "hybrid" bike which is a cross between a mountain and racing bike and very light. Bikes start at around $400.
Bushwalking might not be everyone's idea of a racy time but it has a huge following among young and old. There are 25 listed clubs in the Sydney area alone and more in country areas. Clubs organise weekly one-day and weekend treks which are graded for different levels of fitness. Most extend their activities also to abseiling, canoeing, rafting, horse riding and there is a strong social component to most.
There are day walks all round Sydney, in the Lane Cove National Park, Ku-ring-gai Chase, the Royal National Park and the Blue Mountains. Membership for most clubs costs from $15 to $35. A list of clubs is put out by the Confederation of Bushwalking Clubs NSW and is available from Paddy Pallin shops.
ROLLER blading, or inline skating as it's now called, is probably the hottest new outdoor pursuit. If you haven't seen a hyperkinetic blader on the streets yet, rolling over bus seats and up vertical walls, you're not paying attention. While it's an activity that is probably kinder to the young and nimble, it can be done by any age at all.
Nick Clarkin, from the store Manly Blades, said he regularly sees a guy skating who is about 60 years old. Clarkin said roller blading was popular in Manly because of the huge esplanade and the beach front where kids can race about like pinballs. There is also a bike track from Manly Vale through to Balgowlah suitable for roller blading.
Clarkin said you could get extremely fit skating and it required the same amount of body control and technique as speed ice-skating and was particularly good for all leg muscles and backsides. One or two lessons (costing $10) will see you well on the way to success.
"You can pick up the skill fairly quickly," he said.
Skates cost from $100 up to $470. But a package including skates and arm and elbow guards would cost about $370 and you get a free lesson with any purchase. You can also hire skates from the shop for $10 for the first hour and $5 for subsequent hours.
Keeping fit in slow motion. That's how Tai Chi often seems and it's most definitely not for those suckled on the Jane Fonda style of jump-till-you-die aerobics. And it requires a bit of concentration and patience. But for general health and stress control, Tai Chi followers claim there's nothing quite like it.
FOUNDER and president of the Australian Academy of Tai Chi, Master Gary Khor who, has written the book Tai Chi For Stress Control and Relaxation, said the interest in this art was increasing all the time. Malaysian-born Khor, 47, said: "When I first came to Australia in 1965 very few people knew what Tai Chi was all about." To date though he has seen some 90,000 initiates go through the academy.
"Tai Chi gives a sense of harmony with body and mind working in unison."
He believes that while it doesn't give you the same kind of cardio-vascular fitness that other exercise routines give you, Tai Chi does make you healthy.
"Many people confuse fitness with health. You can be fit and not healthy."
Tai Chi is held in Centennial Park (near the kiosk, Oxford St entrance) on the first Sunday of every month from 9.30 am and is free.
So, you might be as big as the Michelin tyre man; you might indeed have a clinical aversion to lycra, but now there's nowhere to hide. The big outdoors is calling you!
© 1995 Sun Herald