How to know if you have chosen the right club

There are many different criteria for choosing a club, One is proximity; another is type of equipment for your particular routine. Still another is overall cleanliness and repair. All of those are important. But, for most of us who join at a standard fitness chain, these almost always are  adequate.

One of the important points beyond this, is the club membership itself. One really needs to look at who is already
a member as he or she will be sharing equipment with them on a regular basis. Do these people respect you? Unfortunately, you may not actually know until the end of your first month.

An absolute must is that the other members respect you for your program. This means that they do in fact allow you to do your own thing without ridicule or interruption. That is true even if you are new to fitness training and possibly not as adept as more seasoned members. All of us need to work out as we see fit in order that we may grow at our own paces.

One absolutely needs the personal space to do and grow as he or she is able. This is best facilitated by simply doing a routine over a period of time allowing nature to take its course. That will be far less likely to happen if one is continuously interrupted or told to do things differently than he or she deems best.

Common courtesy is so common that it seems almost unnecessary to talk about it. Yet, there are personality types who feel the need to coach beginners or to disturb the concentration of those who are doing their routines. Most likely their motives are very good, but their effects on others is less than desirable. A club with even a few of these types is not a good place for anyone.

If one finds that he or she has joined a club with a considerable percentage of people like this, he or she should consider switching. There is little that is worse than being treated as less than a person when one is trying desperately to stay at a routine. Moving to a club that is possibly 10 or 15 minutes further away is therefore advisable.

The only other alternative is to either confront these obnoxious people with their unwelcome behavior or to complain about it to management. But this type of aggression generally has bad consequences. Further, the club which has a considerable number of folks like these is most often run by someone equally as insensitive. Switching to another place in the interests of hanging in for the long haul is therefore in one’s best interests.

Get wealthy while getting healthy. That’s the wise thing to do.

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Wisely choose the person next to you at the health club

When choosing a workout area in a new club, one should always consider who is always on an adjacent piece of equipment. In other words, who is on the stationery bike right next to yours? Is this person actually doing their workout or are they carrying on conversations with someone else? While social courtesies are generally good to maintain, too much talk can detract from one’s workout intensity.

The same is true for cell phone usage. One should determine whether those on the exercise floor are spending more energy talking or possibly even texting than they are logging in miles on the bicycles or running around the track.  An atmosphere of this type of laxness is far different than the training areas of Olympic athletes.

It may be true that few of us are of  an Olympic caliber  such as Dara Torres or Michael Phelps. Clearly, if we were this way we would hardly be concerned with getting to the club everyday to insure that we complete an entire week’s worth of training. We would be looking for ways to do better than last month’s best time, which may have been a record in the first place.

When starting out and even in the early years of establishing a fitness lifestyle, we need all of the help that we can get. This is generally thought of only as coaching from a respected trainer, but it also extends to those who work out beside us. Their commitment and intensity impacts us at an unconscious level. That is,  it influences how we feel about what we are doing and thereby either makes it easier to keep coming in or nearly impossible to maintain a responsible pace.

Generally if the mood of the gym is one which is more like that of as social club than of a serious gym, we will be less inclined to go for that extra quarter mile or that one more repetition on the squat machine. Some may think that this is good, as if taking it easy were more in line with  maximizing one’s longevity. But the opposite is true. The harder we work,the easier it becomes. Yesterday’s plateaus soon become replaced with new levels of performance.

Choosing the right place on the gym floor will encourage this type of personal investment into your workout. Therefore you should look for this type of dedication in the others on the workout floor before deciding which piece of equipment to habitually use. Doing that gives you the greatest chance of staying at workouts, thereby inevitably exceeding your fitness expectations.

Peers are important in your choice of clubs

It is a good idea to exclusively work out during scheduled exercise times. In other words, one should think only of getting a routine done and of making modest improvements over reasonable periods of time. That means not fraternizing when doing your daily routine.

