Anne-Marie's story
As well as a world-class indoor athletics track and velodrome, the Emirates Arena is also home to a
state-of-the-art gym.
We spoke to Anne-Marie Hanlon about how having this gym on her doorstep has helped her get active.
Q) Why do you use the gym at the Emirates Arena?
"The fact the gym is local has helped me keep going. I’m about a half-hour walk away from the venue, and I enjoy that walk in the morning. You’re out in the fresh air before you even get to the gym. And when I’m finished, I use that walk as my cool down.
"I go and do food shopping and get things done on my way back that I wouldn’t if I was sitting at home, so it’s helping me do other stuff as well."
Q) What impact has it had on your life?
"With my depression, it’s helped me, if I hadn’t been going to the gym, I don’t know what state I’d be in or how my mental health would be.
"I don’t work, and I live on my own, and it’s not like I have any family nearby or a pet I can take out every day for a walk, which can get me into conversations. I do volunteer two times a week at a charity shop, but it depends on how I’m feeling.
"I initially went to the gym to lose weight to go to my friend’s wedding. I kept going to the gym because I liked it, and it gave me a reason to get up in the morning. It helped me with my mental health and gave me something to focus on in the mornings.
"If I hadn’t been going to the gym, I’d be staying in my pyjamas all day or only going out for food
shopping, I’d be stuck in the house myself.
Q) How long have you been a member of Glasgow Club and what made you join?
"Ten years ago I had a friend’s wedding coming up the next year, and basically I didn’t want to be the overweight person in the wedding photographs.
"I’d heard about an eight-week healthy eating programme; you’d go every week and you’d get weighed and told how to eat healthy. At that, there was a guy who did the GP referral and gave us a talk.
"I hadn’t been in a gym since I was in my 20s and I thought there was no way I could go back to a gym, I’m too old.
"I had just turned 51 by this point, and I thought I couldn’t go to a gym as you think of all these young, slim and fit people with all the designer gear going to the gym.
"However, when I heard about this you were getting taken in for a 1-to-1 programme specifically for you and it wasn’t a one-size-fits-all. I thought I’ll go down and give it a try, and it was the best thing I ever did.
"The instructor tailored the programme around me. I stayed with this for around a year and then I did my own thing, as I’d built up my confidence.
"I now knew how to use the equipment and what I was doing, whereas when I first went into the gym I couldn’t have even switched on the treadmill. I didn’t have a clue, but having someone take you round and show you and build a programme that suits you was great."
"By the time I went into the gym myself I knew what I was doing, and I was comfortable. I just kept it going and I’m still going."
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Q) What is it you like about the gym you go to?
"It's the same people who are in the gym at the same time as me. In the morning it’s quiet, and I like the gym when it’s quiet and all the people who are there at this time are around the same age group.
"So we chat away to one another in the gym, but don’t socialise outside the gym. So we all know one another in there and ask each other how we are getting on.
"You’ve got the gym staff as well and you can have a laugh and joke with them. As someone who lives on their own, it removes the isolation. I can go down there, and I can have a laugh and chat with everybody, so I’m not on my own all day.
"The staff are the biggest thing, they are great laugh. You can have a laugh and a joke with them, I’ll wind them up and they’ll wind me up. It’s like you’re going down to meet your pals.
"I like hearing about their families and children, especially as I don’t have children. I think that’s great, the staff are all very friendly and approachable. There are none you can’t approach or chat to."
Q) How do you think venue has impacted the local area?
"I think there are a lot more people using the gyms that maybe didn’t use a gym before. They are going down and trying it and liking it.
"I was worried all the equipment would’ve changed and I wouldn’t be able to work it, so I talked myself out of it. But when you get down there and you get in, you realise it isn’t the big scary place you thought it would be.
"When you go down people are just wearing joggy bottoms and t-shirts, they don’t care what you’re wearing. They are all in to do their own programme and are zoned out, nobody cares what you’re wearing or look like."
Q) Obviously the Emirates is a legacy venue of the Games, what are your memories of Glasgow 2014?
"All I can remember is that it was absolutely scorching that summer and I got sunburned!
"I also remember walking around George Square in shorts and t-shirt and people from all over the world queuing up to get their photo taken with the Big G. Folk were queuing up, everyone was happy and smiley. It was just the mass of colour all over Glasgow, down at George Square.
"Everybody was so happy, laughing, it was just a great atmosphere. When you were walking through the town there was a lot of colours as well as people were wearing bright colours for the different nations they were supporting. I can remember really hot weather, a mass of colour and getting sunburned."