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Since joining, Tom has found all the staff helpful, offering advice on what machines to use to improve his core or exercises to strength his back. He’s even noticed little things like his balance walking up stairs has improved.

Tom's story

"I’ve always thought that it’s important to maintain fitness and health and I enjoy doing it.

As I’ve got older, things have happened. You know things do, arthritis or whatever, and one of the ways of dealing with that kind of thing is to maintain your fitness and to exercise and watch your diet. I know it sounds trite and everybody says it, but it’s true.

I like feeling great and this is what helps and if you sit around like a slug, you don’t. So even when I’m tired, even when I don’t really have the time, or whatever, I come here for an hour or so, the rest of the world fades away and I can just work away.

I can go for a swim and have a sauna and steam after the gym and I just feel better for doing it.

Back at the beginning, in April, I joined the gym and I’d never used the gym before and I’m 72.

I came up here and I found the staff really helpful, really friendly and I was able to say, with the various things that had happened to me I wanted to improve my core, I’ve got a dodgy back and so on, and I was taken to the machines that would help me, shown how to use them and since then I’ve just kept coming and I feel better for it.

I’ve even noticed little things like balance walking up stairs and strength walking up stairs has improved. So I‘m very, very pleased and I shall be continuing to come.

The impression I’d had of gyms before is that it’s a very macho place in a hole in the wall somewhere and lots of very large sweaty men doing things that I don’t understand and couldn’t do but coming up here and it’s light and airy with good views of the countryside and so on.

Because of my arthritis I can’t run, but I can cycle and there’s various other machines. I’ve had a knee replacement but there are machines that I can go on which will strengthen my legs and strengthen my thighs and so on, I don’t use the free weights, I use the captive ones and do things that I can do and I’m noticing the benefits."

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