For some people the seemingly innocuous chit chat of a friendly atmosphere is essential for a sixty to ninety minute workout. For whatever reason they feel the need to converse with the person next to them on the stationery bike for example. One can only hope that the other person feels the same need.

General courtesy is always a good thing perhaps. But continual discussion of last night’s TV show or one’s kids can detract from a serious routine. It takes everything within a person to put out at a sustained level when doing a workout.

Yet, this is not to say that others in the club should be ignored or snubbed. we are all human and need the expressions of good will from each other. In a like manner they depend on it from us.

A primary consideration then in choosing a club is over who works out there. Are they people who are serious, striving to put their all into their daily routines? Or, are they folks who are more interested in talking about things that are unrelated, possibly to keep their mind off of what they are having too hard of a time doing?

When choosing a club, one should assess the dedication of those on the workout floor. Are they really intent on doing a good job at what they are there for? Or are they going through the motions, perhaps far more interested in in consequential trivia?

Too, are they people that you can honestly feel cordial toward? Or, are they ones whom you would prefer never to greet? If you do not like them or if they talk too much, you are less likely to keep at your routine.

It is hard enough to maintain the daily discipline of working out.  Therefore, finding a club with members compatible members is of primary importance in staying at a fitness routine for the long haul.

Meet the manager before joining the club

It may be true that a highly motivated person can work out well even at a club managed by his or her worst enemy. But most of us are not like that. We all know that our dues are in part paying for his or her salary.

Liking a club owner or manager may sound trivial to the dedicated athlete. He or she will say that at best these folks pay the club’s bills in a timely fashion, thereby insuring that doors will stay open. Beyond that they are little relevance.

If we were all as single-minded as an Olympic champion, this might very well be all that we would need to care about. But few of us are  at that point. Consequently, the feelings we have toward the club’s decision-maker is of utmost importance.

Liking this individual can be crucial. By liking, it assumed that there is a general respect for his or her attitudes and inclinations toward the both the members and staff. These become evidenced in his or her daily actions when at the club and also in the staff when they are not present.

Disliking what club owners or managers are all about creates an unhealthy set of feelings. Few of us thrive on such antipathy. Those of us who do are most often eventually cut off from further relating even to members like ourselves. That can cause one to lose interest in the daily attendance which is needed for workout success.

Perhaps the single most important question to ask about this person is over whether they care about the club members actually improving at their fitness routines. That is far different than only caring about the number of advance paid memberships.

We all go through up and downs when maintaining a regular fitness lifestyle. As a result we need all of the help we can get to stay on course. A large part of that comes from having a good feeling toward person who pays the club’s bills.

Perhaps the best way to say it is that we are all better off around others who rely on us more for our improvements than for our monthly dues payment. Knowing that others care about our success makes it far easier to make to the club that day when it seems just to hard or do that one more repetition or to even make it there in the first place.

Choosing your place to work out

Highly motivated people do not need a club membership to workout. They can do it on their own, buying equipment for use in the basement or simply logging in miles of running around the block. Or they can do a daily swim across the lake if a good sized one is not too far from their house.

But most of us, even the highly motivated need to have a place where we can do our daily routines. What then makes one place better than another?

Before answering, it needs to be said that there are always individual more specialized preferences. Some of us want to emulate people like Arnold Schwarzenegger and therefore want to be around body builders. Possibly we are even contest material, requiring very heavy weights. Therefore we may only be happy with places like Gold’s. They have a lot of squat racks, bench press apparatus and olympic plates to satisfy the most tonnage motivated athlete.

But the majority of us are more rounded in our approach to fitness. We need cardio equipment, some machines to insure balanced lifting and possibly a juice machine or two for post workout recovery. The bulk of today’s fitness enthusiasts are like that.

Also in this category are those who enjoy pilates, yoga or possibly power walking. Tracks and mats are needed for these activities, but the standard club generally provides them. Too, they have trainers who are proficient in their use, so you need not feel if that you are own your own if you are a beginner.

