Daily Rage Vol.3: Never There




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  • 2013-10-21 19:52:27
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Opinion Piece Recently I’ve noticed an interesting trend around campus - fitness and exercising have become an essential part of the daily routine of many AUBG-ers. Both the popularity and variety of activities have increased rapidly. You can choose between zumba, stretching, pilates, the running track, or even a more intense self-planned program in the gym. I must admit that I have also been caught up in this trend. I’m not really into crowded aerobic rooms full of sweaty, panting people, especially during the week, when I have to fit exercise into my busy schedule. That is why I prefer Tae Bo during the weekend afternoons. Imagine my surprise when I get down to the Scapto gym, wait for 15 minutes, and the instructor never shows up. This happens almost every other week. Quite frustrating, don't you think? Not only that it messes up your exercising plans, but ultimately it kills your enthusiasm. [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="321" caption="source: www.houseexercises.com"][/caption] It is difficult to remain motivated and train regularly when you depend on an unreliable system. One of the reasons for this is that AUBG doesn't employ people who can be somehow devoted to their job at the university. I asked Genya Licheva, the gym supervisor and sports coordinator assistant, why it is that the Tae Bo instructor has such an erratic schedule. She said that he's currently in a competition and, in addition, he works in the police force. I wondered how this person finds time to come twice a week to campus. Well, he doesn't, at least not very often. What is even more frustrating is the fact that he has four time slots. According to Licheva, this is to ensure that if he can't come on Monday or Wednesday, he could come during the weekend instead. And how might you know when he would come? You have to depend purely on your luck and hope that this time, you guessed correctly. But this is not as much the instructor's fault as it is the university's responsibility to find a person who would be able to lead classes regularly. Licheva also informed me that each instructor signs a civil contract, which, according to the Bulgarian constitution, is an informal contract that stresses the employment outcome over the labor force, while the executing party has a flexible work time. Before the class, the instructors sign in a book and depending on the hours they've worked, they receive a salary. Since there is not a strict work time and the instructors most often have another job that provides more security and income, there appears to be little to motivate them to keep up with the schedules. They just come, teach their class and receive their money. If they don’t come: oh well, they don’t get anything. Big deal. Well, it is a big deal for people who want to work out regularly. It makes me wonder why AUBG  doesn't get a person who will be a full-time employee, because right now the system doesn't work. [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="311" caption="source: www.rvg-juegesheim.de"][/caption] It may be a trivial argument, but all of us pay the same amount of money, while we prefer different types of workouts. Not all of us like going to the gym which, by default, is always full whenever you have free time. The feeling that you’re exposed to everyone’s attention, not only from other students but also professors, is certainly unpleasant. Similarly, the exercising programs during the week are crammed with people and are too intensive or too slow. Thus, I like the idea of my less crowded weekend Tae Bo sessions. Oh wait, I forgot, they rarely happen... Many people, like me, get motivated during group workouts. If you're trying to exercise alone, it's more likely that you'll choose to go back to your room and stuff yourself with junk food instead. I’m not saying that in rare cases you will not try to do something by yourself, but more often than not, your will might betray you and the absence of an instructor might just become another excuse to skip your daily routine.