With new people joining the gym lately and asking me why I chose the YMCA in DC, got me thinking about why I did choose this gym and where others like to work out. I've mentioned before that when the weather is warm from mid-spring to mid-fall, I really prefer to hike, bike, run and swim outdoors, but during the months or days that it's uncomfortable (cold, wet, or both) I will take it indoors. So why the Y? Well, it all starts so many years ago... I grew up with the YMCA. I took swimming lessons there, until I had to learn to backwards dive and then I said enough (I'm still scared to try that). I took gymnastics there, my mom taught pre-school there, I went to the over-night summer camp and then became a CIT at the day camp. It was a large part of my childhood. I never really went back as an adult, then one visit to my home city of Augusta, Maine, I drove by and saw the building I'd spent so much time in all boarded up as the city had built a new facility elsewhere in town. I've never been there, btw.
As an adult I had joined a gym after college and it had all the usual amenities, weights, machines, classes, etc.. Nothing special.
When I moved to DC I hadn't thought much about joining a gym, but the place I worked had a corporate membership plan and happened to be just around the corner from the YMCA. Imagine that. I took the tour and was amazed at all it had to offer, pool, weight room, machines on more than one floor, basketball court (although I don't play), and a running track. Nothing fancy, but all functional. Now I've since toured and used trial memberships at some expensive and fancy places. You know the ones with the nice locker rooms with tall wooden lockers, attendants right there to help with anything (like disposable razors), showers that are huge with places to sit and have all the shampoo, conditioner, and bath gel you could ever want. Make up tables with individual mirrors, cotton balls, cotton swabs and the like. Weight rooms with the newest, shiniest dumbbells and machines and studios with springy floors. Those are all great things, but when you look at the bottom line of why you join a gym, is it for all that, or is it because you want to get fit and not pay a ton of money doing it? A 15Lb dumbbell is a 15LB dumbbell regardless if it's shiny, neoprene, or dull. Still gets the same job done. As nice as a locker room such as I described might be, all I really want to do after working out is take a shower, change and be on my way.
So why the Y, well besides the proximity to my current home, I like all that it has to offer as well as the knowledgeable and courteous staff and the sense of community. I also feel that for what I spend, I know that some of that money goes back to the community and that is important to me. Is the place perfect, no, are there things it can improve on, absolutely, but for now, it's the right place for me to workout. Now, I'm certainly not dissing the other facilities out there (I enjoyed my trial memberships so much that I took advantage every chance I got). You need to enjoy where you workout because that will keep you motivated and continuing to exercise on a regular basis no matter where that is, (fancy gym, less fancy gym, or outside) that is the absolute bottom line.
Now off to enjoy myself a Guinness!
