6 Debate
Exercise
It’s Freshers’ Week - excessive alcohol and partying. Do we really have the time or need for exercise? It’s up to you. Laura Tumelty Sarah Herdman FOR
AGAINST
I
A
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to hypocritically sit here and pretend that I have never fallen victim to the salmonella van that illegally parks outside the Students’ Union. (Warning: Freshers should steer clear unless you fancy pebble dashing the toilet and scaring potential friends with your lavatory habits). It’s just a question of moderation. Yes, have the odd indulgence, but make sure that you work it off. There really isn’t any excuse. The sports facilities in Park Place offer a variety of cheap activities with different classes for different fitness levels - you’re guaranteed to find someone else just as unfit as yourself.
The problem with exercise is it’s only even remotely enjoyable when you’re fit. The only people that look good when exercising are those who can do twenty minutes on the rowing machine without turning beetroot or sweating profusely. Take the gym - been there, done that and left in embarassement after I needed to pat my face dry from the warm up session. The girl next to me was in skin-tight lycra, full make up and, even though she was going flat out, looked slightly bored. So, scared off by the gym-babes, who looked amused as soon as I walked through the door, I turned to exercise classes. These turned out to be the same torture, but worse; I now sweated profusely AND was able to stick out like a sore thumb, being the only one who couldn’t remember the moves.
t’s no wonder that youngsters today are unhealthy, obese and riddled with acne. Fast food companies ruthlessly trap their pre-pubescent clientele into substituting fruit and veg for a greasy Big Mac and fries. If you take a look around there seems to be an ongoing struggle for normality. Teenagers are either woobling around like Mitchelin Men or battling against anorexia in a quest to mimic Skeleton Spice. One simple solution can eradicate all these problems, Exercise!
Most people think of exercise as a chore. Burn off the calories and shed those excess pounds by doing something enjoyable - sex! Get your partner, or drunken random, to try something new, energetic and exciting. Break into a sweat this way to kills two birds with one stone. You’re getting some action whilst still doing a bit of exercise - where’s the harm in it? No matter how much you try and kid yourself, using the old jaw muscles to scoff a second helping of pizza is never going to get you a figure like Britney or a six-pack like Peter Andre (these people have personal trainers, plastic surgeons and bulimia). Don’t be too adventerous all at once. You’ll soon realise that this eagerness will cause some damage to your body and your ego when you collapse in a heap of sweat. Just chill out and take one step at a time. Walk to lectures, dance at Creation and don’t take it all to heart.
ll you need is exercise - I think not! I can’t remember the exact day that I gave up on exercise, but it was pretty much when games was no longer compulsory after GCSE. After several feeble attempts to get back some sort of fitness regime, the days when I wasn’t scared of physical exertion now seem like a distant memory.
After all that execise, you work up a massive appetite and end up needing to eat twice as many calories as you’ve just worked off. Plus, for the next two weeks, you’re hardly able to walk. As a result, the idea of exercise becomes so awful that you put it off for as long as you can. This means that the scales end up reading the same, regardless of your efforts, and you’re just as unfit as before. Pointless! Most girls would kill to have an arse s toned as Cameron Diaz, but exercise? I think I’ll just learn to live with my wobbly bits and getting breathless walking up the union steps. Maybe just cut down on the rat-burgers. Pepole like to gorge themselves on alcohol, chocolate and ice-cream and then have the annoying habbit of moaning about their weight. Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we diet. Like I said, exercise - what’s the need?