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.
foodfoodbodybody 
December 21, 2010 at 2:33 pm
I work out at the park district by my office – since our office is in district, it only costs me $20 a month – that’s my lunch work out.
Daughter goes to Cardinal Fitness for $20 a month – she pays for it herself though.
For Christmas, I got us a family membership a fancy schmancy place about 10 minutes from our house – with the hopes that hubs will use the pool. It costs $130 a month, but cancelling Cardinal, Hannah is willing to pay $30 for this deluxe membership, so only $100 a month for me and the hubs. It does have a month to month though – which I like if I find we aren’t using it to its full advantage.
Best thing is that it has a racquetball that is included in our membership -I see my daughter and I laughing our asses off with that one! It helps that Hannah is 18, so she’s an adult now. When we were filling out the paper work, she signed her name and below it had a line for parental consent – I just looked at her and said “I don’t need to sign for you anymore!”
Time flies, right?!
December 21, 2010 at 2:35 pm
I work out at a gym close to my work, not close to my home. But I use 24 hr fitness which has a bunch of branches so if I was going to work out starting from home, I could go to one closer to my house. But I probably would still actually go downtown to my usual gym because I like it better. Four classes at once! Wow. Music in my gym classes is a big deal to me. If anyone’s read my gym class reviews, you’ll definitely see that. I LOVE house music, but the stuff that gym classes play is not real house music. I think it was maybe the bar method class that I tried out that had this weird trance music for people that I don’t even know what people should be doing while listening to it. Not dancing and certainly not working out. Sleeping? I say, if your husband likes it, since you and your daughter that works out both like it, if he does too, switch. Unless by now at the 20 year one you only pay something like $20 a year from some great deal because you’ve been going there so long, then just keep both.
December 25, 2010 at 7:38 pm
Join! Join! Join! Join!
(aw, just a little peer pressure)
Happy holidays!