Listen to English - Work Out

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Today's podcast is about working out. There is a grammar and vocabulary note which explains that the expression "to work out" has two different meanings. If you are listening on iTunes or an iPod, you will need to go to the podcast website to read the note.

In the last podcast, Kevin made a New Year resolution to give up smoking. What about Joanne? Well, her resolution is to get fit. She has read in an article in a newspaper that, if you work out in a gym for an hour every day, you can get super-fit in only ten weeks. So she has joined a gym. Lots of other people have had the same idea and have joined the gym as well. Sometimes the gym is crowded, and Joanne has to wait for her turn on the exercise machines. She says to herself that some of the other people are probably weak-willed. They are not determined like she is, and will probably give up after about two weeks. But she will carry on and become super-fit!

She tries to persuade Kevin to join the gym as well. But Kevin says:

his New Year resolution is to give up smoking

he does not want to be super-fit, and he does not think you can get super-fit in only ten weeks

gyms are places of torture like the Tower of London and Guantanamo Bay

it is stupid to use an exercise bike at a gym. Why not get a real bike and go real places on it?

Joanne tells Kevin that he is a couch potato. She goes to the gym and works out by herself. Will she get super-fit in 10 weeks? Or will she get bored and return to eating chocolates in front of the television? We shall see!