As pretty much everybody does, I made the New Year’s effort – I won’t dare to say “resolution” – to hit the gym. Before Thanksgiving I was in a pretty good groove, but then illness and a busy December prevented me from ending the year on a good note. Now I’m empowered by my gym switch from the Pulse over to the new 24 Hour Fitness in Fort Collins. I decided to stop giving the Pulse my membership money due to the fact that it doesn’t seem that they’re putting any of it towards maintaining and improving the equipment and facilities there. Walking into 24 Hour Fitness and seeing dozens of brand new cardio machines and weights spoils you, plus through Bethany’s corporate deal they were able to make us an offer we couldn’t refuse.
Right now I’m just continuing my goal of getting back into some sort of routine and thus getting back in shape. I’ve found that I’m specifically goal-oriented as much as I just want to see continual improvement and consistency in my gym time.
I also use my gym time as an excellent opportunity to catch up on my Podcasts. One of my favorite things is to listen to ESPN’s PTI and Around the Horn during my gym time, but a lot of times they don’t post until right after I get off work. Because of this, I’ve resorted to killing time at work after 5 just waiting for them to post the podcast, or even trying to download the podcast on my laptop in the gym parking lots. Thanks to my purchase of a Sandisk 1GB Mp3 player, but pretty much only for it’s ability to read Micro-SD cards. When I head over to the gym I check ESPN on my Treo to see if the podcast is available (go figure, it typically is right when I walk out the door from work). Putting my mobile broadband plan to good use, I download the podcasts onto my phone and transfer them to the Micro-SD card using my Treo’s SD port. Next then you know, I’m happily listening to my podcasts and making the most of my time.
I realize that all of the new gyms and Mp3 players in the world won’t keep me motivated, that ultimately it comes down to my own ambitions, but I’m hoping that these new opportunities will continue to foster my positive gym-going habits.