It’s summer and so tons of people are suddenly wanting to get fit again. I’m one of them. Although for me it’s not so much so that I can ‘get into a bathing suit’ or something like that. I’ve kind of given up on the idea that I will ever ‘look good’ in a bathing suit. My body just isn’t shaped like that and no amount of dieting and exercise is ever going to make me look like Angelina Jolie or anything remotely like that.
BUT, I can be healthier and look better than I do now. So I’m a Weight Watcher and I just joined a new gym. In previous years I’ve tried using the Whitt (the gym right here on campus) but it’s never worked out very well. It’s always jam packed with students, you have to wait ages to get a machine, and (here’s where I sound old and crochety) they blast the MOST annoying music known to man. I don’t really like having to turn up my iPod till my eardrums burst just to drown out the rap music. Maybe that’s just me. I also cannot STAND working out next to the size zero sorority girls who always seem to go on and on about how drunk they got.
Just not the place for me.
But I found a place that’s VERY nice. Planet Fitness. My friend, Bethany, had told me about the place before. Her sister Mandy also works out there. What really caught my attention was the fact that with a particular kind of membership you get unlimited guest passes. *ding* That means that I could take my wife, Katie, with me! We could work out TOGETHER. Which means that I might actually really go to this gym! So I stopped by to check out the place and the desk staff were really friendly. A college age guy gave me a tour of the place and answered all my questions. I felt quite comfortable. A gym is not my natural habitat in the least. I used to feel like I’d stepped into some exclusive club where I was the plebeian amidst the senators. But this place didn’t feel like that at all. There are tons of machines so even during their busiest hours (right after work) Katie and I could both get machines. Right next to each other.
The locker room is spacious and PRISTINELY clean, even during the peak hours.
I think the part that I love the most, though, is the TVs :} I’m a couch potato at heart. I love to watch TV. And Planet Fitness has about 20 of them mounted to the ceiling. At all the cardio machines you have an easy view of at least five or six of them, each playing a different channel. You plug your headphones into a little receiver and you can watch any of them while you work out. Bethany clued me into a brilliant idea about them. You can’t look down at the time on your machine until a commercial break. So you watch the show until a commercial and ZOOM the time just flies by. I’m jogging on my treadmill and bam, show is over and I’ve done a half hour! It makes me positively giddy with glee.
With my membership I get free tanning (which I will never use, but some might enjoy), free use of their massage chairs, unlimited guest passes, the ability to use other Planet Fitness locations, half price drinks from their coolers, and small group fitness classes. Pretty shiny!
I got the slightly more expensive membership because my health insurance (and yours if you’re a UNH person!) pays for a health club membership up to $500 as long as you go to the gym at least 8 times a month. So I’m getting just what I need. I don’t have to pay, it’s good for my health (and to help me look better!), and it lets me bring Katie with me. You can’t go wrong.
The Judgement Free Zone works awesome for me!
