Exercise with benefits

Where friends meet

Going to gym is a lifestyle for Tsholo Peeters. If the mother of three misses her early morning training session, her day is ruined – that is how much she enjoys spending time exercising.

Peeters (32), a product manager with a cellphone network, trains at least six days a week. It is a routine she has managed to maintain for a decade.

At first, she embarked on her exercise regimen to stay youthful, maintain her flexibility and keep fit. Over the years, the gym has also become a place for her to meet like-minded people, who end up becoming her friends.

“When I started going to the gym as a student in 2006, my reason for doing so was to avoid ageing,” she says.

“My mother had a friend who was 45 years old but looked half her age because she was a fitness freak. I wanted to look like her. That is how I got hooked.

“Over the years, my mind-set shifted from using the gym as an anti-ageing space to taking advantage of its concomitant social aspect. Now, I can keep fit while spending time with friends. Even today my close friends are my gym buddies,” says Peeters.

Apart from getting to spend time with her friends, Peeters says training at the gym or jogging on the road gives her a feeling of wellbeing.

“If I miss a training session, I drag myself around the whole day because my body is used to being pushed almost every day,” she says. – Zinhle Mapumulo

Looking for love

Livy Seboko, a dancer and choreographer from Johannesburg, signed up at the gym two years ago with one goal in mind – to find his soul mate.

Seboko has been single for 18 months and this time around, his goal is to find love at the gym.

Previously, the 23-year-old says he befriended men at gym because he wanted to date them, but ended up being disappointed when he discovered that they were straight.

“What motivates me to go there to exercise five times a week is to find Mr Right,” he says.

He adds that there is a new hot guy at the gym, and he is hoping to win his heart.

“He is my ideal man. I am just praying he is not straight,” he laughs.

One of the reasons he is looking for love at the gym is so he and his future beloved can spend time together while exercising. “It is like a romantic activity – and there will be no chance to cheat because we will be spending more time together.” – Ntombizodwa Makhoba