I have joined my local branch of Jungle Gym. Yes, I am now a gym lion. Beware all those who cross paths with me. I now jog… and lift things? Perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself. You may recall my goal to improve my fitness this year, and with that in mind, I joined my local Jungle Gym. My immediate thought upon first setting paw in the gym was how many other jungle dwellers had the same idea. Goodness, the gym was packed from boulder to tree trunk.

Wanting to make a good go of things, I signed up for an induction, and a young zebra called Zac showed me and four other newbies the vines. I must say, Zac was physically impressive. He demonstrated the mountain climber with a grace and ease that I could only envy. The vines proved more problematic for his hooves, but he shimmied up there nonetheless. As nice as Zac was, I got the impression he didn’t quite believe in us. As if he’d given this induction a hundred times and knew our cohort wasn’t going to go the distance. Something primal stirred in me at the realisation. Long buried pride rose to the surface. The survival of the fittest. Lion instinct. Call it what you like, but I knew then I would not quit Jungle Gym. This place would become my second home.

Friends, please believe I tried.

At first, I went every day. Health is a habit, is it not? I started on the exercises Zac covered in the induction and then branched out as my boredom confidence grew. I curled, crunched, flexed and leapt. My fellow newbies were doing the same. We would prove Zac wrong.

It is now week three, and I have not seen my initial cohort since the end of week one. My daily visits tapered off somewhere around the middle of week two (pulled my tail), but I am still attending. Every week, I go at least once. It’s better than nothing, isn’t it? A paw in the right direction at the very least.

Perhaps every day was too ambitious, but I’m still committed to my goal. One day soon, I will master the mountain climber like Zac and scale the jungle vines just as quickly.

For now, I will continue my twig lifts and incline walks, letting my poor tail have the rest it deserves. That snake made tail curls look so easy.

Yours in training,