Countdown

I've been going to the gym a lot lately. Five days a week. On the two days I don't workout I feel like I'm forgetting something. I really enjoy this stage of working out because I crave it. Crazy I know. The last time I was like this was almost 5 years ago. I was in training at Qwest, and working out five times a week. In training I had a group of friends, and we had "Tuesday Night get together's" they were SO much fun, and how I met Aaron. My friend Tressa would tell me to come over right after work, and I would tell her No, that I needed to go to the gym first. Right now I'm doing the same thing. My priority is the gym. And it feels good. Moving on, now time to vent.

I work out at Bally Total Fitness. I don't like this gym. I have never liked this gym. I joined Bally's a little more than 6 years ago-about 2 weeks after I moved to Denver. Shame on me for not doing my research. I've only belonged to two gyms in my life. Prior to Bally's I belonged to Defined Fitness in Albuquerque. I really liked this gym, they would say HI when you walked in the door, and the members were nice and courteous. When I joined Bally's I signed up with Dennis, he is the manager of Bally's. He set me up on what I believe was the most expensive plan available. Plus Dennis spelled my name wrong. "Madird." I didn't know what I was doing. Defined was month to month, I got a student discount and would just come in and pay the first of every month. No big deal. Bally's is a big chain. He signed me up on some contract, promised me "X" number of personal training sessions, and all of these goodies...Protein bars, Protein shakes etc... Not knowing what I was doing, I had no idea when I would receive all of these wonderful things. I signed up with a personal trainer, and had two sessions with her. On the third session she didn't show up. Shame on me, I did nothing about it. After going to Bally's for a couple of years, I moved and went to another Bally's across town. This Bally's was a lot better. Still not up to what I would want out of a gym, but much better than the previous. As a new person at a gym you almost always get spotted and approached by a personal trainer because they want you to use them. Which of course did happen at this new Bally's. I got approached to buy some personal training sessions, and I said "Well actually I believe I still have some from when I originally signed up." The trainer looked me up and indeed I believe I had 6 or so left. So about 2 years later I finally finished my training sessions. Another 2 or 3 years pass, and I'm back on the side of town where the original Bally's is. Now that I'm going to the gym again, that is where I go. I go into this gym, and I feel like I'm invisible. Nobody acknowledges me, nothing. Now I don't expect you do cartwheels for me, but at least say "Hi" or "Enjoy your workout"-something. Specifically now that I'm going regularly. It is hard to actually get to the gym, it would be nice to have SOME motivation once I am actually there. Plus these people are rude. Not nice. No one says, excuse me. More than anything it is a social gathering. Now I can say this because I'm half Hispanic. But you know the saying White Trash. This place is Hispanic Trash. It seems to be that majority of the people there are just there to socialize, not work out. I try to push myself during my work out. I'm on the freakin' Elliptical for 45 minutes, it is tuff. And I don't want the person next to me going as slow as she possibly can barely even moving.(this has happened on more than one occasion.) This does not motivate me to go as fast as I can go-it makes me lower my pace. I don't need a group of guy standing around a machine just talking and not using it, when I want to use it!(again more than once.) I want to go into the bathroom and get a paper towel to wipe off my sweat and mascara after my 45 minutes-I went to get a paper towel on Saturday(I think) and no paper towels. Never have I ever seen so many people be at work, and nobody actually working. ...and this coming from someone who works at Qwest :). And the trainers-ah! I would never pay one of these guys to help me work out. They look like they are dead in the middle of a training session. I watch them while they make the people who are paying, and they are just sitting there.

This is just the beginning. The breaking point was this: Way back when I first joined Defined in Albuquerque I was working at Victoria's Secret Catalogue, and working late. The time I went to the gym was 11pm to midnight. Defined closed at midnight. And many times I would be there until closing. No big deal, at midnight they would just make the announcement and let everyone leave. Well about a month ago, I went to the gym on a Saturday evening. I thought Bally's closed at 10, and it was about7:30pm when I left to go to the gym. As I'm walking up to the front the first thing I look at is the time they are closing. They close at 8pm. I think, "well crap they close in 20 minutes, oh well. I'll do my cardio for 20 minutes." I walk in the door, and the first thing the guy says to me is "we close in 20 minutes." I say "Yeah, I see that." It immediately pisses me off. I think to myself-I've been going to this gym for 6 years (granted not consistently) and never once have you said a word to me, and now you go out of your way to tell me when you are closing. So I go on my elliptical, the guy makes the announcement at 7:50pm saying the gym is closing in 10 minutes. Also, I'm not the only one in the gym. There's probably a hand full of us working out. Then at 8pm what happens? The guy just shuts off the lights! All of a sudden I'm in the dark! I couldn't believe it. Who does that?! It really pissed me off! So I leave. At this point in time I know I need to find another place to work out.

A couple of weeks prior to this I was talking to my neighbor who told me they were building a brand new gym right by this brand new shopping center they just opened. With my experience at Bally's and the triggering event of working out in the dark, I decided to look into it. This gym is called Lifetime Fitness. It's really more like a country club. They open on November 11th, and they currently have a Welcome Center. So I went and checked it out, and signed up. It is of course more expensive, but it is a price I'm willing to pay. My first month is a trial membership since I joined before I could actually see the place. I'm really hoping this place is everything Bally's isn't. Plus it is super close. That is the other thing I don't like about Bally's. It is further from my house, I have to get on the freeway, and it just really isn't convenient. This new place is 12 blocks away! And come November I'm pretty sure I'll be hitting a plateau, and this new place will be a great way to break that! Plus because it is so close I won't have an excuse not to work out when it is snowing outside. I cannot wait to go into Bally's and discontinue my membership. I plan on going up to Dennis and tell me exactly why I'm quitting his gym. I was at the gym yesterday, and it happened again. I wanted to use an arm machine and all of these guys standing around it talking. Which why I am now venting to you. So the countdown is on for the opening of Lifetime Fitness: 47 days and counting!