Christmas Close Down

by Sally Easton — last modified Dec 08, 2009 11:05 AM

There is a time and a place for everything, but the gym on Christmas day..........?

My recollections of Christmas are quite powerful and often when I think back to my happiest childhood memories they involve the Christmas holidays. I remember the excitement of dad coming home with a Christmas tree and spending hours dressing it with anything and everything sparkly, getting giddy from the smell of brandy pouring out of mom’s slightly imperfect looking Christmas cake and my childish naivety that the presents, the food, our guests all appeared from some magical place. Despite my older brother unveiling the truth about Father Christmas when I was five, I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that I continue to hang on to the possibility that he might still be real and wonder whether this is the year I come face to face with Santa at three in the morning as he’s squeezing his way down my wood pellet fire flue. If it is, I shall be asking him what on Earth happened in 1986 when he broke my heart and forgot my politely requested Barbie esque horse drawn carriage (that came with a scaled down chocolate brown stallion that stood tall at16 hands and looked all glossy and strong). I opened up nothing of the sort that Christmas morning. In fact, I opened nothing that I liked at all and cried for hours! Thankfully though Auntie Kath saved the day with something totally cool and with 28 Christmases being celebrated in the Northern hemisphere, the cold, dark winter nights added something special. The possibility of snow, the street lights glowing through the nights, the smell of mulled wine wafting through the markets, it all starkly contrasts the summer warmth of a southern hemisphere Christmas. How wonderful to now relax in the sun and make the most of every minute of the long days and to feast from the barbeque and swim in the sea. Although, ultimately, Christmas is a religious festival that marks an extremely pivotal moment on the calendar of many faiths, it should also be a time for family, for friends and for sharing. A time where you shouldn’t unwantingly be on your own and in my view a time where the normal rules shouldn’t apply. It’s ok to eat too much, to drink too much, to sleep too little, to give heaps and to accept gifts for doing nothing but just being you. That’s what all helps to create the long lasting and happy memories. I feel that it is also ok to loosen the noose around physical activity and to break free from the shackles of guilty exercising and to simply indulge in all the things you can’t get at any other time of year. I don’t think that a visit to the gym on Christmas day should be allowed; in fact I would love to see my own gym close its doors for 24 hours at least. It is a public holiday after all and those days were made for making or being part of long lasting memories.

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Comments (2)

Daniel Speirs Jan 19, 2010 08:54 PM

So Sally was this the year? And if so then how did Santa look after exiting your flue? I agree that the gym should be closed on Xmas day but only from the perspective that its a good day for the staff at whatever gym to have away from work. As for exercise on Xmas day, why not? Xmas like many other days can be very stressfull for many people - exercise is a great means of escapism, taking a short period of time out for oneself away from the stressors, to chill for a while and return envigorated. Exercise can also be a great means of enjoyment that can be shared with the significant others that we'd be spending time with on such a special day, I can certainly remember lots of enjoyable games of bullrush etc being played on an Xmas day. To me this highlights the challenge for fitness professionals - regardless of whether its Xmas day, birthday or any other day for that matter if we want to help people we need to get out of the mindset that exercise is a chore and find activities that people will enjoy doing day in day out, regardless of whether or not that activity occurs in the gym, at home, at the park or the beach.

Sally Easton Feb 15, 2010 03:48 PM

Sadly, this year wasn’t the year! But that just means the magic continues!
Great point about the gym staff getting a day off, I hadn’t looked at it from that angle and I totally agree about exercise being a fantastic stress management tool. I use it myself that way – in abundance at times, and yep it works! I guess my concern exists around individuals who have been given a ‘training programme’ that involves set machines and free weights being used for a specific duration at a set intensity within a gym setting and believe that that is the only way for them to achieve their health and fitness goals. By not going to the gym on Christmas day makes them feel guilty, like they’ve failed and the slippery slope and downward spiral begins. If gyms were closed and there was no expectation to go, there would be no guilty feelings and leaving more time to ‘be active’ in a different capacity. Going for an impromptu run to escape the madness, playing an adhoc game of touch on the beach with family or bullrush in the back garden with whoever’s around has a different motive. It’s done for pleasure, to share good company or good times. Rarely is it done to improve cardiovascular fitness or improve muscle tone. Exercising and all the associated benefits are almost a by-product, not something that’s part of ‘a hard to stick to at times’ regime. You’re completely right that this is the challenge for all fitness professionals. How do you find out what activities your client likes doing, create ample opportunities for that to happen in the week and get your client involved to such an extent that it never feels like a chore or a regime, but just a way of life?