Long term exercise is one of the most beneficial daily actions anyone can undertake both physically and mentally.
Whether walking, running, tennis, other sports or going to the gym, exercise is consistently the best way to manage your weight, increase mobility and ensure a healthier future. On the extreme end of exercise is gymnastics which I was very much into for a long time.
I was not the best gymnast, only taking up the discipline as an amateur, but it became a great passion of mine. It is the only sport I watch at the Olympics, especially on the rings. For an hour or two each day, my world focused into simple but strenuous exercises.
These photographs are from the great Olympian Eleftherios Petrounias.
Rings dangle above as my mind primes into leaping up and grasping them. On the wooden rings, my hands rearrange their position into an abnormal cusp which grips them so my body can fling upwards. Once I’ve got my hands in the right position, I dangle. The sensation is beautiful as I prepare to hurl myself into the air and fly.
Tightening my body as much as possible and keeping my posture straight, I accelerate into the air with all my strength, forcing my body against gravity. Up on the rings, often dauntingly high, I’m levitating above the earth.
Still gripping the rings, I drop and rise again, throwing myself above and pushing my body into all manners of strange positions that temporarily defy gravity. Some of these positions are very strenuous. They require my legs to extend outwards and sometimes my whole body lays horizontally which increases the surface area gravity pushes against.
But the freedom I feel on rings and bars untangles my body and mind after a working day. I would also add how these exercises are injury prone and I’ve sometimes spent 3 months recovering from accidents, sitting with my arms crossed as I wait to heal. Even so, this sport is beautiful and those who master it have extraordinary willpower. They exemplify the ideal of moving beautifully and seamlessly which was the original Greek objective behind gymnastics and calisthenics.
Exercise is not just about keeping our body healthy, but channelling our time into pursuits which make us into better men and women. It gives us goals to reach on a daily basis, whether increasing our running speed, lifting up heavier weights or performing a strange feat of movement. All of these goals require discipline and hard work.
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