How to Find a Gym: A Guide for Your Average Lazy Person

So, you’re twenty something days into your resolution and you have started thinking about finding a gym.  That’s great, but where do you go?  The sheer number of available programs can seem pretty daunting, especially to someone who has never had a gym membership (or never used one).  Well, as it turns out, I have some experience in that area and am willing to take you through the tips that I think will help you to choose the right gym.  

Keep in mind, I am your average lazy person.  I want to make things work with as little disruption to my life as possible.  If you think that you'll drive thirty minutes out of your way five times a week to get buffed up for bikini season, feel free to disregard everything I am about to say.  However, chances are, if you're reading this blog, you're not that guy.  You've probably already tried and failed before and that's okay.  I'm here to help narrow the margin for failure by making this process easier by getting you to ask yourself the following questions...

1.     How much do you have to spend each month on fitness?

The average fitness professional will answer this question with “How much is your health worth?”  Well, I get what they are saying, but I have a budget to keep.  My rule of how much I can spend on a gym membership is simple.

Your gym membership should cost no more than your average nice night out.

Now, this doesn’t count special occasions like anniversaries and such where you’re sure to spend more than usual.  This is your fun night out with friends or a small scale date night.  For me, that’s something to the effect of dinner and a movie which is somewhere in the $30-$40 range.  I live on a small budget, so anything I add to that budget usually means sacrificing something else.  I can sacrifice one night out a month for a month’s worth of health. 

 Whether you use my model or your own, make sure that what you are paying is worth it to you.  If having a gym membership means you can no longer afford to do the things you love, you’ll come to resent the gym and that’s a recipe for failure.

Now that you know what you’re willing to spend…

2.       Proximity.  Where is this place and how do you get there?

If you are like me, other than price, your location in proximity to the gym is the most important aspect of being successful.  It is more important than what the gym has, what classes it offers, how trendy it is.  Your gym should be really easy to get to because, if it’s not, you’re going to find excuses.

Your gym should either be on the way to your most visited location or ridiculously close to your house.  For me, anything that is more than a ten minute drive from my house means that I have to consider the price of gas to get there and the time commitment of driving back and forth.  Some of you are probably saying that that just shows how lazy I am.  Well, maybe.  I am not writing a gym finding guide for the non-lazy person.  But, before you get all judgy, I’d like to ask you a question:

  

When was the last time you decided to push going to grocery store to “tomorrow” because you didn't feel like driving out? 

The average person can get to their grocery store in well under ten minutes.  I can find plenty of excuses not to exercise without adding distance to the gym to the list.

I chose a gym that was five minutes from my house instead of the one that has a ton of classes.  I get to my Gold’s Gym 3-6 times a week without stretching myself.  The shorter distance means that I can talk myself into working out at the last minute even if I’m already in my pajamas.

3.      Do you know what you like to do?

This might seem like a silly question, but it makes sense.  So many people join gyms before finding out whether they even like the activities that gym offers.  I had a friend sign up for a membership at a yoga studio because yoga was supposed to be such a good workout.  She promptly discovered that she hated yoga.  She hated the quiet.  She hated picturing her feet becoming roots into the floor and her body twisting out impurities.  But, most of all, she hated paying $50 a month for something she wasn’t going to use.

Choosing a gym isn’t the first step in your exercise health.  You have to rock a little Socrates and know thyself.  Most gyms require at least a year commitment, so figure out what you like first.  Sites like Living Social often offer packages that give you several classes and sometimes even personal training for a pittance; so, you can try lots of new things to figure out if you like bootcamp or boxing, Zumba or zombie runs.  Also, remember that you can usually try out a gym for a week or two for free to figure out if you like the people who work there, the classes, etc.  So, don’t feel pressured into making a commitment until you’re sure you like the place.

Keep Being Healthy

Keep being healthy.  

Weight is an indicator of trends, not success.  Keep being healthy.  

You might lose a ton of weight just by working at being healthier.  

You might not lose a single pound by being healthier.

But you will be healthier.

If you're only doing it for a dress, or the after picture, or a pat on the back, you'll fail.  They might be short-term motivators, but they aren't the big time.  There will always be another dress to fit into and the pats on the back will subside as other people's after pictures get noticed.  Those things don't matter.  They feel good and, by God, those things should, but they don't matter.  Those things are byproducts.  Who buys a cow for its byproducts?  Keep being healthy.

A year and I half ago, I leveled off with weight loss.  I was still losing inches and gaining a few in places where I’ve become more muscular, but I didn’t lose a pound from the end of 2011 until August of 2012.  I didn’t gain any weight, either.  I kept being healthy.

I could have quit, as I have done in the past, but I didn’t.  I kept being healthy and I am satisfied in knowing that I’m succeeding on my own terms. 

You see, the industry tries to put requirements on your success.  They tell you that if you haven’t lost a pound this week, you’ve failed.  Don’t worry, though, they also have something for you to try and it will only cost you a little.

Don’t let the people who want your money set the requirements for your success. 

When the new fad surfaces and all of your friends are eating only monk-blessed freeze-dried kale and are touting behind jaundiced eyes how they’ve lost 30 pounds this month and it only cost them $250, you can do something the industry doesn’t expect.

You can keep being healthy.

Why You're Resolving to Fail and Other New Year's Tips

I’m seeing a lot of people out there talking about their resolutions.  They have resolved to be on a strict new diet plan.  They’ve resolved to be hardcore at the gym every single day.  I have to say it aloud:  most of these people have the same New Year’s Resolution every year and that is to fail.  Before you decide on an all-or-nothing approach to health for the New Year, I would like to say to you a few things:

How many times have you adhered to a strict diet or exercise program before and how many times has it worked?  By worked, I mean are you still on that path or did you quit a few days or weeks in?  If every other time failed, what is different today than from a year ago?

Let me be clear.  I do not say these things to discourage folks from making positive changes in their lives, but to steer those changes into navigable waters.  Make smaller changes better and permanent. 

If you are looking for a workout program, start smaller and be consistent.  Go to classes at the gym and learn new ways to accomplish old goals. 

You don’t start working out for the first time with P90X for the same reason that you don’t start reading for the first time with Dostoevsky:  if it starts out too hard, you’ll never keep going.  You’ll be more successful by walking three times a week than doing Insanity once a month.

Don’t let jealousy drive you to make stupid decisions regarding your health.  Five percent of your friends may lose twenty pounds in a month doing something stupid. Ninety percent of them will gain back thirty.  I’d rather be getting healthier for good over a lifetime than dropping fast and failing in a month and a half.

Everyone has a friend who is thinner than them who talks about how fat they are.  That friend doesn't realize that she’s being an inconsiderate narcissist.  Now that you know how rude that is, you can resolve not to be that friend.

Find better ways to talk about yourself.  It’s okay to say, “I’m working on making my abs more toned.”  It’s not okay to say, “ I've got to get my fat @&$ to the gym.”

Don’t let one moment on the scale be your guide.  I hop on the scale every morning.  One day to the next can be a difference of five pounds.  Let the scale show you how you’re trending, not whether you’re succeeding or failing.

Finally, enjoy your infrequent binges.  I loved every moment of not thinking about my Christmas feasts.  I also enjoyed the salad I ate two days ago.  Both were my choice.  I never felt out of control because I chose to eat a piece of rum cake.  I didn’t succumb to a temptation.  I chose to eat it because I wanted it.  Making choice a part of your health plan is the difference between joy and misery and often the difference between success and failure.

Let this year be one of joy and success.