Mid Life Abs Crisis

The phenomenon of a mid life identity crisis is well documented, but I think that this is proceeded by a mid-life abs crisis for those people who have been vaguely sporty during their early life. This represents the fact that after the age of 30 it is increasingly difficult to keep in shape largely because of (1) a change in the human body, (2) an increase in disposable income meaning restaurants are a more regular feature of life and (3) the arrival of children. Whereas I have previously suggested that the move into middle age can be linked to one’s relationship with the weather, I now contend that, a week after my 34th birthday, another clear indicator of the onset of middle age is the arrival of some form of home gym equipment, (the “Ab Storm” in my case), despite the clear understanding that it will be heavily underutilized, and end up in a car boot sale in about 5 years time, (assuming it ever makes it out of the box it came in – if it stays in the box it has more chance of being sold on eBay apparently). Trying to squeeze in 15 minutes of exercise sitting in my garage at 6.45AM, listening to the Economist on my iPod whilst straining to hear which child has woken first, is a far cry from previous sorties to the gym whilst still playing football as a youngster…