My First Gym Memories

While better, my foot is still in pain, so this is Day 2 of trying not to put any pressure or weight on it. I did end up going to the gym last night, and doing some seated, upper-body weight lifting, and that felt good, and I may do that tonight as well. I’m aching to do some cardio, but I know I can’t. Still haven’t decided what to do about this Saturday’s big stair climb challenge. I’ve gone to bed the past two nights hoping that I’d wake up miraculously better, but so far, that hasn’t happened. The stair climb is now 3 days away, and I’m leaning towards postponing it, because even if I do wake up miraculously healed, after a few days off my feet, I don’t think I’d be ready for 163 nonstop stories. I want to be strong and prepared for this challenge, and not unsure if I’ll make it, and definitely not holding back because of fear of injury.

I got a really interesting question from a reader last week about gyms, and I thought I’d take a minute and answer it in this post. Here’s the question:

I’ve never been a member of a gym, for a host of reasons…all of which are mental hangups of one sort or another. I’m wondering if you had any misgivings or reluctance that you had to work through when you *first* started using a gym? And if you did, do you have any tips on getting over a mental block and taking that leap?

I was incredibly hesitant when I joined my first gym. I just went through my files, and found my first contract – I signed up for my first gym membership in July 2007,  a solid two and a half years before I began the weight loss journey that I’m currently on. I don’t know how much I weighed back then (I went for years without ever stepping on a scale), but I looked similar to the ‘Before’ pictures in the Photo Gallery.

Scratch that. You can see EXACTLY how I looked, because I found this picture, taken the exact same month I joined my gym:

The Slurpee is a nice touch. “Before” pictures with food always make me cringe just a little bit more.

At the time, I was full throttle into a walking program of my own design: I would walk for 45 minutes, 5 times a week, and I ended up going a couple of years without ever skipping a walk. Most of the walks were done immediately after work, which served the double purpose of getting some exerciseandclearing my head after long, stressful days at the office. I wasn’t pairing my exercise with any sort of healthy eating – I was eating tons of junk food, and although I wasn’t weighing myself, I’m fairly certain, looking back, that my weight loss was minimal, if any.

I started thinking about joining a gym during a summer hiatus (I was working at “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” at the time, and we had breaks during the summer while the show aired reruns). I was getting bored with my walks, and I was ready for a change. At the time, I was living less than a mile from a gym, and I would drive by it daily. My mind would fill with reasons not to investigate: Gyms aren’t for people like me, they’re for meathead jacked-up musclemen. You’re going to stand out like a sore thumb and everyone will point and stare, and possibly laugh. It’s a waste of money – you’ll join, go once or twice, and then never go back, and all that money goes down the drain.

Those thoughts cycled through my head, but after talking with some friends, I decided the least I could do was go and get a guest pass. Most gyms offer a guest pass (that are free and good for 3 days to a week, depending) so potential customers can try out the gym before committing to a membership. I was nervous when I first walked in and was greeted by a friendly staffer named Askia. I inquired about a guest pass. I’m sure I wasn’t physically shaking out of fear, but it sure felt that way. One of the first things Askia asked was what I was looking for out of a gym, and what my goals were. I thought about it, and responded: “Well, I’m like to switch up my exercise routine, and hopefully, lose some weight.” It seemed like a good thing to say, even though I’m not entirely sure of its truth, given the way I was eating back then.

Askia nodded his head, leaned forward in his chair, and a big smile spread across his face. “Well, what took you so long? We’ve been here waiting for you.”

And, just like that, most of my nerves went away. Askia made me feel welcome, and made me feel comfortable. He showed me around the gym, pointing out its features, and answering all my questions. I ended up forgoing the guest pass, and instead, I pulled out my wallet and walked out a member.

