The Many Adventures of a Thede

I went to the gym today for the first time in my life! Well, pretty much. I've been in a couple workout rooms in my life, and I definitely ran on a treadmill at least once during college, but I have never really been excited about working out. But within the last year or so I have started considering that it might be a good idea to get on a regular workout program. I've done pilates in my apartment pretty regularly, and while that's better than nothing, I'd like to add a little more variety to my workout.

So, I had this lovely wish to join a gym in New York. The problem with that is most gyms in New York are freakin' expensive. Most monthly rates are between $100-200 not including the start-up fee which can be close to $1,000 in some cases if you don't catch a special. I did some research on cheap gyms in the city a while back and found that there are some parks and recs buildings that have workout rooms and you can pay just $50 a year! It sounded quite promising. But Eduardo and I went to check out the closest location and it was pretty much a dump with only a few machines. I guess you get what you pay for. We couldn't motivate ourselves to join.

At some point during my job search I filled out an application at Equinox, a popular gym chain here. It wasn't exactly what I wanted to do with my life, but I figured the free membership perk would be nice. But I never heard anything and eventually got a different job (at Westside Theatre! I start Monday!) But a couple weeks ago I got a call from a woman named Lillian at Equinox wondering if I was still interested in a job. At first I told her no because I had found a job already (inside I was still thinking about that nice free membership, but figured health insurance is also important, so I'd stick with what I got). But Lillian pressed on saying this job would only be four hours a week. All I'd have to do is pass out flyers promoting the gym. And if I did it, I could get a FREE MEMBERSHIP! Yeah, I was in. And I got Eduardo in too.

So, today, we tried out that free membership for the first time, and let me tell you, it is a NICE gym. I think I might actually look forward to working out if I can go there all the time! There's two entire floors of cardio and weight equipment, personal TVs mounted on the equipment, locker rooms so clean you can eat off the floor, free stuff like shampoo, razors, hair dryers, etc, a huge class schedule, a healthy food and juice bar, an in house spa...yeah, I actually said to Eduardo, "We could live at the gym!" I'd be happy to just go there to drink juice and shower, but I guess I really should work out too. Yeah, I'm gonna do it.