I know, I know. Can you say greedy? Can you say overkill? But it’s not really what it looks like. Here is the situation:

1. Our family has had a family membership at Gym #1 for almost 20 years. It’s 10 minutes from our house. It has a really nice outdoor pool where we used to go with the kids back in the day.  I probably go there a few times a month, and Junior and Mr. go more often than that. But it’s primarily a tennis club. I sort of hate tennis (I have no eye-hand coordination!) and I’m SO NOT the tennis club type. This place is very, um, UNdiverse and tends to have a snooty clientele. Also, I don’t like the classes there very much so I pretty much focus on their cardio machines.

2. My trainer’s gym, which is small and funky and humble. Which I adore and consider my home. I don’t pay a membership to “belong” there, so it isn’t really part of the argument. But I do go there at least 2x a week, to work out with him.

3. New fancy shmancy place which is conveniently located across the street from my new(ish) job. On days that I work there, it is very hard for me to exercise. I’ve tried getting up super early (aghhhhhh), walking or running during lunch (not long enough, AND I get so sweaty and no place to shower). It’s hard to go afterward because I am so tired. Recently I noticed that Foursquare was offering 3-day free passes so I went over to check it out.

My first reaction was: WOW. It’s so fancy! It has four classes at once, an indoor track, a pool, spinning, rowing, cardio machiens for miles, a spa, etc etc. It’s … WOW. My eyes bugged out.

I decided to take a “power one” class after work. (pictured ab0ve). It was PACKED. It was overwhelming. It was a great workout, but it sort of overwhelmed me. I HATE that techno-beat generic gym-class music. HATE IT. And I hate step platforms unless I am doing plyometrics with my trainer. So. Maybe it wasn’t the right class.

I went back the next day and took a lunchtime spin class. It was … wow, so intense, but a great workout. The only way this worked is that my afternoon work was pared down and I was able to take a 2 hour (unpaid) lunch. It did take the full two hours to walk over there, change clothes, go to the class, take a shower, change, then grab something to eat (I was STARVING) and walk back.

I like the lunchtime vibe a lot better than the after-work vibe. People were focused, got in and out, and it wasn’t the crazy mob scene of evening.

Junior went to the Fancy Gym and absolutely LOVED it. She wants to change our family membership. But the problem is that this place is not as close to where we live, AND they only take adults (so no Juniorette, who admittedly doesn’t use it a lot, but still). Mister is on the fence, and he has not been to visit.

Right now it feels less urgent because I’m only working downtown once this week, and I’m off all next week. I’m putting off Deciding until the new year.