“Fit For Life” Health Centre - IELTS Listening Answers & Explanations

SECTION 2

You will hear the manager of a fitness centre giving information about the centre to some new customers.

Hello everyone, and welcome to the "Fit for Life" Health Centre — a place which, as the name suggests, is not just for short-term solutions, but rather, intends to put you on a sensible and achievable looting for the rest of your life. And that's how we’re different. For example, we could immediately put you on a harsh exercise program, expeeling you to work out every day, but such a plan would see you quickly lose interest. That’s why the initial step is a one-and-a-half-hour consultation, in which your lifestyle, current situation, and long-term goals, are all thoroughly analysed.

Now, an important part of this consultation involves analysing what you eat. There's no point exercising here, and losing weight, then pulling it all back on, later. You will need to show self-control and discipline in your diet, and we'll work on that. Similarly, we’ll put you on an exercise regime suitable for your level of fitness, so that will involve a test, where we will take you through some activities, then measure your heart rate and blood pressure to determine how fit you are. This will be monitored during every subsequent consultation, along with your exercise schedule, and that occurs monthly, and not half-yearly, as with many other centres.

As to our actual exercise machines and programs, you will have to decide whether it is muscle mass, stamina, or general fitness, that you want to develop. Think about which of these three you want to target, and we'll design a specific program for you -- but remember, bulging muscles aren’t necessarily suitable for everyone. Sometimes it's better to think in terms of two simple concepts: muscle definition and stamina; or, if you are female, being fit and healthy, in both mind and body.

Now, if you’re going to work out at this gym. you’ll need to think about your reasons for exercising, so let's consider that in more detail. Muscle mass is certainly popular with the guys, probably seeking, to impress the girls, and with muscles comes the confidence to do that, right? Well, for that, you'll need our high-stress weight units, where pumping iron is all the rage. Moving, on to other benefits, one of the main ones is beating the tension of life, right, and the longer the exercise is, the greater the rewards in this respect. Thus, playing squash can certainly help, and so can swimming, but what’s much better, as every jogger will tell you, is their activity, so we have ample jogging machines, and they’re always popular. They can provide good fitness too, as can the yoga classes; however, again, let’s not forget playing squash, which, I would say, is the optimum way to improve your general wellbeing. Such an active, energetic game, plus the competitive element, drives you forward into high levels of health and fitness. These, of course, are the ultimate purposes of being here, but remember, the centre is full of like-minded people, all of whom are interesting to meet, and valuable sources of information.

The yoga classes have a pre- and post-meeting session, so you’ll certainly meet others there, although they’ll all be yoga enthusiasts, which limits the range somewhat. But whether doing yoga, swimming, or exercising, everyone showers, right, so those facilities are where you’ll hear all sorts of interesting conversations, and really get to know people —not like the front-desk area, which is mostly empty as patrons go immediately inside to do their exercise. Of course, the front desk can answer all your questions, and has information brochures, and such like, but for knowing more about a greater variety of subjects and community concerns, look at the notice board in the yoga studio, where there’s a huge array of papers, leaflets, and articles, all for you to read and consider.