As all the drama of moving subsided this week, I found myself confronted with a dilemma that perhaps I had overlooked when I selected my new apartment: My apartment building does not have a fitness room. Like you, I, too, made the age-old New Year’s resolution to get back into my old workout routine. Time to get to it.
So, I was on the hunt for a gym, which, unfortunately, felt like I was searching for an apartment all over again. I researched a few places online and booked a couple facility tours. As I left my warm apartment and plunged into the below-zero temperatures, my hopes were high that I would soon find fitness nirvana.
After a handful of tours of mediocre places, I found THE place - it was heaven for anyone from the couch potato to the muscle-head. It had two pools, a huge cardio room, shiny weight training equipment and the biggest rock-climbing wall that I’ve ever seen. Work-out bliss.
I was completely sold and ready to sign on the dotted line. Then came the hiccup. Apparently, I was under-prepared for what a gym membership costs. You see, at “home,” there are no fancy machines or equipment - I just run on the side of the road for FREE. At school, I worked out in a FREE public fitness center.
Let’s just say that there is no FREE in fitness in Chicago. My little slice of fitness heaven costs over $100 a month - I had expected to spend that much on a year membership. Did I mention that there is an “enrollment fee” and that most classes have an additional fee? Definitely not in the budget. Moving back to mediocre…
As I tried to erase the pictures of me scaling the wall and exercising on the latest fitness contraption from my mind, I trudged back out into the cold looking for that budget alternative. After three hours of pavement pounding, I found a gym about four blocks from my apartment that has everything I’m looking for minus the climbing wall (which I probably wouldn’t use anyway) - it’s just not so shiny. It may not be the most beautiful place to work out at, but it’s clean (I hope) and comes at the right price - $26 a month. Sign me up.
Now, I have no excuses with respect to my New Year’s resolution. If you need a helping hand making your New Year’s resolution stick, enter WilliamPaid’s Make Your New Year’s Resolution Stick Sweepstakes and be one of three winners of $1,000. I know that would make my resolution a little easier (and I could have joined Gym Nirvana). Not that I’m eligible to win, but, hey, a girl can dream.
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You can find a number of positive aspects of being physically fit and active. First of all, a fit and active life-style can result in positive thinking and much better concentration. Fitness keeps you feeling and looking healthy. It reduces stress, anxiety, and depression too. Incorporating fitness exercises into your life style can keep your blood pressure at normal levels.
As we’re on Finding a Gym is a Work-out | A Renter and Roommate Resource | The WilliamPaid Blog, People often think of healthy eating as an all or nothing proposition, but a key foundation for any healthy diet is moderation. Despite what certain fad diets would have you believe, we all need a balance of carbohydrates, protein, fat, fiber, vitamins, and minerals to sustain a healthy body.