10 days at LA Fitness (and the beef with other gyms)

Our friends joined up with a Boston-area gym called LA Fitness. It is a fairly new gym around these parts, and I believe there is only a couple of locations so far. Luckily, they were given two VIP 10-Day passes for anyone of their choosing to also try out the gym – they picked us!

                                                   

This past December, we moved to North Shore of Boston, leaving our THREE gym memberships behind. Yes. THREE. TFK and I both belong to Boston Sports Club and he has a secondary gym membership at Golds Gym. Unfortunately, we are now too far from either gym so we are in the market for a new one. My relationship with the gym is this: I HATE TO LOVE IT. Due to the fact that I am not a runner, the gym gets me access to other cardio and classes, however I usually am not a fan of the atmosphere and/or the price.

 Some other riffs we have had with our previous gyms:

• Planet Fitness: Planet Fitness was a great gym for cardio; however it is not geared towards “hardcore lifting”. TFK is into high free-weights, and planet fitness only has dumbbells that go up to 60 pounds. Another issue is that due to the cheap price of this gym, it is so crowded all of the time. And I am talking packed sardines type of crowded. Regardless, the ride it took to get to the nearest PF ended up being not worth the very cheap monthly price.

• Gold’s Gym: TFK liked Gold’s Gym for there apparent catering to a more “bodybuilding” type of workout. There was higher dumbbells, however the Gold’s near us was quite small. There cardio equipment was half new/half out-dated, and it seemed that regardless of the time we went; it was always JAM PACKED. The price seemed a little on the high side ($30 per month) for such a small gym, and there early termination fee is $200!

• Boston Sports Club: Firstly, the price of this gym is almost double that of any other previous one ($60 per month) which is crazy expensive. Although this gym had a lot of amenities like a pool, sauna, and basketball court, it still is questionable whether or not it is worth the price. TFK ran into problems with this gym’s lifting section as well; since it was really small and seemed a bit dated. However, I liked this gym purely because the cardio equipment of this gym is definitely the best I have seen, with all new equipment and TV’s on every cardio piece. This gym also has a lot of different classes to choose from; but does not offer the “official” body pump class which I have yet to find at any of the gyms I have belonged to.

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So, needless to say we have had our share of gym experiences in the last 3 years, but cannot seem to find a gym that caters to both him (free weights, large lifting area) and me (updated cardio equipment; large cardio area). We started our 10 day pass at LA Fitness yesterday and my initial thoughts on this gym are this:

• LA Fitness: TFK is loving this gym so far. This gym has a huge free-weight section that has a lot of benches and a lot weights. The cardio section of this gym is upstairs, and has an OK amount of equipment. It seems a bit dated, lacking the newer precor cardio machines I have grown to love. However, it does have a pool and a racquetball court with a decent amount of classes offered.

Off for day 2 at LA Fitness…

-A
*Clearly these are my personal views on my experiences at the Gyms listed above*

Trying to find my groove!

And groove I shall find. For me, getting myself to work out is such a mental game. I know I can do it physically, it is just about getting there and TO DO it. I would like to say that I am not a lazy person, but in the winter it is just not the case. The thought of going outside and being cold is such a deterrent for me. I would much rather be warm and snuggly inside my house! (But, I am guessing I am not the only one like this? Right?)

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Yesterday was spent being lazy. Since returning from a week in Sunny Mexico, I have found myself in a bit of a post-vacation blues mindset, and that has gots-to-go! 

Although I didn't make it to the gym, I did work out! I DID NOT want to leave my warm home and go to the gym, but I knew if I worked out I was going to feel better. So I flicked on the TV and perused exercise TV and too see what they had to offer. Lo and Behold good ol' Jillian Michaels popped up on my screen...

Oh Jillian and your bad choice of sports bras -- I hate to love you. I have done the majority of her workout videos before, and I actually don't mind them at all. Sometimes her "words of encouragement" can be a bit questionable, but eh to each their own. So, I popped on Level 1 of the 30 day shred and got down to business. Once I completed the shred, I turned on another workout DVD (a whole body circuit training type one) but I only made it about 15 minutes through that one because the instructor had the voice, and peppiness of an annoying cheerleader and I just couldn't bear it ANY LONGER.

Fast forward to today... I literally dragged ass to my complex gym where I spent about 40 minutes sweating it out on the elliptical. I mutli-tasked by working out and catching up on my trashy mag US Weekly; so all in all I will give myself a B grade for the day. 

I do think that when (if) the weather gets nicer, it really will be so much easier for me to get motivated to work out more. While walking with the Sig Other to the gym tonight, I said "isn't Spring in like 25 days?" His reply? "Honey, I think it is a little further away than that!" Well, boooo to that! 

source: Google Images

Oh Spring, Please hurry up! 


-A