Fitness Clubs Rants and Rumblings

I became a member several years ago of a Lifetime fitness center in Bloomington, Minnesota. Six months previously I had given birth to my third child, and I was ready to get back in shape.

We lived in a small apartment in the inner city of Minneapolis, so I didn’t have much of an opportunity for vigorous exercise with three small children and my husband gone during the day.

It was not safe to walk at night alone, and in the winter, it was foolish to be out alone in the city. While my husband watched the kids, I drove about 25 minutes outside of the city to the suburbs to go to the fitness center.

I signed up for the core conditions aerobics class that met twice per week. It was quite a commitment to take the time to do this. I did this for about three months. The aerobic class lasted about thirty-five minutes.

It was quite full, with approximately fifty people participating. We warmed up slowly for 5 minutes, which included head rolls and breathing. Then we gradually increased our workout. The instructor was energetic, and we basically danced in time to popular R & B. The moves were easy for me to follow.

The teacher was consistent, counting steadily, and she constantly explained what to do and often why, making comments such as, “Okay, we need to work out our arms now, so reach and two and three and four and stretch and two, three, four.” She encouraged all the way through the workout.

The workout was really pretty demanding. I didn’t have a heart monitor then, but I’m sure my heart rate was at least 145-150 for at least 20 minutes. The instructor was knowledgeable and safety-conscious.

I certainly felt like I was doing some good for my body because it was a good workout, but it was only twice a week. It seems to work better for me to workout every other day or at the least three times per week.

I stopped going to the fitness center because it wasn’t very practical for our family. I had an infant and two toddlers at home and had to drive at night in pretty cold, snowy weather (Minnesota gets super cold) to get there.

The cost wasn’t bad; it was about $45 per month. However, I needed something easier and closer to home. It was really hard, after my husband got home, to give directions to him about heating up supper and rush out in the evening.

I was desperate at the time to get into shape, but it just didn’t work well as far as the schedule. Now I have a stationary bike I use at home in front of the TV and watch videos. It’s much more convenient.

For my New Year’s resolution I had decided to get fit. So I did what most people do, I signed up for a gym membership. I decided to go ahead and get a personal trainer.

He was very thorough, and after three visits he asked me what part of the body I wanted to work on. I said “Let’s do stomach today.” WHAT A MISTAKE! I can handle blasting. But he knew my previous activity levels (sitting in front of a computer all day every day for well over a year), and he fully blasted me on the mat.

He said “Ok, let’s hit the machines!” I hopped up and… promptly sat back down. Hard. I almost fainted. He had me lie down on a bench and get my wits about me, I felt like I was going to die. Needless to say, I’ve not been back to the gym since… eight months later. And I’m still paying.

I’m a 62 year old and fairly healthy despite smoking. I’ve always been fairly active, slim, but noticed that my muscle tone was really going down. I was developing that pouch of skin under my chin and flabby arms. I decided it was time to do something about it.

There isn’t any reason why we should just let ourselves go to pot. I checked out several places and found there was a good fitness center at a college in the same town. I went and took a look and really liked what I saw.

They had a lot of nautilus machines, oodles of treadmills and the nicest pool I’ve ever seen. The cost of joining was $260.00 a year with a first time addition of $25.00. I found out I qualified for up to $150.00 rebate from my insurance carrier as long as I maintained the membership for four months, so I joined.

My favorite nautilus machines work on the areas that I want to concentrate on and I use a treadmill to increase lung strength. I only want my arms, legs, buttocks and under my chin to firm up so I specifically use those machines that will do that.

There is one machine alone that helps build all leg muscles and the buttocks at the same time and all I have to do is set the weights at 100, push, and do 100 repetitions. With nautilus, I don’t have to worry about lifting weights as I have bursitis and don’t want to lift.

When I’m done with my work outs I take a swim, shower and go home. I really like this fitness center. And go at least twice a week. They have personal trainers there if I care to use one, but I pretty much know what to do with these machines and saw results in three weeks.

