Day 1: Monday
Monday began my new regime at a new gym. My previous membership elsewhere had ended at the end of September so I had 3 months of complete bliss while coming up with excuses why I wasn't working out at home like I told myself I was going to try when that membership ended. I can talk myself out of doing nearly everything.
As the end of the year was approaching, I was thinking about places that are either near home or near work and I started researching Planet Fitness which is right in between the two. I read reviews online and I asked around work and I actually found two women that have memberships there and one happened to have a coupon that expired 12/31/09 for a $99 one year membership (my previous workout place was about 2 times that even with my employee discount). This was without the use of their juice bar and their massage chairs or tanning beds. I was quite fine with those restrictions; I don't need juice or a vibrating chair and I like my extreme whiteness. This was early December so I hung it on the refrigerator to remind me to go there and sign up before the end of the month. For Christmas, one of the gifts I wanted from Big A was this membership. If I knew it was a gift, I was hoping that I would be more prone to actually going the 4 times a week which was my goal rather than if I just bought it. After Christmas, he and I headed in there to sign me up (maybe I can sweet talk him into joining too when I get another coupon) and Monday was my first day.
I walk in, give them my membership number and head into the place I hate the most - the women's locker room. It was a huge room with lockers of various sizes and thankfully, not too many women. After finding one, tossing my stuff in and inserting my lock, I headed out into the workout area. This place was once a Dunham's Sporting Goods store and it looks like maybe they did very little work to it once Dunham's moved out. Everything was out in the open. There were tons of treadmills and ellipticals and a few recumbent and stationary bikes all positioned before 20 TVs showing 10 different channels. To hear it, all you had to do was plug your headphones into the remote that was attached to the machine. I forego that and just gave Shephard Smith on Fox News a passing glance as I listened to my iPod and did some serious people watching.
My old gym was part physical therapy area, part workout so in amongst everyone that had knee or shoulder injuries or high school athletes partaking in some kind of forced fitness program, it was me and a bunch of older people and by older, I'm saying 60 and above. There were none of those people at Planet Fitness. While I'm thankful that I now fit in a bit better, I felt a bit melancholy at no longer running into the 60 year old man who dressed head to toe in spandex (Yes, a spandex shirt AND pants. I wish I was kidding) or the much older woman that came in and worked out in turtlenecks (my personal idol).
I enjoyed my first day even after my adventure in the women's locker room as I was getting ready to go. Since I only live 10 minutes away, I just throw on my sweatshirt and jacket and go but my progress was a bit stalled by two women with their steel-toed boots strewn about whose lockers were on either side of mine. As I was getting ready to go, I had to listen to one of them asking the other how the new shorts, which still had the tag on them, looked on her. The other of course complimented her, I'm going on a pretty safe assumption here, girlfriend and then the other woman proceeded to say how fat they made her thighs look to which the other one then yelled at her for using the "f" word (meaning "fat", not the other universally known "f" word). I'm not a huge Rosie O'Donnell fan but I remembered hearing an interview with her where she said that "fat" was not allowed to be said in her house so when I heard the other person saying that, I just sighed and tried to speed up the process as much as I could all the while sneaking a peak at these now infamous shorts and legs. The shorts were the shiny material very similar to what basketball players wear and when she was sitting, all I saw was that her legs were as ghostly white as mine are which got me rethinking the tanning bed thing.
Day 2: Tuesday
Tuesday didn't seem nearly as busy. I found a decent parking spot near the Secretary of State office (this gym is in a strip mall that features a Sav-A-Lot store, the aforementioned Secretary of State office, a comic book place and a dollar store where people from the nearby apartments like to shop while wearing their jammy pants and their "house shoes") and had a lovely, uneventful time in the locker rooms both coming and going.
On this day, I decided to give their 30 minute circuit workout a try. During a low point in my life I was a Curves member for 1 year (although I ditched it long before my year was up...I think it was the day I had to endure a talk about sex toy parties from the older women who were working out there) so I know the concept but I just wanted a quick overview. I walk up to the front desk and ask 1 of the 6 workers there if it was possible for someone to do that since it was my second day there. This guy seemed to think I was a complete novice (cursed Christmas treats!) and I needed an actual trainer so as he was explaining to me about how busy they were what with the "$1 registration fee, $10 a month" promotion they had going, one guy happened to overhear and offered his assistance. 5 minutes later, which included a quick rundown of the machines which I didn't need but appreciated, I was on my way.
I felt a little odd at first because the circuit area is in a fenced off part of the gym and I felt kind of like being in the zoo but I just tried to forget that and followed the numbers on the floor and the red light/green light (green light = go, red light = move to the next station). 24 hours later...I'm still paying for it. Unlike Curves and their wimpy weightless machines, these had real weights that I had to adjust (someone before me really liked to stack up the additional plates, I soon discovered). The cardio part involved a step that you could walk or jump on and off of. Bad idea for someone with uneven knee caps but I walked up and down all the steps and did all the machines. In between all of this, I was trying to find the most efficient way of cleaning the equipment after I used it during my red light moments. I'm currently feeling and walking like an 80 year old woman so it must be working...?
Coming up: Getting Physical - Part II: In Private
7 comments:
I did some research on new gyms and have to force myself to go. I feel like a blob these days. Christmas was not kind to my body. (OK, I wasn't kind over Christmas.)
I really just hate dishing out that kinda money. I need to move somewhere warm that I can walk all year long.
I've never been a member of a gym. I'd be afraid I wouldn't be able to figure out how everything worked. (Same reason I'd never play Roulette at a casino.) Also, there's the cost. I think the one time I asked about a local gym here, it was like 30 bucks a month.
So I run in the park. I also have some free weights, an exercise ball, Pilates video (VHS, not DVD), and an elliptical that my sister gave me last year because she was "just using it as a clothes rack." But mostly, I just run in the park. Of course, winter's tougher, but it's only a couple of weeks, usually.
My word verification is "sweden." Sweeeeeeeeee-den!
I hate going to the gym in January--with all the new folks--by March, it's back to normal... I should have written a post about the women's prayer group from a church that met in a coffee shop near my parents home where I found internet access...
TC - Sloth and gluttony is great though! The money thing was the main issue of why my original intent was to not renew my membership and see about doing it at home, which failed, so when I saw that this place had it for $99 for a full year and not additional fees (i.e., registration), I jumped at it.
Bone - We are so alike! I was afraid of trying to figure out how the machines worked too which is why the first day was spent on the treadmill where all I had to do was hit Quickstart and adjust it manually as I surveyed my surroundings. However, I don't believe in running unless being chased so that is about as alike as we get. :-)
Sage - Write it!
I remember going to a gym. I think that was about eight years ago and was in the same building where I worked. I just can't seem to bring myself to go out in the cold, get all hot, and then go out in the cold again. I go on walks in the summer and ride a stationary bike occasionally during the winter and call it good.
So...you, Bone and I are cheap? :)
I wish I was a runner. It would make things easier.
Or that I did workout videos... that would help, too.
Mostly though, I wish I lived somewhere warm, where I could get my exercise outside for all but a couple weeks of the year :) It just doesn't feel like exercise all that much when you're enjoying beautiful weather!
Ok, I sounded a little cheesy at the end of that last comment.
Forgive me - I read one of Sage's nature posts before coming back here O:)
(OK, I didn't, I read his book review, but still. It's Sage. It counts.)
Post a Comment