I figured a good way to start 2008 would be a new gym! I've been at my gym for at least 4 years now, and I am sick of it.
My current gym has it's pros and cons. It's old, dirty, and run down, but it's empty, quiet, and they leave you alone and let you do pretty much whatever you want. The equipment is kind of crappy, and a lot of the cardio machines don't work. They haven't done anything to update it since I have been there, and it's getting kind of gross. The old manager left a few weeks ago, and the woman who runs it now is a bitch. She yelled at me twice the last couple of weeks for wearing my sneakers from outside into the gym, as if it was going to make the gym any dirtier.
However, it's a Golds Gym, and my membership gives me access to all of the Golds in the area, including one that's open 24 hours about 20 mins away. I'm going to lose access to that, which is a bummer.
We decided to get a week pass to the "Workout Club" down the street, which has been there forever, but I always figured it was kind of a lame gym, so I never checked it out. Well, it's pretty sweet, and I am pysched! It's CLEAN, the equipment is all new, there is a lot more variety, and the cardio theater is SWEET. There is a brand new facility opening about 15 minutes south, which we will also have access to. It's a little foo-foo facility (the ones with the juice bars and all that stupid crap), but it's going to have a huge rock climbing wall in the center of it.
I think that a new gym will really get me motivated for training and inspired for my contest prep this year. The change of scenery will be nice. I've only been in there once so far, but here are a few things I noticed, good and bad:
+ They have two power racks. There were none in my old gym.
+ Dumbells go up to 150 pounds (good for my husband lol)
+ They have rowing machines...I love rowing machines and I have missed them so much!
+ They have ribcage pullover machines, which I have also missed.
+ FOUR stepmills (versus two), and they all work!!
+ There is a separate "ab room" with tons of equipment in it.
- The benches are all "new" and sort of fancy...they have these built-in racks that slant upwards, and they are all sorts of adjustable, etc. I prefer the straight-up old-school benches, nothing fancy. So it's gonna take a little getting used to. They are a little lower to the ground, though, which is nice for me. I wonder what they will say when I drag in 80 pounds of chains tomorrow.
Now my next challenge will be to talk them in to sponsoring my membership.
