So recently I joined a new gym. I am super excited because this gym is very clean and does not smell like dirty socks, like my last gym did. Also, I do not believe the homeless schizophrenic lady who dances at the corner of the AM-PM has a membership to this gym. Maybe you think I’m joking. No, there really is a homeless lady (at least, I think she is homeless since she spends 95% of her free time in front of the AM-PM) and she really is schizophrenic (it’s like listening to a one-sided telephone conversation, only the other side isn’t on the other line, it’s in her head), she really does dance in front of the AM-PM (she wears her sports bra and shorts and has on headphones and dances to the music, on the sidewalk in front of the gas station) and she really is a member of my old gym. As in, I hear her talking to herself in the ladies locker room and have to use equipment after her, member.
But enough about my old gym. Let’s talk about my new gym. Aside from being clean, the people that go to this gym are a lot more serious about working out. A lot of members are very fit, and everyone there is actually working out. At my old gym, there were people who just wanted to say they went to the gym, so they spent their time wandering around amongst the equipment while texting on their cell phones. My new gym is a lot more hard-core: they have this boot camp thing that’s run by this guy who I think is super nice in real life but a total drill sergeant during boot camp time. Boot camp involves very loud music and lots of yelling and really hard-core looking activities. There is even one that involves shaking a large metal chain, which only adds to the noise and hard-core element. Everybody is always sweaty and tired-looking, but they seem to enjoy it.
I haven’t needed to try the boot camp yet because I got myself a personal trainer. My trainer is awesome. He really knows his stuff, and he is dedicated to his clients. Even if you are not there for a training session, he will help you with your workout at the gym. He’s “that guy” at the gym — the one that everybody comes up to asking advice about working out and nutrition and stuff. Even after my first training session when I was sore for two days and winced every time I had to sit down, I still thought he was awesome. I have a lot a faith that this guy is going to help me get back in shape.
But you want to know what doesn’t help? Television advertisements for food. Friday evening I was at the gym, and I had snacked before my workout but it was too early for dinner. I didn’t really think I was hungry… until the commercials started on the gym TVs. Who would have thought that EVERY SINGLE commercial just had to be about food? Like Pavlov’s dog, not only was I now hungry, but I wanted those delicious looking meals they kept talking about on the television. It was like the TV gods knew I was trying to eat healthy, and while I was at the gym working out they would taunt me with images of all the delicious, unhealthy foods I was not eating at that exact moment.
The upside to seeing all those commercials while you are at the gym? You can remember exactly how hard you worked that day, and so you don’t want to destroy all your hard work for a slice of pepperoni pizza or a holiday cookie or fried chicken. It just doesn’t feel worth it, somehow.
