Circuits, treadmills and weights, Oh my!!!

Working part time has meant an increase in my gym time! When my work ends, I have a few hours before I can pick up Hubby. I could goof around but mostly I end up at a branch of my gym down the street from work.

It’s given me more time to work out - at my body’s pace. Even now I can’t say my pace because I don’t want to own it. (I can’t/don’t to admit to being that slow and weak!)

To stave off boredom, I've found/developed different circuit and weight routines online. Another must is switching machines. (As much as I love the sliptical.) I tried having a 'rule' that I couldn't use the same cardio machine two days in a row. The unraveling of this rule came from only having three options: treadmill, elipitical and recline bike. I settled into a pattern very quickly, which isn't good for my cardio workouts right now.

I'm back to the drawing board for cardio workout 'rules'. Have any good ones you care to share?

It’s an uphill path but I am happy to say I can say, I feel I am making some very, very small bits of progress. I can use the machines for a little bit longer and on some weight lifting exercises I can do another set.

It feels like I spend a large part of my day at the gym but it will be worth the effort.

At least that's what I'm hoping for.

En-ie min-ie mine-ie mo, to which gym shall we go?

New place is GREAT. It doesn’t come with a gym room, so we had to search for somewhere else to work out.

Yes, I did try the work out at home. It doesn’t work for me. One video yes that’s fine but to really get the workout I need, I need the social atmosphere and pressure. My hubby would be just fine working out at home but is being encouraging by coming to the gym with me after work.

There was a lengthy search and comparison of local gyms. Here’s a few of the options we found.

Option A – 45 $ a month per person year long contract

Pros - Shiny new facility, lap pool, classes, racquet ball courts, decent amount of weights and cardio, clean locker rooms, kind of close to home and even has a Jacuzzi.

Cons – 90 $ a month on the gym, are you kidding me!? Oh and you’re not going to waive the pricey start up fees?!

Plus they didn’t have personal tvs on each cardio machine. Not required just nice. Lets take a look around. Hmmm most of the people, I mean almost all men, doing weights look like they live there or were juicing.

Option B – 10 $ a month no start up fee month to month

Really cheap, only ten dollars a month. Now we know for only ten dollars a month we would not be getting all the extras but that's fine, we don't need racquet ball courts or jacuzzis.

Online it looked like it had everything we needed. The real world experience was made me want to take a shower. The stale smell of gym socks and latent sweat assaulted us when we walked in the ‘gym’.

It was a converted warehouse which lacked ventilation and had a women’s locker room straight from a creepy slasher movie. The machines were old and in disrepair. We got out of there as fast as we could because it was clear that was not the gym for us.

Option C – 20 $ a month, 30 $ start up fee, yr long contract, 40 $ yearly fee

Pros – 1 person can by the pass and always bring a guest, in fact the gym encourages it. Use of multiple gyms. One is on the way home for us, another is down the street from my work. Personal TV’s on cardio machines. Clean gyms and locker rooms.

Cons – No classes, year long contract, yearly maintenance fee and no pool.

Option D – 10 or 15 $ each, yr long contract, 30 $ start up fee

An ok gym with 2 branches. It had classes but they wouldn’t work with our schedule or we would have to pay even more for them. It had personal TV’s but wasn’t well ventilated, had below par locker rooms, no pool and was out of our way on the way home. It was pretty cheap but overall not worth it.

In the end we went with Option C. I can work out after work because I work part time and we stop into the gym right on our way home. Also the gym by my work was waiving the start up fee, so we saved 30 dollars. We’ve had the membership for almost three weeks and we’re happy with our choice. It’s been worth our money and time.

Thrifting

As we are increasing our workouts, we need more workout clothes. The thing is, I’m picky about my pants. The ones I like are usually around 20 dollars at Costco and much more anywhere else.

I’d like to have a set of workout clothes for Mon – Fri to make the work week less stress full. Adding laundry to an already Wednesday, yeah I’d like to avoid that.

Anyway, the cost of getting all new work out clothes was too much for this penny pincher. Lucky for me there is a Goodwill store near work and a few college campuses.

I was able to find 4 pairs of work out pants that I like plus a new work out T shirt for the cost of buying one pair of new work out pants. All my new workout pants are in great condition and now I have enough to get through the work week without needing to do laundry.

Employment Update

I am now working part time for the same education research company I was temping for, and have been working here since I started temping. I am hoping to get hired onto another project so I can be working full time but for now I spend more time in the gym. (more on that later.) The hubby is liking his job and he is working full time.