The Lazy Journalist - A gym that would impress Doctor Who

It’s not the largest of gyms and it isn’t full of gleaming new equipment but you’d be surprised what they’ve managed to fit in.

If Doctor Who landed her/his TARDIS in Wild Park and decided she/he fancied a quick gym sesh, she/he would be impressed at how much is inside the relatively compact venue.

There are a fair number of CV machines and a surprisingly good selection of free weights.

I’m not currently going anywhere near the above but hope to include them in future workouts and one day hope to be huffing and puffing and lifting stupidly heavy weights while going completely puce in colour.

There’s also an adjoining stretching area, with a few more machines, that was converted from a spin studio.

Elsewhere the gents’ changing rooms have a windowless whiff of nuclear bunker facility about them, but that could be because I’m still reading a book about Chernobyl and am a tad preoccupied by the idea of the inevitable apocalypse taking place at any moment.

The gents’ toilets were much newer and in better shape, so presumably the place is being revamped piece by piece.

There’s also a decent-looking aerobics studio, which is home to a busy programme of exercise classes.

I visited Moulescoomb to meet up with a chum who was taking her sprog to a party at the leisure centre and I managed to kill two birds with one stone.

That’s the good thing I’ve found about multiple site membership – I can squeeze in the odd gym sesh while buzzing around different parts of Brighton and Hove.

Although thinking about it, that does sum up my attitude to exercise and I suppose it’s an attitude that needs to change.

I fit the gym sessions and exercise around my life, rather than vice versa.

Obviously, it’s never easy fitting everything in but I guess I need to push it up the list of priorities rather than squeezing it in after everything else.

Despite a life-long aversion to large-scale emotional commitment I always over-commit myself on a weekly basis.

But I’m running out of excuses not to go to the gym now the Brighton Festival is over and my back has improved post-prodding, spiking and cooking of the spine.

So, it’s time to rein in the fun and salad-dodging, and put more hours in at the gym and fewer pies into the old North and South.

Although stop me if you think you’ve heard that one before...

To find our more about Freedom Leisure’s Brighton and Hove gyms visit www.freedom-leisure.co.uk/centres