Local Hero

It took me over 30 years to sign up at a womens' gym and see what part of becoming The Hulk, I could achieve.

First, I had to get over being a couch potatoe. I did it in small steps, spending lots of time in the sauna in between. I talked with anyone who would talk with me and the first person was Angie, a woman well on her way to being 80 years old.

Angie used a walker as she was prone to strokes. She arrived often with her face bruised, having survived another stroke during the past weekend. She walked up the 30 steps to the main floor of the gym, lifting her walker one step at a time. And she inspired me. When my muscles complained at the new rigours they were being subjected to, I told them "If Angie's muscles can do it, so can you."

The second person I talked with was Gunhild. She was a gymnast in her youth and exercising came naturally to her, she said. She was in her mid-seventies. She said if she hadn't started coming to the gym 20 years earlier she wouldn't be able to do half of what she's able to do now. Gunhild showed me how to do some of the stretches as I am a slow learner.

There were younger women whose concentration I admired. And middle-aged women like me who were as surprised as I was at finding myself in an artificial environment for keeping in shape. One of them had damaged knees as I do. She talked with me about the leg exercises she uses to compensate for the muscles and joints that don't work so well.

There was a burnout survivor who had quit her stressful job and worked part-time at the gym instead. She and I talked about life with burnout.

But the source of inspiration for each of these amazing women was Karin, the owner.

Karin had started out in tourism, got tired of all the travel, settled down in town and worked at a womens' gym. After ten years, she bought the entire business and has been running it ever since.

Karin's daughter is severely handicapped. I don't know if this is what contributes to the amazing variety of women who come to this place to have a better life. I have seen a blind woman there with her assistant describing how to use the machines. I have seen several over-weight women who feel comfortable and at home in a gym for the first time in their lives. I have seen groups of Muslim women who normally wouldn't be seen in this sort of situation. I have seen groups of teenage girls getting fit for soccer matches and many groups of office workers working up a sweat to South American music.

Karin is my local hero. May she work long and well and with ever increasing circles of contact with women who only need the slightest encouragement for a better everyday life.