Tuesday, November 16, 2010

swimming... badminton.. and tennis?

They were right, I gotta admit. But I was adamant that nothing would replace my Tokyo "exercise regime" of walking to stations and cycling for groceries and Japanese classes.

They said I could still lead a healthy life but just differently. I wanted to show that life here was such a contrast I'd never be able to get back the same level of fitness that I had in Japan. I was upset that it's not safe to walk out on the roads, let alone cycle. I was slowly becoming unfit and unhealthy, and realised I had to do something.

I love team sports but it's not easy to find players just like that, courts too need to be booked. So I started on swimming, which I believe to be the best form of exercise because it builds up all muscle groups. Then I tried to jog a li'l around the neighbourhood on days when I was too lazy to go to the swimming pool.

But these were so rare that it wasn't really helping.

Then some months back, for some reason I got invited to 2 different groups for badminton. I was so gungho that I actually joined both on the same week, and that weekend night, I couldn't sleep. It was also on a wee Monday morning that I was tossing around wondering why if I was so tired after 2 games I was still not sleeping like a log.

I think the sudden adrenaline rush after a looong period of inactivity was the cause of it. BUT it felt good, even though I was quite dead tired.

Since then I've been joining my colleagues for weekly sessions, and very sometimes with the church group too. And just recently I've been taking up tennis lessons too. More of a refresher course since I did take up beginner classes when I was about 12 (thinking tennis was the coolest sports then).

Well, I must say I've never felt this healthy for a long time, and it's always motivation to have other people who are as into it too. Not to mention, very ironic since I always thought I could draw a line between work and personal..! 

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