To join or not to join....

No, I’m not talking about the military. Nor the Dark Side. Not even some weird religious cult (Growing up in Southern Baptist and Pentecostal churches, I‘ve pretty much been down that road. Never again.). Despite my protestations about such things earlier this month, I’m considering joining a gym.

Yeah, a gym.

*pause for laughter to die down*

And it’s not my fault. Really! I was innocently minding my own business at work today when I happed across the latest employee health bulletin about local fitness clubs offering corporate memberships to government employees. On a whim I made a few calls, and before I knew it had set up and appointment to tour the new Gold’s Gym this evening at six. The place was absolutely packed which was both good and bad in the sense that it created a “worst case scenario” on just how busy they can get, particularly in January when all the non-fitness types (such as myself) make halfhearted attempts to get into shape. Even as busy as they were, plenty of machines of sundry types were still available, so this suggests that even at peak time, one could still get in a decent workout without having to wait for a machine.

Other than the crowd, I was rather pleased with the gym, both in terms of equipment, price, and friendliness of the staff. The crowd really doesn’t bother me as I can just avoid the peak evening period by going later, or showing up at 5am before heading off to work. I actually prefer the latter option as I’m usually up that early anyway. And the drive isn’t that bad either. Just about half an hour to get there this evening in rush hour traffic and about 15 minutes to get back home going against traffic. Certainly doable, provided the motivation for such an endeavor doesn’t dissipate after the first two weeks.

Though I was tempted to do so, I did not join tonight. I picked up an information packet and will consider it over the next two or three days so as to avoid the possibility of making a rash decision that I may regret (e.g., joining the gym, but never going. Been down this road as well).

So we shall see......