I am one of the masses who is always full of good resolutions regarding the gym but is never able to deliver on it. This year a few factors made me finally changed my gym strategy. I get very bored on the treadmill (or any cardio machine for that matter) and lose motivation to go to the gym everyday. People have been advising me to go for group classes which are lot more fun but my cheap gym did not have a lot of options and I did not want to go to a more expensive ones as even gyms here have contracts (sigh!). I love running and would generally try to get a run in the morning before leaving for work but that changed when I switched jobs and had to start leaving early in the mornings. The final push was the most effective one - my company reimburses gym fees up 150$ per quarter with the stipulation that you have to go to the gym at least 13 times (not a hard thing since it works out to once per week).
Well, I enrolled and after the initial procrastination, started going to the group classes and they are actually a lot of fun. You get to do a variety of stuff and there are a variety of routines to help you not get bored. So, I go this weights class, kickboxing and aerobics (BodyPump, BodyCombat and BodyAttack in Golds Gym lingo). All these classes have routines based on music chosen by the instructor and each routing has a number of reps. The interesting thing is that irrespective of the class, time, routing, rep, music - irrespective of all possible influencing factors - I am always in "opposite sync" with the whole class. If they are stepping to the left, I am stepping to the right; if they are doing right lunges, my left leg is going backward and so on. For anything and everything, even the stretches I automatically do the opposite as soon as I take my eyes off the instructor and leave myself on my own. Given that I have no musical ear and have twenty two left feet, my being out of sync is not surprising. What is surprising is that I am always in opposite sync, which means that I do maintain a rhythm of own! I find it hard to believe but I have been observing myself closely and have had to accept that I do maintain the sync, so much so that it looks coordinated. Somehow (I dont know why), I would have preferred the totally uncoordinated option.
Now that I am talking about the gym, I think I should also crib about the pet peeve. What is the deal with getting naked in public in the locker rooms? Okay, that sounded a bit kinky - what is the deal with changing clothes in the common area in the locker rooms? Luckily, my gym has a single curtained area and I use that. I am sure all the Americans must be laughing at me but I don't know how a country, so focused on 'individual privacy' that even parents are not welcome without invitation, thinks that it is acceptable to completely strip down in public! And I am talking about adults here, not even small kids. Well, this is something which I need to get used to, maybe in the next 20 years.
Tail Piece- I can now say with confidence that for a person with normal exercise needs, Indian gyms are much better that the ones here. Indian gyms are more focused on cleanliness (in order to maintain their 'hep' image) and they also give more value - they do a fitness test and customize an exercise plan for you. Here, you get this only when you sign up for the super expensive personal trainers. Second, Indian gyms have trainers working the floor to make sure that people are exercising correctly and to answer questions. Here you are all on your own. I cannot really compare the group classes as I never did one back home. Of course, the crowds there are unbeatable too and I remember that you had be in the gym really early to grab a treadmill. I miss the days where I could just walk to the gym!
Well, I enrolled and after the initial procrastination, started going to the group classes and they are actually a lot of fun. You get to do a variety of stuff and there are a variety of routines to help you not get bored. So, I go this weights class, kickboxing and aerobics (BodyPump, BodyCombat and BodyAttack in Golds Gym lingo). All these classes have routines based on music chosen by the instructor and each routing has a number of reps. The interesting thing is that irrespective of the class, time, routing, rep, music - irrespective of all possible influencing factors - I am always in "opposite sync" with the whole class. If they are stepping to the left, I am stepping to the right; if they are doing right lunges, my left leg is going backward and so on. For anything and everything, even the stretches I automatically do the opposite as soon as I take my eyes off the instructor and leave myself on my own. Given that I have no musical ear and have twenty two left feet, my being out of sync is not surprising. What is surprising is that I am always in opposite sync, which means that I do maintain a rhythm of own! I find it hard to believe but I have been observing myself closely and have had to accept that I do maintain the sync, so much so that it looks coordinated. Somehow (I dont know why), I would have preferred the totally uncoordinated option.
Now that I am talking about the gym, I think I should also crib about the pet peeve. What is the deal with getting naked in public in the locker rooms? Okay, that sounded a bit kinky - what is the deal with changing clothes in the common area in the locker rooms? Luckily, my gym has a single curtained area and I use that. I am sure all the Americans must be laughing at me but I don't know how a country, so focused on 'individual privacy' that even parents are not welcome without invitation, thinks that it is acceptable to completely strip down in public! And I am talking about adults here, not even small kids. Well, this is something which I need to get used to, maybe in the next 20 years.
Tail Piece- I can now say with confidence that for a person with normal exercise needs, Indian gyms are much better that the ones here. Indian gyms are more focused on cleanliness (in order to maintain their 'hep' image) and they also give more value - they do a fitness test and customize an exercise plan for you. Here, you get this only when you sign up for the super expensive personal trainers. Second, Indian gyms have trainers working the floor to make sure that people are exercising correctly and to answer questions. Here you are all on your own. I cannot really compare the group classes as I never did one back home. Of course, the crowds there are unbeatable too and I remember that you had be in the gym really early to grab a treadmill. I miss the days where I could just walk to the gym!
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