Background story:
For years, I’ve been thinking about the fact that I barely ever get any exercise. I eat well and balanced, I don’t do anything really bad for my body, I take my vitamins, but I just don’t really exercise. I’ve just never been into sports, and my job involves sitting in a conference room for 3-7 hours a day and sitting in front of my computer at my desk for the other rest. I have a 25-40 minute drive to work, involving walks between my house and the car and between my car and work. I enjoy camping and hiking and cross-country skiing, but I just don’t get out there that often, because I also enjoy a calm weekend at home programming, cooking, and watching movies.
Last winter, I thought about joining a gym, but I had never done it before, and I was intimidated. I talked to a bunch of gyms near work, and I was going to do some of the introductory programs, but then I told some other people about what I was going to do, and they all said “Everybody joins a gym and then doesn’t go, and it’s expensive. Can’t you just walk or run to get exercise?” I felt silly, and I wasn’t sure it would go so well, so I didn’t join.
I kept stewing on the idea, and last summer I decided that I would start walking. Every day after work, before even going inside the house, I set a timer for 10 minutes and started walking. After the timer went off, I turned around and walked 10 minutes back. The 20 minutes was a time that I picked because it seemed long enough to get some aerobic advantage, but it seemed short enough that I would always have time to do it. It seemed that even if I got busy, I would always have time for a 20 minute walk, and it wouldn’t feel like some big imposition that I would be tempted to start skipping and eventually give up on.
Well, the walking went well. I actually really enjoyed it. I walked in a different direction from my house each day. If Colin was available, he came with me. It was really nice to be outside for a bit each day.
But then, one day, I noticed that I was walking in the dark! And then for a couple of times, I was walking in dark, cold drizzle. And then the excuses (“well, it’s too dark and rainy tonight” and “I just don’t feel like walking around in the dark tonight”) and the inevitable tapering off happened. So that was disappointing, and again I wasn’t exercising for a while.
One day, I was looking online at a site that talks about places to go and things to do in your neighborhood, and I encountered a gym called Rainier Health and Fitness a couple of miles from my house. I went to their website and read some reviews, and they sounded cool. I told Colin about it, and one day after work we just decided to go check it out.
The Gym:
The gym is really interesting and neat, probably largely because it was founded as a community service and not as a money-making venture. There was recently a nice article about the gym in a local newspaper http://www.colorsnw.com/absolutenm/anmviewer.asp?a=117&z=41. Their website talks about their mission as well http://www.rainierhealth.com/aboutus/theproblem.htm. To summarize, the founders were concerned about the growing weight issues and lack of fitness in lower-income communities, like the one we live in, and among minorities. They thought about the kinds of barriers there are for people in our community to go to a gym, and did what they could to combat them. The rates are low, and there is an are lower rates available for those in need. The atmosphere at the gym is extremely down to earth and friendly. They have free child-care every night. They have 2 evenings with women-only time so that religious Muslim women (there are a lot in our neighborhood) feel comfortable working out. They have rules about language and respectful interactions, and it feels nothing like the meat-market I’ve heard about at other gyms.
The gym itself is in a triple-wide trailer, but the equipment is all quite nice and new. The staff are friendly and ready to help out. There are a ton of people at the gym who, like me and Colin, had never worked out at a gym before. There are people of all shapes, sizes, ages, colors and dress. There are always a few women working out with heads covered, long skirts over long pants, and long sleeves. They must get hot!
Anyway, I think it’s cool that these people had a vision, that they thought about the important aspects to implementing it, that they are working hard to accomplish their goals, and that it is working so well. The gym is full almost every time we go, and there seem to be new people joining every day! Congratulations to them.
