It's just like a supermarket...
Written: Oct 29 '00 (Updated Jul 29 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Price negotiable, many classes, 24 hours
Cons: Crowded, staff/trainers s*ck, can get stuffy
The Bottom Line: Got fresh bacon on isle 5B ... would you like to try some?
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| lpn's Full Review: 24 Hour Fitness |
I joined this gym when they were called "Family Fitness" in So. Cal. About a year and a half later they merged w/ a No. Cal. company (whose name I forgot) and became "24hr fitness." I went there because it was close to my house, cheap ($12), and the equipment was decent.
When I first joined they did a body composition analysis, 3 sessions with a trainer, and gave me some reading materials on fitness and nutrition. Back then their staff was decent, but after the merger the quality of the staff deteriorated significantly. As a longtimer, I knew the staff and many fellow members. The quality of the "trainers" was hogwash at best, and spent most of their time schmoozing the meat market.(one department down)
If you planned to come anytime from 6am to 10pm, you better have a reason to go there other than working out. First, the cardio equipment was almost always packed despite the 20 min. limitation imposed by the club in the busy hours. If weight training is your bread and butter, you will spend more time waiting than working. The showers and locker areas were decent considering the traffic, but beware that looks can be deceiving! Do not walk barefoot in any gyms' locker room. You are guaranteed to pick up athlete's foot, which you can control, but can't eradicate completely for the rest of your life! If you are a sensitive individual, you may even pick up fungi on you hands and nails. Nasty indeed, but this is something you have to deal with.(and you thought I might forget the veggie department!)
The specific location I went to was not too busy after 11pm, since only the hardcore weight lifters attended sprinkled with the plumpier folks who are afraid to attend the gym in the midst of the meat market(no, no, I didn't belong in this group ;-). So, if your hours force you to work out at night, say 11pm-2am, it may be possible at the location you are joining, but you should go in for a least a week at those hours and see if the case is so.
The other plus side is that if you are a savvy shopper, love negotiating, or are a salesman yourself, you could join in for no down and a very small monthly payment. Keep pestering the salesmen, you may even pit one against the other and only sign when you are absolutely sure you got the best deal. Don't be afraid to walk away at the moment your autograph is needed.
The following are my comments if you are new to working out/losing weight and need a little direction:
The groceries department you should avoid completely. If you are into the supplement thing, don't buy it here. Go to the local mom&pop discount vitamin shops, where you will save at least 20%. On a side note, don't buy into the notion that you need protein supplements. I know I might get hate mail for saying this, but most people in western societies consume too much protein, even those who work out several times a week and make no special effort to consume extra protein. This leads to metabolic stress, and as most people tout whey protein, you are also getting the toxins since it is an animal by product and therefore subject to the rules of "biological amplification". BTW, whenever you eat animal products, you are under the influence of this. If you don't know what I am talking about, run a search on www.dogpile.com, or open your biology textbooks. If you still want protein supplements, stick with rice protein, its very clean, and you are not likely to develop and allergy to it as you might with "biologically superior" whey protein.
Consume the vast majority of your calories from good carbohydrate sources such as pasta, beans legumes, breads, fruits and vegetables. You may also eat some meat each day. Get small portions of high quality meat, say 2-5 ounces. Burgers/salami/sausages/lunchmeats or other ground/processed meats are not high quality. If you do this you will likely consume 50-100 grams of protein daily, which is plenty. My carbohydrate/protein/fat distribution recommendation is 60/20/20. Get good quality fruits and vegetables from you local farmers market. Not only will you patronize your local farmers and keep the money in the community, but you will also get better quality produce that may tantalize you taste buds unlike supermarket produce.
For most folk, breakfast is small, lunch bigger, and dinner the largest. Change this so that you consume Lunch for breakfast, dinner for lunch, and something small for dinner, like a few pieces of fruit. If you want to lose weight (BTW, this needs a reframe, we are not "losing" weight, but rather trimming the things we don't need, after all, we don't lose trash once we throw it away, do we?), limit your calories to 1500-1800, and once you get hungry, stay that way for an hour or longer.
There is nothing wrong with being hungry, if you eat many fruits and vegetables, you will feel a mild hunger that is tolerable, but on a meat/fat (aka Atkins) diet you may feel pounding urges of hunger followed by overeating. If you are on such a diet currently, you may feel compulsive urges to eat meat/high fat content foods. This is because your body has adjusted to processing this protein and strives to maintain the status quo. The strategy that worked for me is to quit eating meat for about 10 days or so. The first 3 days are hard, but by day 5-6 you will lose (need to reframe this) the urge to eat meat. At this point it should be easy for you to reintroduce a small quantity of meat, say 2-3 times a week without getting those compulsive urges.
Also, stay away from all sources of hydrogenated fats. These are a by product of heating fats and oils, and are much worse than any other kind of fat (including saturated). You get these whenever you eat fried foods (even if the oil is fresh), margarine, salad dressings, and cookies & baked goods are loaded.
My best advice however is to follow something that you may have learned in any science or psychology class, and that is the "scientific method." Applied to your daily life it can be the difference between being blind in life or having 20/20 vision, map, and a GPS unit. If you need an idea of how to use this method, or if you want to flame, mail to lpn@hotmail.com.
This diet paired with working out 3 times a week will produce significant changes on the scale, but only if you get on it once every 2-3 weeks. Daily fluctuations in weight are meaningless. Remember that it took you a long time to get to where you may be today, and it will take some time to get where you want to go, so be patient and confident that what you are doing will produce steady and maintainable results in the long run.
Sincerely,
Peter
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Epinions.com ID:
lpn
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Member: Peter
Location: Tarzana, CA
Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 0 members
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