The pros and cons of keeping myself fit

It's heartening to read that Chinese people are becoming more health-conscious.

However, would-be fitness fanatics should be aware of the downside to seeking good health.

I try to stay fit myself - but it hasn't always been so.

My parents sent me to school a long way from home. It was a good school and I should have been overjoyed but I resented losing my local friends and traveling miles every day to a strange town.

I rebelled and got into some unhealthy habits. I joined a gang of misfits who preferred drinking and smoking to academic pursuits. Every break time was spent chain-smoking.

Some breaks and lunchtimes we would go to the pub, drinking, playing pool and smoking. How we got away with that while wearing school uniform I still can't fathom.

This behavior set a pattern for my early life. I drank a lot, I smoked a lot.

After leaving school I got a job as a junior reporter - and entering the world of journalism wasn't a path to follow for anyone keen to reduce their alcohol intake.

Those early newspaper days were boozy indeed. By my mid-20s my bad habits were taking their toll. I felt depressed, I had terrible hangovers, I had the shakes.

I decided to cut down on cigarettes by only smoking "OPs" - other people's. That worked - there was an exclusion zone around me during smoking breaks.

One day, I must have been looking sorry for myself and a printer at work asked if I'd like a game of badminton. I agreed and to say he ran rings around me would be an understatement - I was a lobster-colored, wheezing, sweaty disgrace. But after I had showered and regained my composure I felt great.

I started playing regularly. When I met my wife, she took up badminton and we played against each other. I lost weight and felt happy.

When our child came along it became difficult to organize badminton games so we bought an exercise bike and continued our fitness regime at home.

So far, so wholesome. What could be the downside of keeping fit?

Well, although I had "seen the light," I had friends who were clinging to the old lifestyle. I didn't give up drinking - I just moderated my behavior - but I could tell I was coming across to some of them as smug. Tell people you keep fit and you can often see the cogs start whirling in their heads, marking you down as some kind of goody-goody.

Another downside to exercise is that you can overdo it in your quest for immortality.

A few years ago a doctor on TV discovered that doing just three minutes of exercise - absolutely flat-out - once a week was sufficient to keep you healthy.

"Ah," I thought. "I'll add those three minutes to my daily bike regime and then I'll be super-fit!"

Big mistake. Everything was fine for a year or so, then my knee started hurting - badly.

I needed an operation for a damaged cartilage

I couldn't exercise for eight months. My weight ballooned but I learned a valuable lesson.

Keep fit, by all means, but there's no way of canceling the inevitable. If the Grim Reaper can't get you through the heart, he'll get you through the knees.

Contact the writer at david@chinadaily.com.cn