The ham and jug-jug have been consumed and the New Year’s resolutions have been made.
The second Street Beat for 2015 went in search of people who are either seeking a better body for the year or just striving to keep themselves fit and healthy.
The beach is the place to be on evenings to see people participating in all sorts of exercise activities and Brandon’s Beach off the Spring Garden Highway is no exception.
This is where a group of people calling themselves the Brandon’s Paddleball Club meet to enjoy the sport they love.
Fifty-two-year-old Mitchie Broomes has been a paddleball player for more than two decades and he is not slowing down now. A former road tennis player, he said it was love at first sight.
“I saw the fellas playing on the beach one day and that was it. The club started with five o’ we back when the Yacht Club was here and now, I come almost every day to play,” he said.
But what is so great about paddleball?
“It keeps you fit and your heart beating and ting,” Broomes said.
At 57, Ian Hunte is Broomes’ senior in age but junior in paddleball experience, with only a year and a half of playing.
“A friend of mine used to play and they invited me,” said the former tennis player.
“I like it because it’s very physical and you don’t need a lot of expensive equipment. It is nice, healthy living and plus, I love the beach.”
Hunte said paddleball helped him to relieve stress and improve his social life as he met many fellow paddleball lovers on the beach.
Louis Greene also loves paddleball but this evening he had his fishing rod in hand and was pursuing another hobby.
“I like to walk the length of the beach and fish so that in itself is exercise and I does catch a few things now and again too,” he said.
“It is a very relaxing sport which could feed you too; I like the rewards of fishing – when you know you have a nice fish on the line, it gives you a sense of achievement to catch it and it tastes better when you catch it yourself.”
Greene, who is in his fifties, admitted fishing sometimes took patience depending on what, where and when but he would have it no other way.
Street Beat managed to flag down Pearse Adamson as he jogged by.
He said he jogged at least three times a week and also played football and road tennis and swam.
“I try to keep as fit as possible because it keeps you young and toned and it gives me a sense of achievement,” he said.
Adamson works in the tourism sector and urged Barbadians to take advantage for free of what others had to pay to enjoy.
“Some people pay thousands to come here and get in the water. I think people in Barbados need to get more active – we got the facilities and the climate, there is no reason we can’t get fit but you need to start at an early age,” he said.
In contrast, part-time fitness trainer Hadley Hoyte, 32, said Barbadians were in fact more active than in years past.
“Yes, there is a lot of obesity but to me, more people work out than before.
“In the past, you would only see people walking here around Crop Over time but now you can see people all year round,” he said.
A former athlete, Hoyte said he went into coaching after graduating from university overseas and found he liked it. However, he said he stopped upon his return home.
“I came back home and I stopped but my friends kept asking me to train them so I started holding sessions here from 2009 and in the Fitness Workshop from 2010,” he said.
Hoyte said he could not stop trying to stay in shape if he wanted to, as if he ever stopped training, he would “go mad”.
Krystal Pinder, 23, is one of Hoyte’s clients, training three days a week.
She said she exercised to lose weight and feel better, not to mention work of that Christmas munching.
“I have a trainer because I can’t seem to do it by myself. I tried but I would buy a video and lay back on the couch and watch them. One time I bought an Ab King Pro (ab machine) and used it to sleep on,” she said.
Hoyte said she really saw a difference now from when she started as she now had more stamina but added she still had further to go.