Join the Gym Crowd

While it might seem a little late in the year to be joining a gym and cashing in on those New Year's resolutions, now is as good a time as any to be taking the plunge for a gym membership. Remember those deals you glanced at in January but set on the back burner? Think again about those deals typically luring "I'm-going-to-get-fit-this-year" wannabes through the first of the year--they're still available, in some cases even a little better than before. Or at least, that's what got my parents to finally join the fitness train. Well, that and the close-to-home factor.

My mission in visiting my parents this week was two-fold: to see my sister visiting from California and select a gym for my parents to join. They were interested--my dad finally convinced my mom--but couldn't decide between two facilities in the area. They had checked out local one-location-only clubs years ago and weren't impressed, didn't want to be part of the Bally's crowd, didn't join the YMCA when my sister and I were swimming. But now they had narrowed it down to Life Time Fitness and L.A. Fitness--two clubs relatively close to home. So I'm supposed to check out the facilities, make my judgments, find the pluses and minuses, and report back.

Secretly I hoped to only visit one club and deem that one appropriate for my parents, and I lucked out when my wish came true. My mom was sold at the L.A. Fitness membership desk with a deal even I'd be hard-pressed to pass up. And if I lived anywhere near a location (without having to drive), I'd consider signing on the dotted line. For suburban living, it's five minutes from the house, you can park so close you can leave your coat in the car, it has an indoor 25-meter pool (the pool is always a selling point for me), it has plenty of classes and more machines than my own gym in the city, and provided you plan to join for more than a year the price can't be beat. The only downfalls were bringing your own towel (I'd forget at least the first few times since I'm used to grabbing one at my gym) and using a radio tuner to watch one of the big-screen TVs--but no complaints because that would encourage me to catch up on my reading. In the end, these were the selling factors:

• So close to home there's almost no excuse not to work out
• Convenient to other stores--making a Costco or Target run afterward or having the car serviced
• Crowds are minimal--even at the prime time of 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. you could easily stake out a treadmill, bike or elliptical
• Variety of classes--for being so against joining at first, my mom was perusing the class schedule saying she might try Aqua-Fit or Boot Camp
• Good hours--open 5 a.m. to midnight during the week and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on the weekends
  
• The price was more than right
• Not only can you visit that particular location but you have access to 300 other clubs across the country with even more on the way
  

Location truly trumped all of the benefits, saying she'd more likely pass up a workout if she had to drive more than five minutes on a bad weather day. What's your make or break for joining a gym?

Update: My parents are card-holding members at L.A. Fitness putting their memberships to good use within the first week. Now if only they can score me some guest passes for the next time I come to visit so I'm not Nordic-Tracking in the basement. Photo grabbed from lilymommy2000 at flickr. Posted by Kate

It Ain't Easy Being Free

Need a break from the marathon? Yes, Liz and I are still wrapped up in the madness, but I promise you a post that solely focuses on fitness. In fact, you may only spot the word marathon in the opening sentence and that's it. Here's a little experiment I gave myself a few weekends ago while visiting the Twin Cities.

Saturday morning. The goal: squeeze in a workout while spending a holiday away from home. The catch: don't pay a penny and make it a good quality sweat session (to make up for the workout--spinning and such--I'd typically get on a Saturday or Sunday at home).

It sounds easy, but for my sore legs, I'm making it out to be a lot more difficult. I'm being a running snob of sorts--fretting over mileage outdoors being tough on my pavement-shy quads and hiding out indoors with seemingly less-than-ideal temperatures--so I'm looking for a fitness center to meet my needs. And you'd think it'd be easy especially while in a four-season state where we rely on those fitness centers in the winter, but it's leaving me in a less-than-enthused state. Unless I'm willing to beg, borrow and steal (my husband's Minnesota address) and basically lie my way in, it's a near impossible feat to workout for free just for a day. Granted I'll put it to the test in a week when I got to visit my parents and am faced with the same dilemma, but for now, my only options are to fork over the daily guest fee, ouch, or run outside until my legs hurt and pass up the swimming and biking.

One club lists its guest fee at $20 per day, another is $15 and then we find the local community center which charges $8.50, less if you're a town resident. Being that it's already too late in the day to attend a class and I forgot my swimsuit in Chicago, I know I'll be rotating through the machines for my sweat session and the $8.50 gym is sounding like the most viable option. Right? Definitely, and I set a somewhat silly goal for myself to spend at least 85 minutes at the Shoreview Community Center so I can claim to get my money's worth. It beats printing a one-week guest pass for Life Time Fitness and only using it once while claiming to live in Minnesota--and planning to use the week-long pass during an extended stay in Michigan while helping my parents select a gym. And it's better than printing a three-day pass to one of the two L.A. Fitness locations equal distance from the house knowing I'd only use it once, again planned to use it while in Michigan, and saw the print sticking straight out that only local residents could cash in on the pass. Restrictions at Shoreview? None and judging from the photos on the website, it had plenty of machines to keep me occupied.

So was I right? Aside from having to wear a wristband while working out--I thought I'd stick out at first but almost everyone that afternoon donned these bracelets as they worked out, visitors like me--I was satisfied with the facility. Rows of equipments from bikes to treadmills to ellipticals to stairclimbers--there was no machine left out and plenty to select from at high-traffic times. I didn't think to bring a radio so I couldn't watch TV or tune into the stations, but it was an excuse to finally read my book that I had yet to crack open on the trip. And I wish I had a towel--again another forgotten item--to wipe the sweat rather than resort to a wad of paper towels. Oh well. I'm just happy to have gotten in some quality work out time. Makes up for the pass on the 10-mile run I had considered running in the morning but knew my legs would kill me for after not running all winter. Photo grabbed from msmstewart at flickr. Posted by Kate