Do we really need gyms?

I agree. And you get the added benefit of fresh air. Can't be beaten.

Exercise from walking / gardening feels healthier to me too. An intense hour pounding in the gym just didn't feel as beneficial as four or five hours labouring. My SiL does boot camp and all sorts, but he says helping with the stacking of our log pile of ten cubic metres (we time the delivery for their visit) is the best exercise he gets all year.

We didn't need gyms when most work was physically tiring. It's only because so many jobs are sedentary that we some people need them now.

The health benefits from the exercise of gardening are well documented, toby.

It is Toby and I certainly used to go to the gym when I was working. Gyms are useful if you are short of time and space, but I used to hate the noisy, sweaty, pressured atmosphere. Now, like Bags, I get my exercise walking and gardening. Chopping, digging, shovelling, strimming and mowing exercise every muscle group, I get fresh air, vitamins from sunshine (sometimes) and fresh, organic fruit and veg at the end of it. No contest for me!

It looks like the gym is getting a bad name here! I think its important to differentiate between working physically until you are tired, and achieving health benefits from exercise.

Pacing myself, soop. Getting better at it too . Thank you for the thought.

Bags...don't overdo things. Remember payback time.

No we don't need gyms. They're horrible places full of sweaty blokes and young women in leotards who can actually run - quite fast, for a long time - on the treadmills. Tried them - Hate them!

And I haven't even started on housework!

Well.... I don't very often apart from essentials.

I just go and work in the garden. It feels as if I use most muscles! Mowing, sawing wood, scything, lopping, raking, wheelbarrowing up hill, picking up sticks, moving wood piles, digging, weeding, as often as not having to use other muscles to keep my balance while I'm at it because some bits of the garden are very steep – I think that should use all the important ones.

Too bad if it doesn't because I couldn't manage anything else as well

I took part in a 'stretch & tone' class at 7.15 this morning before I went to work. Definitely wasn't dressed to impress and neither was anyone else, (or if they were it didn't work).

Just about to leave now for my Powerhoop class which is great fun. I get lots of exercise walking and doing housework but neither of those activities work all of my muscles. I'm certainly not an exercise fanatic but I want to stay as strong as I can for as long as I can, so yes I do think there is a place for gyms.

I hate the gym. I've tried different ones and find them totally boring and - as far as I'm concerned - unsafe in that noone keeps an eye on you. I get the feeling the young things in charge are not particularly interested in the older body, but perhaps that's just me. I love my Pilates class and my shape has definitely changed for the better. There's 6 of us maximum and noone dresses to impress. I'm the oldest in my group but we all get on well and I forget my aches and pains for an hour and work hard. As for housework I haven't lost a bean in all the years I've been doing it and our house isn't small! Perhaps I just don't do enough of it

sunseeker I agree with you, we all have different likes and needs but there is no need for anyone to sneer at others who prefer or have no choice to do things differently. No, not you!

I think it is a question of finding what is right for you. I have tried gyms in the past and didn't get on with them at all. I know I don't do nearly enough exercise, although I have now joined a walking group. I am thinking about yoga and water aerobics - but thinking about it is as far as I have got!

The gym works for me, just come back from there. I can't stand up for long so can get good sitting down exercise and am working hard on my triceps to try to get rid of the dreadful bingo wings. Haven't got there yet.

I also enjoyed country walks when I was able to and will again when the medics deal with the problem.

I don't like being described as a lemming. Plenty of thought has gone into my exercise programme. It is easy to snear when you don't understand what motivates others but it is not kind.

With OA knee and walking with a stick one mile is my limit.I also have a slight balance problem so I find that the Gym equipment e.g treadmill ,cycle with handles to hold onto suits me better .I see many older,disabled people there as the routines can be tailored to their needs/abilities.
-and we can watch the large screen TV whilst exercising!

The 'lemmings' might very well enjoy the outdoors as well as their gym routine

Every week I walk for miles in the beautiful countryside around where I live but I also like the gym where after exercising (no matter what the weather) I can relax in the steam room.

I go for a walk in the morning and try to vary the route. I have done this for at least 30 years whether I have lived in the country, as I do now, or in a city or big town, as I have in the past. The feel of the variations in the weather seeing the seasons changing, country and city, all added interest and depth to my outing.

Last autumn I went out one morning, the sun was a warm yellow autumn sun, the trees were glorious in their autumn colours and the whole experience was glorious. Later that day I walked past a gym where lemmings were on their equipment, cycling/walking staring into traffic or at screens, completely oblivious to the soul enhancing natural beauty to awaited them outside.

But what do you do to burn calories once you have cleaned your house? Do the same again next day? Might just as well go to the gym!

I like going to the gym as it gives me chance to listen to my iPod while I am achieving something. I have a programme which works on the particular areas I am concerned about which housework would not do. I start off with 20 minutes on a bike on a random programme which means I am going up hills of various levels and I maintain my heart rate at the correct level. I am now travelling further than I was when I started so know that my fitness level must have improved. Also the various levels on the machines which work my legs, arms and abs are higher than when I started. It is good to be able to measure the improvements.

Also the gym is not so expensive for us as we get a discount for the second person and we are restricted to daytime membership only.

I think better is to do your daily general exercise which helps a lot itself in making you fit and healthy. Regular Yoga and Exercise are enough for staying healthy and fit.

I've tried gyms when I was younger, but always hated them. I cannot see the pleasure to be had by working out. I agree with the other Gransnetters and housework and looking after children (grandchildren!) is more than enough exercise. I have recently thought about taking up yoga again. Still thinking about it!!! Very tiring - thinking!

I've never been a sporty person - a little gentle tennis in my youth was the total of my interest. Swimming pools are for cooling off from the hot sun or lounging by with a long drink in my hand!!!

also, gyms are so expensive! I don't know how anyone affords it. Why sweat it out for hours achieving a sum total of nothing when you could be in the comfort of your own home, getting your kitchen floor clean.

Finding the motivation to do the cleaning is another matter - although finding the motivation to do exercise in general is a bit of an issue I find.

Thanks for the tip, BurgundyGran! My spring cleaning has overlapped with summer somewhat (wouldn't know it by the weather here, though ), so I will be burning LOTS of calories this weekend by trying to get started on the pile of clutter really important things that need organising.

Have you seen that programme where Gok Wan gets some dieters to do things like hoovering to lose weight? I think he's generally very annoying but he's obviously got the right idea!

Thats me up and down the stairs a few more times a day, I stayed in a town house a few years ago and there were three flights of stairs and dont know if it was that but I did loose weight.