28 Aug, 2007
Exercise and shopping – two different topics, sort of related but not really, in two different posts
Posted by andrea tomkins in: Misc. life
Did you do the Canada Fitness thing when you were in elementary school? I think it might have been part of the government-funded ParticipACTION program in the 1970s. It took place in school, during the school day. I had mixed feelings about torture that masqueraded as “physical fitness.” On one hand it was a free day off school, BUT it wasn’t exactly a welcome break for those of us who weren’t inclined in this way. Did this a well-meaning social experiment really motivate us to stay fit? Hmmm. I’ll have to get back to you on that one.
Canada Fitness was an annual event that pit kid against kid in a series of grueling Olympic-style events in order to stem society’s concerns about “TV legs.” We participated dutifully for the promise of an iron-on patch (bronze, silver, gold) or a place of honour among our peers with an “award of excellence.” Year-to-year I averaged a silver. One year I got a gold. My mother used it as a coaster for her ash tray. [OMG – pictured here! … the patches, not the ASH TRAY you sillies.]
Canada Fitness events included the long jump, triple jump, speed sit ups, the 50m dash, the endurance run (much hated by me) and the flexed arm hang – the domain of the small and wiry (again, not me).
Ah, the flexed arm hang. I hated this one almost as much as the endurance run. You had to hold on to a monkey bar as long as you possibly could, chin above or level with the bar at all times. My god did it ever kill. The. Seconds. Ticked. By. Ever. So. Slowly. When you finally decided that your arms couldn’t take it anymore you’d plunk down to the mat, jiggly and weak, with about five minutes to recuperate before you had to go on to do your push ups.
Well, that exact feeling of nausea and shoulder pain came back to me the other day as I was carried a load of purchases to my car across the Ikea parking lot. It was total and complete deja vu. The sinews connecting my arms to my shoulders were screaming in pain just like they did back then in second grade. But this time it was self-imposed.
More tomorrow.
