Impressions of FF: Day 6 & 7

Today's the last day of my free gym trial. I don't think I'll be using it since 1.) my body is distinctly quite sore and I don't think I could work it for more than 30 minutes 2.) train track works are going on the whole weekend and it took nearly an hour to get into the CBD (free shuttle bus + train) and also I screwed up -- managed to run the car battery flat in the morning by not fully turning off the headlights so I'd have to call up the NRMA (motor insurance & association or other) to jump start the car if I want to go anywhere 3.) I have other things I need to do today.

Yesterday: cardio and weights, followed by swimming. Total time: 1.5 hours.
10 minutes, steady pace each on 3 different cardio machines, 3 -4 sets of 10 on the weights machines and a few laps of free and easy followed by maniac swimming in a small pool (think it might have been a quarter or half the length of an olympic sized pool). Don't think the indoor pool's heating was on. It was quite chilly. I was so cold when I got to the women's changing room. Definitely need some big warm towels.

Impressions of FF: Day 5

I got up too late to go to the gym before work but managed to go to one gym class during lunch time. I did have to forgo lunch though. The class, "Core Fitness", utilised free weights, a dome like thing (for training balance, can't remember what it's called) for balance and strength training. The instructor, Kathy, wasn't too bad and occassionally liked to sing along with the track, which I thought was pretty funny. It wasn't an easy class (not that any of them were, considering how unfit I've become) and it left me a bit sore. Still, I thought I could manage another gym session after work. However as it turned out, my body was a bit slow and I didn't feel the full impact until closer to the end of day. I didn't get another gym session in, but I did sign up.

Olivia, the membership consultant, (strangely the same name as the other rude chick from another gym) was trying very hard to get me to sign up for the platinum membership as it turned out she could only sell the platinum ones. Eventually I did sign up for the platinum membership, with the explicit understanding (yes, she did have to write it down and sign off on it in the terms and conditions booklet that forms part of the contract) that I could downgrade within the 7 day cooling off period at no penalty. The contract she'd pre drawned up meant that the membership started on that day, which meant that I'd have to pay more in pro-rated fees and I was unhappy about that since my free trial was until the end of the week. I highlighted that to her and she amended it quickly (thought it smart of her not to argue with me since she'd have lost me as a customer).

So what swayed me to take up the platinum membership? Olivia mentioned that if I signed up on a regular membership, I'd have to pay a whopping $150 joining fee on top of everything else, which I didn't have to with this platinum one because this club had just opened and they were waiving the fee. That is something I'm going to check up on when I visit a regular club next week (not taking what she says at face value). Not that I'm trying to be snarky, but as part of my personal training in critical thinking (as espoused by the book "Turning Numbers into Knowledge"), I'm working hard to evaluate things as objectively as I can. "Objective" is a misnomer, of course, since valuations of things tend to be personal and dependent on the person's set of values.

I'm also quite keen on taking up a bit of swimming and unfortunately this is the closest gym with pool facilities. I'm also considering whether it makes more sense to just get the regular gym membership and add in visits to the closest public pool (there is one in my suburb). So in the following 7 days, I'll have to decide if I'm going to be dedicated enough to swim one or more times a week to make the extra $2 a week worth it.

Impressions of FF: Day 4

I was planning on spending 2 hours at the gym. Approximately 1 hour in a group class and another using the gym equipment. The class I tried was called "Body Balance", taught by a girl named Alex. I didn't enjoy this class as much and it was surprisingly a lot of hard work. It's quite obvious my body isn't very centered. I tried to exercise after the class but my muscles were just too tired and I gave up after 5 minutes on the bicycle.

Now I'm considering joining Fitness First. It's $47.90 per fortnight/~$24 per week for a 12 month platinum membership which allows entry into all platinum and regular clubs and $43.90/$22 per week for a "normal" 12 month membership. They've supposedly "waived" the joining fee of $150 but added an administrative fee of $70. I'm not sure the stated benefits of joining a platinum club really holds true. As far as I can see, a platinum club does not offer anything above what a regular club would provide. The only real advantage I can see is that they are open for unusually long hours which means I can exercise at 5:30am if I want or until 10pm on weekdays and till 6pm on weekends. It's also probably true that a platinum club would be less crowded than a regular club since most people would probably elect to take up regular rather than platinum membershp. Is that worth an additional $2/week or $96/annum? What will $96 buy me? Several lattes at Pronto or a couple of books or one textbook or partial payment for a year's subscription to the HBR. Choices, choices, choices.