Every year I make resolutions that I really actually WANT to achieve. Sometimes I am more successful than others- for example the flossing resolution never seems to take hold.
This last year has been depressingly less successful than previous years in the fitness department. Now, I will admit that I had to make BIG adjustments to my workout schedule when my amazing trainer left UCI... I can very honestly admit that I am someone who really needs motivation to workout. That's probably a result of having so many coaches all those years in swimming and water polo. Amanda made me WANT to work out and get faster, stronger, better. Without her, it was a struggle to find structure in my workouts.
When I got back from my Southeast Asian vacation, we moved off campus and it wasn't as convenient to go to the UCI gym so I let my membership elapse. At first, it was easy to make fitness a priority because I had no job. Sadly, in the 6 weeks I have been working, I have been to the gym a handful of times. Part of that, I tell myself, is because running several times a week has been terrible for my IT band and I am not religious enough with the strengthening exercises that I have been given. The other part is that I can't get motivated to go run at 6am, nor can I find the strength to hit the gym after I walk in the door. It's just not happening for me.
So this week I shopped around for a new gym. While I would LOVE to join the 24 hour fitness with the outdoor pool near our apartment, it's a paid parking lot and that was the same issue I had at UCI. I started looking into LA Fitness and I found that there are actually several convenient locations near the apartment and my office that have spin classes I could conceivably attend both before and after work on various days of the week. My uber amazing boss already told me it would be okay for me to come in late and work late a few days each week if I was coming from the gym (assuming I am going to be able to get all my work done and don't have any meetings scheduled). I think I may take him up on that offer, but it may not be too big of a problem since there are lots of options for gyms closer and further from the office.
Yesterday, on my way home, I stopped by the brand spanking new LA fitness near my apartment and found they have AMAZINGLY nice spin bikes (50) and only a handful of them were being used- SCORE! LA fitness has a really pricy initiation fee, but their monthly cost was only $19.99 and that will never go up or be taxed so long as I keep my membership active. They also threw in a membership (same price) for Sam and waived his initiation fee completely. With the initiation fees, the cost is $40 cheaper than the annual fee at the UCI gym, over 2 years I will save $327 going this route, and over 3 years I will save $615 (assuming the UCI price stays the same which is unlikely since the UC system has been raising prices like crazy). Since the last 6 months is the longest I have gone without a gym membership since I got to Orange County, I think it's probably a safe bet that I'll stick with LA Fitness for a while and reap the benefits of the low monthly fees!
