Gym Ruminations
Dec. 2nd, 2002 03:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldI came back from the gym an hour ago. I quite enjoy the gym--the only problem I'll have keeping up my routine over the Christmas vacation will be the question of time, not the question of actual desire. I like seeing my endurance and strength improve--a greater difficulty level on the exercise bike or walking machine, a greater force exerted in exercises--and I do think I'm beginning to see actual physical improvements. I think.
(Incidentally, does anyone know that Dr. Dowbiggin is quite conservative? On the exercise bike, I saw him reading a copy of First Things. Granted I read it too, but I've got subversive readings of it which I don't think Dr. Dowbiggin has.)
My favourite part of the gym experience, I think, is the sauna, particularly in the afternoon when it's been on for a long time and it's quite hot. I like modern medicine; I couldn't be happier that the pre-modern concept of humours-- things which could be retained in excessive quantities by the body and which needed to be bled out or starved out or sweated out--is gone. But still, I feel quite nice afterwards, like I've been purified of something. (Not nearly as nice as after the sweat lodge I entered into with John Joe Sark in my second year, to gather material for an Anthropology paper, but still.) I can see why people might resort to folk medicines--non-modern or perhaps post-modern treatments--if they feel halfway as relieved as I do.
(Incidentally, does anyone know that Dr. Dowbiggin is quite conservative? On the exercise bike, I saw him reading a copy of First Things. Granted I read it too, but I've got subversive readings of it which I don't think Dr. Dowbiggin has.)
My favourite part of the gym experience, I think, is the sauna, particularly in the afternoon when it's been on for a long time and it's quite hot. I like modern medicine; I couldn't be happier that the pre-modern concept of humours-- things which could be retained in excessive quantities by the body and which needed to be bled out or starved out or sweated out--is gone. But still, I feel quite nice afterwards, like I've been purified of something. (Not nearly as nice as after the sweat lodge I entered into with John Joe Sark in my second year, to gather material for an Anthropology paper, but still.) I can see why people might resort to folk medicines--non-modern or perhaps post-modern treatments--if they feel halfway as relieved as I do.