The larger chains are like this. Some that come to mind are Bally’s, Anytime Fitness and Lifetime Fitness. They all do a good job of accommodating the busy professional who needs access to equipment whenever it can be fit into a busy schedule.

Generally, in today’s America there is about one for every 15 miles. That suggests a travel time of under a half hour, which is essential in a busy lifestyle. Regular time needs to be devoted to working out. This is less likely to happen if one has to spend more time driving than actually doing his or her workout.

Thus the first two things to consider when choosing a club are these : 1.) what types of working out do they encourage; and 2.)How far away is it? Both of these considerations are essential if one is serious about staying at routine for the long haul.

“Think and Grow Fit”

Synopsis
“Think and Grow Fit:|” (a reasonable person’s guide to getting fit and staying that way forever) argues that you really only need two things if you want to stay fit forever.  First is a good friend or spouse, who doesn’t call you Health Nut for wanting that. Second is a fitness lifestyle that is as regular and commonplace as the daily brushing of your teeth. Everyone knows they need these, but too few really act on it.  This book offers some reasons why and some suggestions of how to more effectively do what we all know that we should.

Autobiography
I live in W St Paul, Minnesota and can be seen every morning around six at the Anytime Fitness in a nearby suburb. I’m concerned with fitness for baby boomers, largely because I am one. But, others can benefit as well.  I was obese 45 years ago,  took 15 to win my one and only athletic trophy, and am currently able do  more athletically than when on the swim team in high school. I am living proof that you can get better with age. Jack Lalanne with his two hour workouts at 95 is even more so. The same can be true for you, which is exactly what I hope.

How important is the club where I work out?

Some people really can decide to workout and then stay with it, no matter what. Nothing will stand in their way. In this context, one may think of characters like Rocky Balboa, assuming the reader has seen Sly Stallone’s Rocky movies.

People like this can workout anywhere and win. They are just like Rocky, eating their substitute for his a raw egg, every day running through the streets of New York. That’s the way an  iron-willed person in training for this year’s iron person competition will be. Nothing will stop them, needing no external encouragement.

But, not all of us are like that. In fact most of us are not, even if we are able to show up at the club for the lion’s share of the time. We need encouragement, sometimes even prodding. That is necessary to not only get us through the plateau periods, but even possibly to show up every day for our workouts.

Some health club owners are aware of these needs and do things to be supportive. They may put up  tallies of the number of visits per month during a calendar year, for example. That is, they may actually take the time to determine how often each of their members has frequented the club for a given period of time.

The people who show up often are encouraged by this type thing. They can see their name in lights as it were,making them feel special. They can feel that they were noticed doing the right things with their time and possibly even doing it more so than they the people they sometimes workout next to.

There is a lot of negative thinking about these types of awarenesses. It is as if knowing that someone else has shown up to workout more than them will in fact make them so discouraging that they will quit altogether. Perhaps that is true for some of us. But for how many really?

A little good health competition is good for most of us. It really does keep us on our toes, showing up for that hour of physical pain instead of spending that hour sleeping in. More of the former is almost always better than the latter when it comes to fitness. It’s that every day do it whether you feel like it or not that causes the big changes down the road. A club which encourages that type of dedication is one which cares about its member. Its one that most all of us would be best off at.

“Think and Grow Fit” my new book now available

Synopsis
“Think and Grow Fit:|” (A Reasonable Person’s Guide to Getting Fit and Staying that Way Forever) argues that you really only need two things if you want to stay fit forever.  First is a good friend or spouse, who supports your wanting to be that. Second is a fitness lifestyle that is as regular and commonplace as the daily brushing of your teeth. Everyone knows they need these, but too few really act on it.  This book offers some reasons why, and some suggestions of how to more effectively do what we all know that we should.

