New Gym Member Right Here!

Yep, I’m officially a gym member once again!

We live between two gyms here, so as I had a bit of free time at the beginning of the week (work was still pretty slow coming in – assuming nobody wrote anything over Christmas that needed translating), I decided to look into them.

The nearest one is literally over the road, but it’s a national chain that’s notorious for being expensive. They don’t even put a price on their website, kind of like the old “If you have to ask, you can’t afford it” saying, but I decided to ask anyway. A very enthusiastic sales guy tried to sell me on all their facilities, but all we wanted are the basics. Eventually I got the price out of him, and it was of course stupidly high!

So I checked in with the gym at the hotel down the road my parents sometimes stay at when they come to visit. I called up on Wednesday and the instructor invited me in for a look on Thursday. I’d had a look on the website and it seemed quite little (it’s only a small hotel), but it turns out it’s just what we need. There are treadmills and bikes, crosstrainers, rowing machines and all sorts of weight stuff, and a pool. OK, so the pool is tiny, but I can see myself going for a cool-down dip after a workout. Rob and I went back in last night to have a free trial and decided to sign up on the spot. This gym also has the benefit of paying month to month instead of by direct debit so we can have some time off if *touch wood* we injure ourselves or get sick.

I had my first proper session today and decided to see just how unfit I am. Surprisingly enough, not running for four months has really affected my stamina, but I did around 35 or so minutes on the treadmill, changing up the speeds to what I used to do at my old gym (pre C25K) and what I managed during C25K, with a fair amount of fast walking. I wouldn’t say it’s comfortable by any stretch, but I don’t think it’ll take me too long to get right back into it. I then had a wander around doing 5 minutes or so each on the bike and crosstrainer. We’ve also booked in for an induction on the weight stuff for next week as I’ve never done that before. I’m figuring at the moment that multiple shorter bursts in the gym are better for me than a couple of big ones a week – I don’t have the attention span or the stamina!

Atmosphere-wise, it’s so much nicer than my old gym back in Birmingham. It’s properly quiet, over the three times I’ve been there (mid-morning Thursday, mid-evening Friday and early Saturday afternoon), I’ve never seen more than three people in at once. You don’t have the big hulking guys showing off or instructors buzzing around trying to get you to come to classes, the music is quiet so you can just stick your headphones in and go. The only thing I miss is being able to plug my headphones into the machines and get the feed from the TV – I’ll tell ya, watching Embarrassing Fat Bodies really gets you going on the treadmill!

So there you go, my first gym wrap-up! I’ve also got another goal to add to my ones from last week! I’m going to take part in Kirsten’s Virtual Run Fundraiser. I’ve been following Kirsten as she’s gone through the C25K programme and now she’s going for her first 10K. She’s asking people to sponsor her while completing a 5K or 10K of their own, and she’s giving out medals! I’ll probably go for a 5K as the event is next month, but who knows!

This has gone on a bit now, so I’ll just say that yoga was great this week! My instructor has managed to start the Yoga Flow class, which I really enjoyed! I’m still going to try and do yoga at home tomorrow too to make up my 2 a week goal.

Happy running!