Decidering, Part 16

Leah needs a decision made. Here's her dilemma:

I currently go to a gym with my boyfriend, and our couples gym membership is a little under $30 each a month. If I visit 12 times in a month, my insurance will reimburse me for $20 of the membership. I've been going at least 12 times a month since last November, and I've been going about 5-6 times a week in the past month or so; about half the time, my boyfriend comes with me. I lift weights, run on the treadmill, and do some core exercises that could definitely be done at home (I bring all my own bands for the exercises anyway, and I have my own yoga mat).

Our membership goes until May 3, and my boyfriend already said he doesn't want to renew his part. He's looking forward to hiking, biking, and running outdoors instead of being cooped up in the gym. For my part, I'm undecided. I'm making good progress at the gym (no weight loss yet, but I am feeling/looking better), and I'm worried about derailing progress by switching up my program so drastically. Should I keep up the gym membership, or should I just motivate myself to make the most of outdoor exercise? If the latter, do you have any ideas for motivating myself?

I decide: keep the membership.

Only about 1 in 390 people with a gym membership actually has seen the inside of their gym in the last 30 days,* so you are already in the top .002 percent of gym users nationwide.

I've had a gym membership for almost two years at an amazing gym and let me tell you how many times I have used it: ZERO. If I wasn't forced to have the membership by the University, I would cancel it in two seconds flat. Actually, I've had lots of gym memberships. In fact, I would venture to say that I have had a gym membership for most of the last 10 years. In that time, I've probably been in a gym ten times. TOTAL. Gyms just aren't my style.

But the thing is: you have found something that works. I think 90 percent of people wish they could find a work out regime, any work out regime, that they could stick to for more than two days. (Or am I just talking about myself here?**)

If you're in a groove, best to keep on grooving.

This is not to say that you shouldn't hike, bike, and run outdoors. We should ALL go outside and enjoy the great out-of-doors (stop laughing, I'm serious). But when it's a thousand degrees or raining for a week straight or when you just don't feel like communing with nature and the many things she has to offer (i.e. mosquitos), the gym is where it's at.

Finally, your membership? It's practically free! You only have to go three times a week to get your $20 insurance reimbursement. So, keep the plan and gym it up three days a week. The other four days you can enjoy some outdoor fun. Just remember to wear sunblock.

* All statistics and math in this post are made up by me.

** I know some of you are thinking: Hey! Slice of Pink bikes for exercise. That is true, but only incidentally. I bike for transportation and the side effect is physical activity. I would so weigh ten more pounds if I didn't have to, you know, go places.

Comments

[Hope]

I concur!

Also, I think that having to go three times a week is an excellent motivator that shouldn't be discounted. :)

[Operation Pink Herring]

Agreed! Leah would only be paying $10/month (if my math is right... right?), and I say that's WELL worth it, especially since she's already killing the required minimum. Even if she starts skipping weekends to do the outdoorsy stuff with the BF, she could still hit the 12x/month minimum pretty easily.

Yay, that was an easy one :)

[Chewable Vitamins]

I would suggest some vitamins in addition to working out! I have found that the chewable vitamins from Chews-4-Health not only taste great, but contain some of the best ingredients from land and sea. My son actually looks forward to taking this chewable daily and we both have been much healthier from taking these over the past few months. I highly recommend checking it out!