Nervous About the Gym

When I took a job that involved a lot of travel, one of my plans was to ensure I exercise on the road. It's a good use of time and is a lot better than just sitting around a hotel room. So today, on day two of my new job, I hit up a new gym.

This is not the first time I have gone to a new gym location. There have been different gym with the Canadian Forces and since moving to Ottawa and obtaining a Goodlife Fitness membership, i have used a few of their locations. In fact, that's one of the best benefits of Goodlife Fitness, your membership is good at any of their locations.

Before every time I go to a new location I feel nervous.

Once I get going the nerves go away and I get down to business but why am I nervous in the first place? There are probably a few reasons. There may be different equipment that isn't quite what I'm used to and I will have to adapt. When you are pushing yourself to the limit, you want it to go as planned. There may not be all the equipment you want. i haven't seen this problem with Goodlife Fitness but often the exercise room in a hotel is severely lacking.

I think maybe the biggest thing for me is I don't want to look new. It's a bit vain but I want to seem like I know what I'm doing and I know where the next piece of equipment is. Also, I don't want to interrupt someone else's experience because I don't know where to find the quad extension machine.

I know that there should be no reason to be nervous about exercising in a different location. I know I'm not going cause any grief for others and it will have everything I need to get the job done. Nonetheless, it is interesting that I feel this way every time I use a new facility.

Gym Time, Your Time

There are a lot of people that do little annoying things in various situations. We know a lot of them. People talk in movies. People change lanes without signalling. Those are annoying but there is one behaviour that has reached epidemic proportions. It's worse than the woman who stretches her quads out after every arm exercise. Yes, you read that correctly. A leg stretch after an arm exercise. In fact I never see her do any leg exercises but that's a different story for a different day.

There is an epidemic of people texting at the gym.

Before I go any further, I feel the need to state that I understand there are some people who need to be on call for their employment and need to have their phone with them while they work out. That's fine, I get it. There are times I need to have my work BlackBerry on me. It's part of life with a job with a lot of responsibility. It even provides some freedom as the alternative would be stuck at home or in the office. However, if something is mission critical, the phone will ring. It won't be a text.

Here's the thing, You go to the gym for yourself. You go to feel better and to look better. So, why don't you take that time as your escape from the outside world. You can focus on you and leave the rest of the world behind. You won't leave them forever, just long enough to do something for yourself.

I'm sure you are thinking why should I care if people are texting while they are at the gym. It is a good point to raise. People who text constantly will do a set of ten reps then sit on the equipment and text for five minutes. They get in the way. They are walking around glued to the screen of their phone.

I am pro-smartphone. I don't hide how much I like the devices but there is a limit. You don't need to read everything on Twitter or have another meaningless conversation about something you won't even remember in a couple of days. Go ahead and use your smartphone but don't forget to look up occasionally and engage in the environment around you. One of the best places to do that is at the gym. I wouldn't be lying if I said the view can be pretty good as well.