Eighteen months ago, due to a debilitating case of plantar fasciitis, I did something that I never thought I would do – I joined a gym – Contours gym at Fairfield. The plantar fasciitis, caused by two weeks of vigorous barefoot walking at Noosa across the Christmas holidays, meant that my normal exercise regime of a 4 Km walk around Yeronga had become impossible. After months of being in denial about my declining fitness, reality struck one day when reaching for a sheet of paper whilst sitting at my desk and nearly dislocated my shoulder.The creaking and groaning from my knees as I tried to get up out of my chair between patients was a dead give away also that my body was in serious decline.
So I decided to check out the local all ladies gym. The girls who were assessing me at my first few sessions wondered what they had struck – as I naturally (being a pelvic floor physiotherapist) announced in no uncertain terms – ‘I don’t do sit ups, curl ups, crunches or double leg lifts’. Karen smiled sweetly and said ‘Of course Sue, you do whatever you can.’ And so I embarked on the exercise treadmill and became a gym junkie ( although you’d never guess by looking at me….). I loved it – I looked forward to it every day and over the course of the past 18 months I have discovered the pleasures and benefits that can be obtained from safe strength training, from regular stretching and from working out safely on a range of different machines. More recently I have tried a new way to exercise and found how fantastic Zumba is. Everyone should have a go at Zumba- the music is great, the rhythm and movements wonderful and it is a fun aerobic activity.
Gradually over this period of time, I have become stronger; I can now roll over in bed without feeling like an eighty year old and more importantly have met a whole group of women who have stumbled across something more than the local gym. Some are fanatical, others I swear come for their catch up of the weekly news and a type of therapy – better than the psychologist’s chair (Colleen you know who you are….) but we all have one thing in common – we all love Carolyn and the girls at Fairfield Contours and we are shattered that due to these economic times and exacerbated by the drop off in membership due to the floods – our Contours is closing.
As I was swishing, swaying, salsering and stomping (to Michael Jackson’s Thriller) at Zumba on Monday night it dawned on me that the impending closure of Contours Gym meant much more than just having to find another gym to grab some exercise at. All us ladies are genuinely sad at not being able to drop into the gym, seeing the familiar faces and doing our little workout. It’s a credit to Carolyn and her wonderful group of instructors that they have created this little haven within our local community.
I wish all the girls well and especially Carolyn – I hope you recover quickly from the financial burdens that keeping Contours open for us this year, has meant for you.
ps. Nicoletta, our gorgeous Zumba instructor, has found us a new location at a local church hall so at least there’ll be more swishing and swaying!! The venue is bigger and therefore more people can join up and give Zumba a go. I’ll update her email soon so you can join up if you want to have some fun.