Fitness Clubs Rants and Rumblings

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.

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.