The Lazy Journalist is pumped about a new Tai Chi class at the Prince Regent

And the good news is, there’s a regular new weekly session of the above starting at the Prince Regent fitness studio at 10.30am on Friday (March 6).

The classes will be under the chilled but expert tutelage of former kickboxing champ Sean Mallett.

Sean promises a Tai Chi fit-style class which is open to all-comers, with the emphasis on enjoyment and fitness rather than strict step-by-step adherence to the Tai Chi forms.

Instead the movement will be closer to the Qi Gong style of graceful exercise, which, in my limited understanding, is less detailed and far easier to pick up. So, expect bigger, easier, motions which create a lovely meditative state through co-ordinated breathing and lots of repetitive movement.

Personally I’m pretty darn pumped at the prospect. I had a one-to-one with Sean last year and he’s a great teacher with a brilliant down-to-earth style.

The class is open to everyone, and priced £7 to non-members. So either visit bookwkg.freedom-leisure.co.uk/princeregentbookings or call 01273 685692.

So as Missy Elliot once nearly sang: Go get your Qi Gong, get your Qi Gong.

Elsewhere, on a slightly less spiritual but nonetheless quite meditative, I’ve managed to clock up some good stints on the cross-trainer – while watching live football. Through the combined wonders of a TV screen built into an exercise machine, and successive FA Cup games on terrestrial television, I was able to exercise and watch a bit of the old soccer.

An ultra-fit friend of mine recently scoffed at me when I told him I’ve been known to watch the odd TV show on my smartphone at the gym. His response was to say that I ‘clearly wasn’t working hard enough’.

I get where he’s coming from, and obviously I wouldn’t do it while weight-training or mid-plank, but surely there’s a place for it when you’re on a static cardio-vascular machine?

Isn’t it a case of whatever helps you to achieve your goals?

And on a rainy night in February my goals are to get my heart pumping by putting in some time on the sweat-inducing steppers, bikes and cross-trainers.

Unfortunately keeping up my limited levels of motivation is always a challenge, especially when stomping up and down on a stationary machine, and when music isn’t providing enough distraction, some football will do nicely.

To find out more about Freedom Leisure’s gyms visit www.freedom-leisure.co.uk