The Gym

The concept of exercise on a rig is somewhat similar to that of a hamster in a wheel. This is the time you get to exercise but you know you will never be truly free to go anywhere. The room you can use while away is the Gym. This is a fluid concept when offshore. Most will imagine a small spa where you sign in and the steward gives you a towel and invites you to try the Jacuzzi. I'm afraid the reality is a little different. The gym is a room with some exercise machines, some free weights and some TV's. A place to get on the treadmill and watch TV. Get on the exercise bike and listen to your i-pod. They vary from 1 bike and 1 rowing machine(from the 1980's). to the full, up to date, 3 Treadmills, 3 Bikes, Recumbent Cycle, X-trainer and full free weight suite. Water cooler occasionally working in the corner. The Gym is adorned with pictures of stretching exercises or instructions on how to use the machines. Usually the TV's are set to EmptyV or Sky(it's all blow out of proportion and usually speculation)News and are usually at full volume because most people on a rig are a little deaf. Through years of working next to loud plant and equipment. There are a number of unwritten rules in the Gym. It is always a place of silence though. Generally no one will talk to one another, unless the Driller and AD are weight training together. The TV channel shouldn't be changed without consulting anyone else in the room(just a quick "are you watchin this pish" should do). Aways clean your machine after use, there will be bottle of cleaner and towel. Anyone breaking the rules or making up their own better beware, they will become Gym outcasts. There is still a sense of togetherness about the Gym users. A kind of "were all going to be much healthier and we know how to look after ourselves" smugness shared by all who don their shorts and t-shirts and clamber into the wheel. Maybe we can't go anywhere but at least we are going.