Do you enjoy gym?

[DarloRich]

No. It is full of awful, posing, vain, vacuous and vapid people obsessed with "reps", disgusting protein shakes, selfies ( and self image) and roids. I would much rather read a book at home ( and eat a pie) than go to the gym. Also why do they have to pump out such stupid music? I bet I was the only person listening to radio 4 in the gym when I did go!

I should do much more exercise but not at the gym.

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Are gyms aimed at young people? Do you have to sign a contract for many months or years?

I did see a cheap tarif for a 24/7 gym: allows you to use the facilities at quiet times, for example 06oo through 08oo only.

Not been to a gym since school. The loud music would cause me to turn back at the door. Do they all play music?

 

[Jimini]

The gym is a large part of my life -- love swimming in particular, but also do spin classes, stairs, treadmill running etc. I am quite fortunate in that my local gym (David Lloyd in Chigwell) has an outdoor pool as well as an indoor one, but it also has a sound-proofed business lounge as well as a clubroom, so I tend to spend most of the day there (normally arrive shortly after 9 and tend to leave mid afternoon). Great place to set up camp and work from (I've always been home / field based in my job, long before COVID).

It's also got an indoor and outdoor spa retreat -- you have to be strict with yourself that you're not allowed in there unless you've done a workout first! The food's pretty decent as well, albeit quite pricey.

 

[RichJF]

Not a traditional "gym" goer, but I do weights at home with my own set & also swim twice a week. Usually 2 - 2.5km a session twice a week, so 4-4.5km a week. After Covid restrictions ended I started swimming & now love it! Not quite fast enough for a club but deffo have the endurance.

 

[Herefordian]

I used to, but I bought some gym equipment during the first lockdown and let my membership lapse.

It's pretty much paid for itself now with the money I've saved.

 

[Welly]

I did see a cheap tarif for a 24/7 gym: allows you to use the facilities at quiet times, for example 06oo through 08oo only.

It's worth realising that cheap 24/7 gym memberships is a lifeline for employed but homeless people who live in their cars outside shift times - sadly common in the USA.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It's worth realising that cheap 24/7 gym memberships is a lifeline for employed but homeless people who live in their cars outside shift times - sadly common in the USA.

I'll admit I took a Pure Gym membership while I was redoing my bathroom purely to be able to take a daily shower. Was a pretty cheap way to do it to be honest.

 

[NSE]

Oh I love the gym. I struggled without it during lockdown. I’m big into lifting and track what I’m lifting. Hit 400kg leg press during the summer and set goals with deadlifts and the like. Next up is 200kg deadlift, which I’m hoping for by the end of the year. Also a keen cyclist and (as of this year) triathlete. Proudest moment was when I learned I had to walk sideways through many train carriage connecting doors as my shoulders were too wide

 

[Strathclyder]

Have given serious thought to joining a gym a few times over the years (if I had a quid for every time someone told me I needed to bulk up/gain muscle...), but I think I'd start swimming again if anything. Used to really enjoy it when I did it when in primary/high school and one of my bigger regrets from that period in my life - tumultuous and full of upheaval as it was - is when I stopped. Chances are I'd find it a lot more fulfilling/rewarding than the gym.

Speaking generally, I've no real interest in significantly bulking up/gaining muscle, but I would like to tone my muscles/chest/stomach so that I look just a little less like a skeleton with skin stretched over it. What I'd need to find in order to fulfill this aim, more than the finanical means, is the mental fortitude and staminia required. Whether or not I have it is up for debate, but at the very least, I wanna start swimming again before the year is out. Just a matter of finding somewhere close to me...

 

[yorksrob]

I used to enjoy it - until everything started aching.

 

[dk1]

Have given serious thought to joining a gym a few times over the years (if I had a quid for every time someone told me I needed to bulk up/gain muscle...), but I think I'd start swimming again if anything. Used to really enjoy it when I did it when in primary/high school and one of my bigger regrets from that period in my life - tumultuous and full of upheaval as it was - is when I stopped. Chances are I'd find it a lot more fulfilling/rewarding than the gym.

I wanna start swimming again before the year is out. Just a matter of finding somewhere close to me...

I was the same & didn’t really swim for years. Then in 2006 I joined my local pool with an annual membership & was the best thing. It made me go at least twice weekly to get my monies worth over paying daily. Now 16 years later I sometimes swim my mile (64 lengths) or above up to 5 times a week.

 

[Strathclyder]

I was the same & didn’t really swim for years. Then in 2006 I joined my local pool with an annual membership & was the best thing. It made me go at least twice weekly to get my monies worth over paying daily. Now 16 years later I sometimes swim my mile (64 lengths) or above up to 5 times a week.

For me, it'd be mostly recreational to begin with to ease myself back into it, though swimming my mile(s) is something I'd want to aim for in the long-term as I get more adept and fitter/more able.

 

[Mike395]

I'm more a swimmer than a gym person - I've recently started a similar journey to the one @dk1 is 16 years into above! Paying upfront makes me go (even though it's a train ride away as my local pool is terribly maintained and having tried it last week for the first time in years hasn't improved...) and I'm already starting to feel the benefit a couple of months in, even though I've not built back up to the 1.5-2km swims (and the odd 5km charity swim too!) I did as a teenager and in my early 20s.

 

[DustyBin]

I train at a boxing gym. It's not everybody's cup of tea; blood stained flooring, battered old leather punch bags etc. (and that's before you get punched in the face!) but it's a great place really. Like many boxing gyms it's in a deprived area but membership is £25.00 per month and you get classes as part of that too. It costs at least the same per hour for one-on-one time with a trainer so that gets expensive, but I book it in "blocks" occasionally. Even if I lost interest in the boxing side I'd still train there I think.

 

[yorksrob]

I train at a boxing gym. It's not everybody's cup of tea; blood stained flooring, battered old leather punch bags etc. (and that's before you get punched in the face!) but it's a great place really. Like many boxing gyms it's in a deprived area but membership is £25.00 per month and you get classes as part of that too. It costs at least the same per hour for one-on-one time with a trainer so that gets expensive, but I book it in "blocks" occasionally. Even if I lost interest in the boxing side I'd still train there I think.

Reminds me of watching Minder and The Sweeney etc