I’ve had a couple people ask me if we were still doing the swimming and fitness thing that we started back in January. As much as I’d like to say, “We are over that fad,” I have to report that we are dutifully still swimming three times a week at 5:45 a.m. and working out in the gym after work the same day. I’ll be honest with you. I was one of those people that believed the best workout was to get out and work but I started to notice subtle differences even a few weeks after we started our own swim and gym regimen. Increased energy during the day and evenings after we worked out was the first indication and over the past few months you really start to notice you feel both physically and mentally “better”.
Now I still believe getting out and working is still a necessary part of your personal health, and that could entail digging up your garden, mowing or raking your lawn, going for a hike or even a brisk walk around town or country. The very tangible gain I noticed is that with this spring’s activities, such as building a rock wall or gathering firewood, I would have twanged my back by now and brought activities to a grinding halt. Not doing so (or at least not yet) is attributable to the benefits of our indoor activities three times a week.
Make sure whatever you do, whether it is inside or out, is done in a manner that is safe and proper. Digging your garden for too long without rest and stretching or wrestling boulders can be just as harmful as lifting weights or using strength machines in the gym the wrong way. The info is out there — make sure you are aware of it before you start.
We still get a steady stream of compliments about our community complex from both first-time visitors, as well as the ones that started coming here as soon as we opened. You need to know this because, hey, it’s your place — you made it happen. The first-timers can’t believe we have such a beautiful, well laid out and well used facility and the long-termers feel and see the benefit it is providing to the community.
Some of the finishing touches I noticed that set us apart, for instance, are the view out of the pool and the fitness centre, which, depending where you are, includes a panoramic view of all the kids and adults having fun in the water with a soccer game going on in the background on grass so green you can taste it. The view from water level can have the same panoramic view, only this time of the mountains and their receding snowlines, and having the mural, which is based on that vista, provides the continuity between windows and an openness that I have not seen in all the pools I have visited. These are just a couple of the qualities that attract compliments; it would probably take a couple columns to compile them all.
Neil Ostafichuk is the recreation supervisor at the Creston and District Community Complex.
