New Year, new garden gym?

New Year….Oh Dear?

Oh dear! I’ve done it again. A few too many roast potatoes; just one more chocolate (and then another) and definitely more than one more glass of wine. Ooh yes, don’t forget all the delicious cheese. Still, at least there were nice walks. Well, only one good walk if I’m to be totally honest….the weather has been so unkind to my waistline. And now it is that time of the year- the time for reflection and navel gazing (what of it I can bare/ am able to gaze at).

Exercise is the key, but yet another gym membership? I’ve been down that route a few times in the past (of which there is more every year, rather like my bmi) and each time the soulless, windowless, sweat drenched atmosphere slowly leaches away my good intentions. And why is it that every year I seem to get a little bit busier and finding that extra two hours to get there, do my stuff and get back again, all gets a little bit trickier?

I think it’s time to think outside the box a little, or more specifically outside the gym. Of course, there’s walking or (shudder) running but, and I don’t know what the weather’s doing in your part of the world today, I am not going out in that! I do however think that I could manage to pop out into my garden, whatever the weather, and appreciate its wild and austere beauty as I sweat away the miles and pounds in my very own Garden Gym.

Come to think of it, when I’ve had enough of looking out of my full length windows (and looking forward to opening them up as spring arrives and the days grow warmer) I can catch up on my Christmas box set. I know I will never get to watch it actually sitting down: there’s always one more e-mail on my phone or one more member of my family demanding a meal, a lift or a helping hand with homework.

But if I escape to my very own Garden Gym, I can walk, probably not run, row, cycle or step my way through both series of Homeland. Or I can just enjoy the way the sun dances amidst the frost laden branches of the trees, watching the birds feast on the feed I put out for them as I made my minute long trek to my health haven. Or perhaps I can just gaze at my navel, which is starting to look not bad…