Decision to Join

After consideration, I have decided to join a gym. I had to sit down and make another list of pros and cons when it came to joining a gym. It took me two days to actually  visit gyms and narrow my choices down to four (three will be mentioned, one will not be based on the location). My overall reviews about those three will be below simply because I felt they were worth mentioning.

The YMCA
The "Y" is about 20 minutes from my house and since the beginning of January (up until yesterday) they were boldly telling everyone that if you joined before January 21, you wouldn't have to pay a joining fee. Of course that sounds amazing, but I was not too convinced. Therefore, I went into the "Y" and after the staff member explained everything to me, what I saw inside was not worth $88 a month. The building itself looked worn (and dingy) and the machines didn't look any better. Of course from the outside they looked immaculate, but on the inside they didn't. The only perk was that there would have been more than one machine. I immediately knew this was not the right place for me, but politely took the literature that the staff member offered me and went on my way.

Curves
There was a Curves on my way home and I decided to stop by and see what they had to offer. When I went  in everyone was so nice and welcoming. I filled out an informational sheet with one of the "coaches" and she explained to me the program. Curves gives you a meal plan that you are able to follow and offers their "30 minute" workout. There were about 5 or 6 machines in the entire building (which was not that big) along with flat steps where you spend 30 seconds on each machine. At first the machines look pretty easy, but the faster and harder you pump the harder the resistance becomes. The one thing that bothered me about Curves was that you have to use each machine twice, essentially you are on sort of a track and have to complete two circles, but my mom kindly pointed out something to me, there were no sanitation stations to wipe down your machines. I wasn't impressed by that nor was I impressed by the lack of machines. When I go to a gym (fitness center, whatever it shall be called) I want to have my choice of machines, not follow behind someone and do the same thing they do. After all, we all aren't built the same and I would have been the youngest person in the entire place (made me feel sort of awkward).

Results Fitness
This was my second trip to Results Fitness (mainly because after my first trip I misplaced the literature that I was given). I fell in love with the place the first time I went and on my second trip (again, to receive more literature) I decided I wanted the "official" tour of the place. One of the owners took my mom and I through every machine, demonstrating how it was properly used (and trust me, they have a lot of machines in there). He also told us of there expansion project (he had already told us but it was good to hear it in more details). Over the next three years, this gym plans to build group rooms (which will be finished by the end of this year, usually takes about 6 months) and in the next year or so they hope to have built an addition that will feature a pool, sauna and spa. Talk about amazing!! That sealed the deal for me and without letting him know, I knew I was hooked.

I know this was a long process, but when you are giving your money away each month, it better be to a place that actually deserves it. Now I am not knocking Curves or the "Y", I am just saying those places are not for me, but I am glad that I found a place that I will enjoy going to. The only thing I have left to do is to go into the gym and join, but I plan to get that done by tomorrow.

Hopefully this will be a wonderful addition to my weight loss journey!!