Photos by Phil Wilson/ Alan Dimmick

Commissioned by Radar, Loughborough Universityfor Human Condition/ingNovember/ December 2011www.lboro.ac.uk/radar

TEMPLE

OF

JACKIE

©Jacqueline Donachie 2011

In February and March 2011 Jacqueline Donachie undertook a series of physical tests in the Sports Science Department of Loughborough University.Temple of Jackie was installed on campus 9-16th November 2011

Average There isn’t a lot of fat. My ageing body has become more toned, more wiry. Biceps and triceps have formed from twenty years of working and carrying and lifting. Legs have À rmed through running miles of my city, an overwrought mind calmed, the loss of cellulite an added bonus.

But at the end of these tests I was exhausted and sore. I had burned, raw patches on my legs and a bruised ankle from the strapping. I worked so hard but the results put me at exactly the point of average

the middle of General Population, the low end of Recreationally Active. I tick the boxes of middle age. How does that feel, to be average, in the middle of life?

Average There isn’t a lot of fat. My ageing body has become more toned, more wiry. Biceps and triceps have formed from twenty years of working and carrying and lifting. Legs have À rmed through running miles of my city, an overwrought mind calmed, the loss of cellulite an added bonus.

But at the end of these tests I was exhausted and sore. I had burned, raw patches on my legs and a bruised ankle from the strapping. I worked so hard but the results put me at exactly the point of average

the middle of General Population, the low end of Recreationally Active. I tick the boxes of middle age. How does that feel, to be average, in the middle of life?

Testing times - O

2Max

You go into a tiny room and there’s a guy w

ith a face mask and a bicycle-like contraption.

He w

ants you to put the mask on, and invites you to sit on the bicycle and begin pedaling. To w

arm up.

You do this and the speed of the bike gets faster. You start to sweat.

There is a length of tubing attached to a machine w

ith a large plastic bag at one end.

The tubing is forced into your mouth as you continue to cycle. H

e shouts at you to pedal harder. You go faster but it is di!

cult with the tube in your m

outh, and a nose clip on. You are breathing into the bag. Faster, faster, it feels like your lungs are going to burst.

It stops and you recover.

He takes a blood sam

ple from your finger.

It happens again. This time faster. And again, and again.

By about the 4th session your really do think you will vom

it if it doesn’t stop. He is yelling and shouting at you

and you want to keep going, don’t w

ant to give up. You keep on and on.

Then it stops. Your legs feel like jelly when you get o"

of the machine. H

e says you can’t take any more so they

will stop now

. That is your max.

For Explosive Power, you go into a room

with three m

en and a large steel framed chair.

They outline what w

ill happen and ask you to sit.

They will attach sensors to your legs and groin, but before they do this they need to prepare your skin for the

attachment to w

ork. They produce a Tesco bag with a green scouring pad, som

e disposable razors and a bottle of surgical spirits.

You are strapped into the steel chair with the sensors attached.

They ask you to kick as hard as you can. You force your ankle against the velcro strapping.

They repeat this several times, you versus the velcro. You feel your neck straining and it starts to hurt your ankle

Then they want to assess how

you can do it without your brain’s involvem

ent.

A wom

an comes in to connect an electrode to your groin. This w

ill use an electric pulse to make your leg kick,

seven times in rapid succession. The jolt is initially m

inimal, but increasing. As it goes up it feels like you are

being kicked in the groin repeatedly and violently. Up and up. It doesn’t feel like seven jolts, just one very

hard one

The men, w

ho are young, are impressed by your staying pow

er. The rugby players have given up by now.

Eventually the jolts become too painful. They stop. You have reached your lim

it.