I am hot, exhausted, and happy. I have just come back from

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the extravaganza which was hosted by Friskis and Svettis, my Swedish fitness group, to celebrate Sweden’s Presidency of the EU.

Sporting the Swedish Colours

In the summer the indoor classes stop, and are replaced by free evening sessions in the Parc du Cinquantenaire in the city centre. I went along last Thursday evening. Little did I know that it was to be an intensive session (I usually go to Basic or Medium) and that it would last an hour (it’s usually three-quarters.) On top of that, it must have been the hottest and most humid evening of the year. There were about 300 people participating, and the atmosphere was one of sweaty enthusiasm and hardiness. My friend Kris and I have a deal: whenever one of us can’t go, the other promises to ‘frisk double’. Kris is away for a few days, and I think I frisked at least triple. At the end of the hour I felt (and probably looked) like an elephant who had had a particularly energetic dust bath. But an ecstatically joyful elephant.

And today I was ready for more – I wouldn’t have missed the celebrations for anything. The day was marginally less stifling than last Thursday. The park was beautiful: a group of Indians played cricket, a few joggers braved the heat, people lounged on the grass, and ice-cream vans were doing a great trade.

In the ‘Friskis corner’ of the park, yellow and blue balloons decorated a central podium.

The Podium

There were a couple of drinks stands, and a sound system with huge speakers. People milled around. A whole team of Brussels-based instructors were joined by others from Paris,Luxembourg, Stockholm, and even Aberdeen.
Visiting Instructor

The programme started with a Basic/Medium session, which was a breeze for me after Thursday’s preparation – and also because I stopped frequently to take photos.

The Friskis Instructors in Uniform

The music was typically Friskis: europop, eurosmulch, northern European drinking songs, and a bit of reggae, and the inevitable Abba, in various European languages. The instructors took it in turns to lead us, in groups

Fancy-dressed Frisker

or individually, all in the inimitable Friskis smiling happy style. Someone once told me you have to laugh seven times a day to keep healthy – one Friskis session would cover you for about a month.

A typical Friskis session has two aerobic peaks,

and is interspersed with strength,

flexibility,

and stretching exercises.

Today the participants ranged from the very young

to the more mature.

After the session there was a choice of three activities: jogging, Nordic cross, or Nordic walking.

Gavin from Aberdeen

I decided to go for the Nordic walking, which sounded slightly less taxing than the others. We were given sticks, taught how to hold them, and off we went.

Our circuit took an hour, with occasional stops for exercises.

I’d often seen people walk Nordically about parks, woods and streets in Brussels, and wondered what it has to offer over walking in a non-Nordic manner. I learnt, among other things, that it is more efficient– you go about 30% faster and use less energy. And it stops you from having saggy upper arms, gives you good posture, and most importantly, our instructor assured us, you end up with a bottom like Jennifer Lopez’.

It certainly was loads of fun, but when we were back at the podium I couldn’t face the next activity, which was an intensive session…

Chausiku gets into the Nordic swing of things...

Now let’s see if I can find a back view photo of Jennifer Lopez, and compare…