Fitness or fatness...you decide

One thing I love about Oz is people’s commitment to fitness. It might be the hot weather that does it - the scorching hot sun that necessitates the need to be in your smalls for at least 4-5 months of the year. But it’s also something to do with that quintessentially Australian ‘can-do’ attitude, a conquer all approach to life that makes Aussies a force to be reckoned with.

Fitness hounds are most often witnessed first thing in the morning when they can be seen clad in Lycra, stretching/running and panting furiously with their trainers in Perth's parks. There are local meditation classes EVERY morning in Hyde Park, Zumba classes are packed to the brim, cycling to work is considered de rigueur (especially if you have a woven basket on the front) and tai chi is the relaxation method of choice.

The thing that truly impresses however is the commitment to working out in furious heat. Whilst most of us are cowering away in the confines of our comfortable air conditioned cars and houses, there is a large bunch of Perthites parading their beautiful bods along beach fronts, cafe strips and inner city shopping centres. Now THAT'S impressive.

On the flip side, WA certainly isn’t exempt from the obesity epidemic that’s sweeping the rest of the world. There are fast food restaurants a-plenty selling deep fried everything to hordes of hungry customers – especially on Friday nights it seems when cars can be seen queuing outside the Hungry Jacks/Chicken Treat/KFC/Macca's drive thru's for yet another family burger fest.

Whilst us Greens have a fairly positive approach to fitness, I can’t say we’ve been swayed either way really. Not being a lover of sweat, I’ve chosen not to join the masses of cyclers, runners, walkers etc who brave the fierce heat to preserve their svelte looking bods. Instead, I use the Xbox Kinect and the Your Shape workout – an interactive fitness method that gets the heart rate up and targets all those important bits – bum, thighs, tum – that I, and most other women on the planet hate. The beauty of it is I get to position myself under the aircon which means less sweat, no onlookers and a cooler, more comfortable workout.

To contradict everything I’ve just said, I do plan to visit the Bikram Yoga centre around the corner at some point this month. Getting in to numerous tricky poses in 38 degree heat doesn’t exactly fill me with joy but I can see the merits in practicing in a professional environment with yoga-know-hows – the Bikram fanatics who can vouch for its life changing benefits (and help me perfect that tree pose...)

Bring on the sweat fest.