Confessions of a Gym Rat

I don’t exercise. If God had wanted me to bend over, he would have put diamonds on the floor.

Joan Rivers

I’ve been a gym rat since my brother got me into weight training in the ‘70s. I actually like going to the gym; if I like the gym. My problem as of late is that I really dislike my gym.

The issue is the state of the fitness industry. For these last breathless 40+ years I’ve always belonged to single owner gyms, or small boutique style gyms. They were spacious, bright, well laid out, clean and had modern equipment. I avoided the big chains like the plague, until now. Realizing that the cheapest way to acquire members was to buy single owner or small gym chains with active memberships, Goodlife went on a buying spree. So, over the last number of years, every gym I was a member of now is part of the Goodlife chain. They closed the upscale gyms that they acquired and kept the run down, badly laid out gyms with old equipment. The good news is that there is literally a Goodlife gym on every corner. The bad news is that there is literally a Goodlife gym on every corner.

You and I both know that if a gym is not conveniently located you’ll never go. So, I am left with Goodlife around the corner from my house or I have to drive to one of the few non-Goodlife gyms left. And, in the long run that's probably not going to work. I’m trying to get used to going to a gym in a basement with no natural light that’s badly laid out with old equipment. The result is that I rarely go, which has to change. I’ve been committed to fitness and health for my entire adult life and I refuse to let a gym defeat me. I’m going to force myself back into a gym routine at a gym that I hate before I throw in the Goodlife towel and try a gym I have to drive to.

I’m opening a gym called “Resolutions.” It will have exercise equipment for the first two weeks of the year then turn into a bar for the rest of it!

-Unknown

Make someone smile today.

Geri