Autobiography
I live in St Paul, Minnesota and can be seen every morning around 6:00 AM at the Anytime Fitness in a nearby suburb. I’m concerned with fitness for baby boomers, largely because I am one.  But others can benefit as well.  I was obese 45 years ago,  took 15 years to win my one and only athletic trophy, but am currently able do more athletically than when on the swim team in high school. I am living proof that you can get better with age.  The same can be true for you.

What about places like Jenny Craig?

A prevalent phenomenon in today’s world is the existence of weight loss businesses such as Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig. Are these good for the average person? Or, are they a complete waste of money, resulting only in a return to obesity  shortly after stopping with them?

The writer generally believes that one can do for oneself what  Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig can do. Therefore one should simply use one’s own  head without contracting with others. But, that opinion is perhaps too obtuse and unrealistic for the person just starting out on a physically transforming lifestyle.

Making a new year’s resolve to drop fifty pounds, thereby looking great for this year’s upcoming Christmas is hard. It takes a lot of effort to refuse the food you probably love and feel you cannot really live without. It also takes alot of courage to simply do your daily workouts. Simply sticking with it may almost take all of your emotional time and energy.

If that is true for you, you may not be as able to wisely choose what you should eat for energy and tissue repair. Jenny Craig and Weight watchers do a good job of telling you what to do in these areas. They can even send you individual meals if you would like. Having your diet on that kind of cruise control can free your mind to stay on track with your workout routine.

Places like Jenny Craig and Weightwatchers will also encourage you. Largely, this is because your success is the best advertising for them. But it’s also because many of those who work for them have been overweight as well.Consequently, they will know what you are going through and will be able to encourage you in a way that will not damage your pride.

You need nutritional and emotional support of this nature. Too few of us get these from home, where we may even have spouses who are against our weightloss aspirations. Granted, they may not be openly antagonistic, but the threat of a physical transformation may actually cause some resistance in them. That can result in them not helping with the dietary changes that are necessary. Sad to say this may even be the case in spite of  your MD saying that you simply must drop the weight to avoid more serious future problems such as diabetes.

Should you try one of these big chains to help you win the losing game? Yes, if you need them as many of us do. The only warning is that their diets may not be enough if you are also on a strenuous bicycle or running program. In that case you might want to at least tell them beforehand or consider supplementing with controlled amounts of extra calories from things like honey or olive oil.

Green tea in place of diet pills

There is a strong prejudice against taking pills unless they are prescribed by an MD. Perhaps this good, as self-medication can have very bad effects on people. We are all prone to thinking that a brand new performance enhancer will really do everything that a manufacturer says that it will. And many of us even think that more of the same more often will get even better results even faster.

That is probably the context of every incident which finds its way to 60 Minutes or 20/20. But how often on an individual basis does this really occur in your experience? Is it really as much as the reports of the thousands who are hurt from prescription drugs when used as directed or taken by accident due to a pharmacist’s error.

Even if it may not sound like it, the writer is grateful for the advances in medical science. The world is truly a better place for them. But the alternative performance enhancers seem to get unfairly neglected by those who believe only in MD related drugs.

One of the most innocuous substances on the market today is the green tea capsule. Bottles of these can be bought by anyone from the corner drug store. In other words, you do not have to ask your MD’s permission before buying them. Some still may feel the need to do so, however.

When used in conjunction with weight loss, green tea capsules can be the difference between a person sticking with a diet instead of falling off of it. Green tea makes one feel better. It elevates the feelings, making it far easier to refuse the second helping or compulsively eat the entire serving dish of food. The writer thinks that it does this by way of energizing endorphines, but he is hardly an expert in bio-chemistry.

Should one fear dependency on these fifteen cent capsules? Perhaps. One should fear dependency on anything. But does it not make more sense to fear dependency on food to alleviate depression? Given the obesity problem in the country at the present time it seems so.

You must ask your self why you over eat, if you do this. If it is because of depression during the day, you really might be helped by some green tea, probably up to 325mg per day (the recommended dose), in fact.