Last year I started going to the gym at my University twice a week. Since the use of the gym is part of tuition, I didn’t have to pay anything extra; however, I did rent out a locker and towel service, which probably added up to about $50 a semester.

I would usually travel to the gym on my bicycle, taking it on the metro to the university stop. It was about 30-minutes of travel time. I would get to the gym early enough to make it to my morning classes, usually around 7AM.

Once at the gym, I would change into my gym shoes that I kept in my locker and take off my glasses. Exercising without clear vision was disorienting at first, but eventually I grew to prefer it.

Since I’m not a morning person (or people person, really), I tended to block things out anyway. My regimen included 15 minutes on the elliptical machines, 15 minutes of muscle training using a variety of machines, and 10 minutes of floor exercises, such as sit-ups.

I ended with some stretches to loosen up. After the workout and a shower (and later some coffee), I had plenty of energy for my morning classes. If you don’t mind getting up early, it’s much better than rolling out of bed and dragging yourself to work or class.

After keeping up this routine for a year, I realized that I don’t really enjoy the gym environment. I don’t like being around a lot of people, waiting in lines for machines, or listening to classic rock while I exercise.

Over the summer, while I was away from the university, I created my own workout at home that consists of jogging, jumping rope, and Pilates. I can watch/listen to whatever I want, and I don’t have to pay for a locker or towel service.

I use a Pilates workout from a book or look up exercise videos on YouTube. There’s a wealth of free fitness information on the web. Every other day I go through the Pilates workout and jump rope. On the days in between I run approximately 3 miles around my neighborhood. I stretch daily. I find that the regular schedule helps me stay sane, and the resulting physical fitness keeps me healthy.

I used to routinely go to a gym and work out on a regular basis. My former employer subsidized our attending a certain fitness gym as long as we went there to work out 120 times a year.

The first gym they had us go to was wonderful. It was very convenient to our office and I could easily go work out during my lunch hour or go after work before I took the train home. When we were going to that gym, I worked out 3 to 5 days a week.

I primarily did cardio exercises and lifted weights to build up my strength. One of the really nice things about that gym is that the trainers would take time to help us with our exercise routines and not charge us too much.

They also had many classes we could attend for free. My employer changed us to a second gym that I didn’t like nearly as much, so I stopped working out as much. The second gym was much more difficult to get to.

The latest gym they had us go to didn’t have nearly as many benefits. It was hard to get too and more expensive. It cost $200 a year even if you went to the gym the required number of times.

While at this gym, I did pay to work out with a personal trainer. I really liked working out with her. She had me doing cardio and using free weights as well as my own weight as resistance.

When I first started working out, I was exhausted all the time. It took a long time for my body to get used to working out a lot. But, once I did get used to it, I felt good. I was starting to lose weight and gain muscle tone.

That meant I was also starting to gain more energy. I like working out, but I don’t like having to work hard to get to the gym. If I have to go out of my way or make a special trip to get to a workout facility, I am less likely to go.

Planet Fitness is the name of the gym I go to. They are new in my area and did some heavy advertising to get attention. I got mail advertisements from them. They promised a “judgment free zone” where people could come and exercise without worrying about others’ negativity.

They have a number of options. You can exercise on your own and there are also classes you can attend with a personal trainer. They have one area with treadmills and stationary bikes.

They have other areas that have machines that work on specific areas of your body. Another area is the weight room which has machinery that helps develop your muscles.

Lastly another area is set of machines you can use if you want a 30 minute cardiovascular workout. Planet Fitness also offers some extras-there are massage chairs and also tanning rooms.

The basis price is a $30 membership fee with $20 deducted from your bank account every month. I felt this was very reasonable. I have developed a routine of going in about three times a week. I spend about 10 minutes on the stationary bike. Then I spend the next 20 minutes on various machines that tone up my arms, work on my mid-section, and exercise my legs.

I would like to add about 10 extra minutes to finish up my routine on the treadmill starting this week. I started this routine to improve my general health and have noticed my thighs and abs have slimmed down. Best of all, I feel very good when I come out of the gym-many times, a lot better than when I went in. This has been a positive experience for me and I hope to continue.