What it's Like to Gym Surf

This project is really starting to wear me down in quite a few ways, some expected and some not so expected.

At first each new gym was a new adventure. A new place just waiting to be explored and enjoyed.  However, as time marches on and I keep going to more and more gyms they are all starting to blur together and are starting to look the same.  Especially with the shorter trials, things can get confusing. Once already I automatically drove to LA Fitness and when I parked I suddenly realized that was last week and I need to go to 24 Hour Fitness.  That was fun. 

The tours are starting to grind on me a bit, and I find myself having a snarky inner monologue while the sales person explains everything. Oh you have weight machines?!!!!?!?!?!? Oh you have a cardio room!!!??!?!?!  Wow this yoga room sure is different from every other yoga room I’ve seen!!!!  Stuff like that.  I am trying to hide the boredom from my face while they talk to me, but I’m not sure if I’m doing a good job or not.

But I think the biggest thing for me, and this is surprising, is that it feels like I’m braking up with someone every time I leave the gym for the next one.  This experience is a lot like dating.  I go to a gym, I get to know the people, the salespeople are all friendly and hopeful that I’ll agree to a long term commitment, and then bam I’m the jerk just get up and walk away. I leave without giving a reason (most of the time).  They call and leave messages wondering what they did wrong, if there’s anything they can do. But I don’t return those phone calls, I just move on to the next, new, exciting gym.  I think it would be easier if I just came in, lifted, and left but for the sake of getting to know the gym I’m talking to people and making (very short-term) friends.

This doesn’t happen as much with the huge gyms where I’m just a number, but with the small chains, or the gyms that are so small they are not even a chain, I feel bad.  I see the hope in their eyes that they’ll get a little bit more income for their business. And nope. Sorry. It’s not you, you see, it’s me. I’m in this time of my life, you see, where I just can’t commit. I need to go and sow my gym oats, see what’s out there.  I’m living a lie, I’m not the least bit interested in settling down, but I’m going into this full well knowing you’re hoping for a long-term relationship.

However, I really think what I’m doing is a good thing. Sure you can look at reviews on gyms on yelp, but most of those are by people who maybe tried out two gyms at most and end up loving it. I also think my write ups are a little more valuable than other write ups you’ll find because I’m a lifter first, then a writer, so I actually know what I’m talking about.  So I think it’s a good thing for the people of Dallas to be able to have a website that does independent reviews of the gyms in the area.  Plus, I really like not having to pay…