Gym | Look At My Muscles
Sep 9

I recently was transferred from sunny Southern California to very sunny Dallas Texas for work. I really fell off the wagon there for a few months, what with moving and starting a new job in a new city and new pretty much everything. I still had my 24 Hour Fitness membership when I got here, but there wasn’t a gym close to my new place and the ones that I could drive to were a bit run down. LA Fitness seems to be really popular here in the Dallas area and all of the clubs are really new and nice.

LA Fitness, unlike most gyms don’t post their prices online and there was a lot of haggling involved in negotiating the terms of the initiation and rates. I ended up paying $50 initiation and $29/mo all clubs with no contract. I think the negotations started at like $150 and $35/mo, and I’ve heard of people getting better deals than me so don’t let them sell you on what they first offer.

Anyway, it feels great to be back at the gym. I’ve been working some crazy hours, but even at 9p, a good pump keeps the blood flowing and the a-shirts tight. I’ll try to post some results of my progress as they become evident.

Jan 28

In need of a new gym, I checked out the Spectrum Fitness Club in Manhattan Beach. Having gone to Bally’s or 24 Hour Fitness for as long as I’ve worked out, it really was a night-and-day experience. The club was huge with a spa-like atomosphere and a very friendly, helpful and knowledgable staff. Everyone there is beautiful, the equipment was all in good shape, almost everything was available, there’s towel service, bla, bla bla. The only drawback is that membership (even with my corporate discount) is $94/mo. That’s more than three times as much as a regular-Joe gym, so as great as my trial membership was, I signed up at 24, with an all-club membership at $29/mo.

My new membership is month-to-month though, and to be honest, if the economy wasn’t in such shambles and I wasn’t expecting a kid in less than 4 months, I probably would’ve splurged and signed up at the Spectrum. Maybe in 6 months or so when things are more stable I will. But weights are weights and fancy won’t make more muscles.

Jan 20

So my previous gym membership expired somewhat unexpectedly and I’m now in search for where to get my pump on. I’ve previously been a member of 24 Hour Fitness and Bally’s, and it’s likely that i’ll go again with one of them since they’re inexpensive and have facilities just about everywhere. it seems that both of them are also offerering non-commitment memberships for between $25-$30 which is completely reasonable. decisions

Before i sigh up though, I plan to take a look at two other gyms. There’s a Gold’s Gym really close to my work and my corporate discount actually makes it cheaper than the aformentioned gyms. My main workout buddy also has a membership at the Spectrum where he does cario with his wife and tomorrow we’re going to go there to do a chest workout so I can see what the deal is. The main deterrent is that membership fees are $94 (my corporate discounted rate!) and I’m not sure if i could bring myself to spend 3x the money as other gyms, but I’ll report back after I check it out.

Jan 14

In year’s passed, I’ve been particularly motivated to hit the gym hard and often, but this year has started off kinda slow. I’m still making the gym at least twice a week, but I’ve had this problem with my left shoulder that has hampered chest and shoulder workouts and my buddy Eric strained his back, so between the two of us, chest day and back day and shoulder days have all been kinda ho-hum. I think the best course of action is to keep doing the workouts as long as I’m not feeling any pain in that particular movement and keep it light until whatever is wrong gets back to normal. The gym has been busy with it being the new year and all, so it’s also been difficult to be particular with what workout I do unless I’m willing to wait and since we usually work out in the later evening I’m intent on powering through the session.

I think my shoulder injury, which is similar to another one I had a while back is the result of me not working my shoulders as hard as I used to, while still working chest at the same and higher weights. My chest wants to and can move big weight, but my shoulders just can’t handle it and keep getting strained. When I do regain full usage of my shoulder, I’m going to be sure to dedicate a session to shoulders and make sure that I’m keeping my weights between shoulders and chest balanced.