the NEW Year is no longer new, but people are still taking up their New Year resolutions to change their lives.

Meadowlands Leisure Centre in Tavistock has seen lots of new faces at its gym and swimming pool for classes such as aquafit.

And that is down to a combination of the natural mindset of people to make a new start to a new year and of trying to redress the consequences of over eating and under exercising during Christmas.

I am one of those people who has made a promise to make a good start to 2023 by exercising indoors during the winter when the great outdoors loses its appeal in the dark evenings and bad weather.

I am not a gym bunny, quite the opposite, I find the sight of gym equipment quite intimidating — they look rather too much like torture instruments and really belong in a dungeon in my mind.

However, I have been given the spur to take the leap by the reassuring words of my designated personal trainer (I never thought I’d say those words) Tom Ellacott.

The keen footballer was the opposite of the Army-style parade ground instructor, or school PE teacher, who can remain long in the memory of people — scaring them off fitness for life.

The gym is relatively quiet when Tom introduces me to the running and rowing machines to start with. I was somewhat concerned at the choice of pre-set programmes which include recreated videoed routes through mountainous terrains like the Sierra Nevada and deserts. I love running outdoors and doing it on a machine does not really have the same appeal. Even more alarming are the pre-set regimes from the US Marine Corps and others. However, Tom reasssured me by showing me the manual workout button allowing me to set my own workout. I will leave the commandos to their own form of ‘beasting’.

We then move onto various contraptions with worrying looking cutaway diagrams of muscle sets highlighted in red. Many are rather bewildering in design and its not obvious what they do for you and how you operate them. I am hoping I remember all the instructions Tom patiently gives me.

It is a little comforting to see a range of people beavering away strengthening legs, arms, backs and various parts of their legs. They are not all built like Arnie. Next time Tom will will help me draw up my own programme.