After 6 Years, I Finally Joined a Gym

by - Wednesday, January 29, 2014

With the arctic freeze still having a death grip on DC and the gym in my building still closed due to that pipe bursting several weeks ago, I bit the bullet and picked up a membership at the gym down the street.

Playing with the cable machine as part of my @epfitnessprep workout. #latergram #fitness
Back when the fitness center was open

I was sick of not being able to do a good workout, and the gym offered me a pretty decent deal on membership. This is my first real gym membership (if you don't count CrossFit) in six years.

I've never paid to belong to a gym since I moved back to the DC-area because the places I lived always offered a free fitness center as a perk.

Last night I hit the weight room at my new gym to keep up with my online personal training plan. It's been a struggle to stick with it while the fitness center in my building has been closed, but I'm so glad to have access to the equipment I need again.

Last night's workout included some squats, deadlifts and push presses -- a move I haven't done since my CrossFit days. (On a totally random side note, I do hope to go back to CrossFit some day when all my foot problems eventually clear up for good).

Crossfit gm

I love push presses, for some unexplained reason I think they are the most fun thing ever -- maybe it's because I can lift so much more weight in a push press than in a regular overhead press.

Anyway, I surprised myself last night by how much weight I was able to press. It was definitely more than I expected.

I just so happened to finish up my lifting as a spin class was starting, and since I haven't taken a spin class in ages, I decided to join in.

Unfortunately, the class was only so-so. Definitely not the best I've taken, but not the worst either. I like my spin classes to have good music that I can jam out too, and the song selection last night was definitely meh.

I also thought the drills we did in class were kind of boring. Maybe I'm just a spin brat -- I haven't found an instructor I've really loved since I left the gym in York, Pa., six years ago.

Anyway, I'm glad to have a gym back in my life -- especially since there's no sign of an end to this cold weather.

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3 comments

  1. You'll be surprised by how quickly those lifts will go up with a little consistency. Keep it up!

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  2. I belonged to a gym when I lived in Pennsylvania since it was just opening and I got a deal of $30/month. Such a steal! I used it for the pool when I got injured and sometimes went to yoga.

    I signed up for a half Ironman in September, so I need a pool to swim in...and I think I want to do more weight lifting/cross training, and I won't do that without a class because I need someone to tell me what to do. So I'm going to break down and join a gym too...

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  3. I only live 3 miles away from a less than 1 year old Sport & Health. It's nice, clean, two stories.. But with the DC traffic, I made it there 10 times last year? Isn't that insane! To be fair, I was training for half & full marathons last year, and absolutely hate running on a treadmill (hampster, anyone?). But, we finally cancelled it. Bought a weight bench, and weight set for lifting. It will do for now.

    I'm intrigued by this 'online training' plan you speak of! I believe I read it in your previous posts.. Where did you pick this up at? I know you mentioned having trouble with the times.. Being an unemployed grad student, all I GOT is time! Ha! Anyway.. If you could send me an email or pass along the info, that'd be great!

    Thanks!

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