Gym Memberships

For as long as I can remember I’ve always been against subscription base gym membership. Why pay all this money to workout? There’s so much out there you can do to get a good workout without going to a gym. And best of all they’re free or at least cheaper. I’ve never met anyone who was in good shape because they only workout at a gym. Those who are in good shape that I know don’t even go to a gym. Those people run, bike, hike, climb, and play organized sports. They’re in great shape because they do a variety of activities. Working out exclusively at a gym limits your potential.

Some of my friends swear by it. They go to the gym religiously. It’s the constant in their lives. They workout two hours each day, 3 to 4 times a week with no results to show for it. A few years ago I went with a friend to 24-hour Fitness. He had a pass for me and he needed a workout partner. I was surprise to find out that all he did was a few sets of bench presses and arm curls followed by long stares in the mirror. And his cardio workout is a 5 minute jog on the treadmill before he hit the showers. I always wondered why some people have personal trainers and now I understood. People don’t know how to workout.

But I need to admit in this ironic situation. I have signed up for a gym at Club One Silver Creek Sportsplex (Gasp! I know, I know). It’s a very nice facility and also very expensive. But before I get hoisted by my own petard, I can explain. Before I signed up I thought long and hard about why I should and shouldn’t. And the reasons that I should outweighed reasons not to do it. First, I was signing up through the company I work for and we get a big discount. And the most important reason that I signed up is because it has a great aquatics facility. For the past 5 years my training regiment has been the same. I run about 25-30 miles a week. My training also includes lifting weights and playing pickup sports as a way to cross train. But the one cross-training activity I needed to add to my training regiment was swimming. The last time I did any kind of aquatics training was back in high school for Track and Field. It was great way to mix up the high-impact workout of running and the low-impact of pool training. Now that I’ve sign up with Club One I’ll have the opportunities to add it back to my workout routine.

To be continued…

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