I remained nervous for the few weeks when I would arrive to exercise. I usually avoided eye contact with everyone, came in my workout clothes so I didn’t have to spend any time in the locker room, and stuck to the cardio machines with my headphones in. Slowly, I felt more at ease. I saw other bigger people working out beside me. I figured out that most people at the gym were pretty focused on what they’re doing, and don’t pay any mind to the other people in the room. There were plenty of the jacked-up musclemen I presumed would be there, but they weren’t intimidating. And, in addition to them, there were lots of people of other shapes and sizes, too.

By the end of my first month there, I wasn’t feeling self-conscious at all. The staff was starting to recognize me when I walked in, and I saw familiar faces on the machines around me nearly every visit. The only time I felt terribly awkward was on a few occasions when a certain older gentleman would walk by me when I was on the elliptical, and start applauding, loudly, while proclaiming things like “Yes, you can do it!” I know that was his way of being encouraging and supportive, but at the time, all I wanted to do was punch him in the face for drawing attention to me.

Not a single day has lapsed since that day in July 2007 where I haven’t had a gym membership. I’m grateful that I joined my first gym when I did – even though I wasn’t seriously trying (or ready) to lose weight, when that time came a couple years later, I knew the gym inside and out, and was able to jump in and really push myself without those fears of standing out and being laughed at. I don’t bring a camera into the gym very often (it’s not good gym etiquette), but the picture to the right is from the end of 2010. I’m not afraid to sweat at the gym!

I’m not afraid of anything at the gym.

KEEP IT UP, DAVID!

Gym Update and Poster

Something’s up with WordPress and the formatting of my paragraphs is all kinds of wonky, but I’m tired of messing with it. Please forgive the spacing problems and enjoy my post!

Let’s start with some gratitude. A big thanks to everyone that has reached out in the past couple days. The comments and messages I’ve gotten because of yesterday’s anniversary post put an enormous spring in my step, so thank you. Tons of you shared it, via Twitter and Facebook, with your friends, and I appreciate that, too – my blog hits yesterday were through the roof, making that spring in my step even more enormouser.

Then, there were all the people that weighed in on my gym dilemma – what a thoughtful and insightful bunch of comments those were! You all gave me a lot to consider and think about, and I’m still not 100% sure what I’m gonna do, but I do have more information to share. Here’s a speedy recap if you need one:

Spike has been forcing his wife Jessica to prostitute herself, and he’s been drugging her and convincing her that she’s the one that’s killed all those dead johns that she keeps waking up next to. Jessica finally gathers the strength to leave Spike and move back into her dad’s house, but soon thereafter, she realizes she’s pregnant with his child. A bitter Spike retaliates by kidnapping Jessica and burying her and their unborn child in the woods, where they both die from a lack of oxygen. Jessica’s sister, Kay, finds them a little too late, but thanks to a magical group prayer, their spirits return to their bodies and they come back to life.

Sorry – that was a recap of a Passions storyline from 2006-2007. Here’s what you really need to know:

A big, fancy new gym is opening nearby in a couple months, and they have a great deal if you sign up early. My membership at my current, no-frills gym is almost up, and there are pros and cons to both staying where I am and switching to the new gym.

You can read about all those pros and cons (and see my readers’ reactions) by reading my original post.

So here’s some new information: Yesterday I talked with the manager at my current gym. He confirmed that my membership expires on February 19th, and that I could renew for another year at my current rate ($199 for 12 months, paid upfront, which works out to $16.58 a month). I also inquired about a monthly rate, because I may want to extend my membership by a month or two until I see how things pan out at the new gym. Buying a month at my current gym would cost $35 (it’s more expensive, as gyms reward longer contracts with cheaper prices) but that’s actually a discounted price – I guess the manager likes me (which is fantastic, because I like him).

Later today, I’m going back to the new gym’s membership center and confirming a few things with them, and I’m taking my sister’s advice and reading the fine print about cancelling a membership.

