Dear LPG,

I am one of those who have worked out that a body like mine does not need to be on show when I am putting it through its exercise paces.  I am not drastically fat but have never really found any sportswear that made me look the part, and as I have got a little older finding anything sporty that I feel reasonably good in is getting harder.  I always feel as if I am the most awkward participant in the class.    I am the one who can’t keep up, is out of time, gets really breathless and is the heaviest footed person in the room even when we are doing exercise sitting down.  This has always been true, when I tried aerobics some thirty years ago, and nothing has changed.    When everyone else is lightly jogging I have the gift to be able to be the one who is the cause of the thumping noise and I wouldn’t mind but I am not that heavy. 

This is why I took to becoming a closet exerciser about a year ago.  The people on the exercise DVD cannot see me when I get the moves wrong, but even my cat sits in the corner watching me with a questioning look of, ‘what on earth are you trying to do?’

I know that I am not the only one with this problem because, about 4 months ago, I got talking to a neighbour about this very subject and she empathised so much that I knew she felt my pain.  We decided, having compared notes verbally, we should get together and assess each other’s exercise prowess, and we had a good laugh that day even though we were both sensible enough to have worked out that chair exercises are the way forward for us both.  We have been meeting a couple of times a week in one another’s homes and, armed with the all-important DVD, we have a little go at the moves while we laugh at each other’s odd way of executing them and I have to say we have a really good time, celebrate our awkwardness and can often offer each other constructive criticism on what we could be doing better as we meet up regularly to go through the motions together. 

EL, Forest Hill

LPG has to agree that it is better to do any physical exercise with at least one other person.  Even if neither of you are experts, there is real value in having someone who can compare the exercise that is displayed on a DVD with the way you are doing it.  They are likely to see where you are stretching too much or bending differently to the person on the DVD while you can do the same for them.  You give yourself incentive to keep going and meet regularly, you are there to encourage each other and compare notes about weight loss or improved flexibility and if something gets pulled the other one is there to bring some ice or call an ambulance, depending on the severity of the injury.

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