At this point, I’m leaning towards trying out the new gym. Change is good. As far as money is concerned, the eventual increase in my monthly gym expenditures won’t be the end of the world, and any investment in my health is a good investment. Like many of you pointed out, I can always go back to my old gym, and I don’t see leaving my gym as a sign that I’m somehow a back-stabber or a traitor. More news to come.

Before I wrap this up, I wanted to share a fun graphic – it’s the poster that Whole Foods Pasadena created to promote my upcoming speaking engagement! Check this out:

Cool, huh? I love it. Am I gonna see you there? Are you going to bring all your friends? Gee, I hope so!

Keep it up, David!

Is It Time For a New Gym?

OK readers – I’m contemplating switching gyms and I want your thoughts.

My current gym membership expires in a little over a month. I like my gym. I’ve been a member for about 4 years, and have written about it many times before, including just the other day. There are two locations, it’s clean, it’s rarely so crowded that I can’t use the equipment I want to use, and parking is generally easy. It’s a simple, no-frills gym – no fancy decor, no juice bar, no hot tub or sauna, and on location doesn’t have towel service. And it’s cheap. When I first enrolled 4 years ago, I was paying around $24 a month, but I renewed last year while they were having a special, so right now I’m paying $16 a month (!), and I’ve never paid sign-up, processing, or any other additional fees.

But there’s a big, new fancy gym comin’ to town, and it has caught my eye.

Are you familiar with Crunch Gym? It’s a very fancy, very pricey, high-end company with about 30 locations across the country (mostly in big cities on the east and west coasts). If you watched Will & Grace, than maybe you’ll remember their logo – the characters on that show worked out at Crunch in multiple episodes.

The only Crunch in Los Angeles right now is in West Hollywood (about 30 minutes away). But they’re in the process of building a second location, in Burbank, a few blocks from my current gym. It’s going to be big. It’s going into a retail space that was formerly a CompUSA, and it’s going to be 26,000 square feet. Construction is currently on-track for a mid- to late-March opening. Crunch set up a membership center near their new location, and on Friday, after my workout, I went over to check it out.

This new Crunch facility sounds like it’s going to be awesome. They’re planning on offering 70 classes a week, and stocking the gym with all new, state of the art equipment of all kinds. The woman I was talking to kept peppering our conversation with mentions of types of training and machines that I’ve never heard of before, and it sounds very exciting. Plus, there was a big floor plan of the space on the wall, and I’m a sucker for a floor plan.

And, of course, Crunch has a membership special that’s running right now. Here it is in a nutshell: A full-price membership to Crunch runs $75 a month. I can enroll right now and get access to both the Burbank and West Hollywood locations for $49 a month, plus a one-time $20 processing fee. The monthly billing wouldn’t start until April 1st, which means I’d get access to the West Hollywood location for free for the months of February and March. There also isn’t a contractual length of time: I could hypothetically cancel my membership in May, and they’d stop charging me.

I’m really tempted. Having access to the West Hollywood location for free for two months is exciting, although it’s a little far. The price is great, too – $49 is a good deal for a $75-per-month facility. Then again, $49 is significantly more than the $16 that I’m currently paying. Then again, that $49 will get me access to more machines, more types of exercise, more everthing. Then again, I’d like to think I’m going to love the Burbank location when it opens, but there’s always the chance that, for some reason, I’m going to hate it or it’s going to be ridiculously crowded. There’s lot of “then agains.”

Plus, there’s the matter of my current gym. I have yet to sit down with them to talk about renewing my membership, or what they can offer me, price-wise. I think I’d need to, at minimum, renew for a couple months even if I do sign up with Crunch, just so I have access until the Burbank location opens. Going to the West Hollywood Crunch will be nice, but I just don’t think I’ll be able to swing it into my schedule as often as I want to, and having my little gym 10 minutes away will be nice.

So, there are the facts. What should I do? What would you do? Please offer some input in the comments section!

Oh, and my Friday workout was fantastic – 40 minutes of weights, then 17 minutes of cardio, mostly on the the arc trainer.

Keep it up, David!