Dear gym, I’m leaving you

So, I joined a gym three months ago and I’m not ashamed to say that I’m hating it. And I’m not in the least bit concerned about walking away and trying again somewhere else.  Ten years ago would have felt bad and had it in my mind that I was giving up.  Nowadays I have the confidence to realise what’s best for me, and all that matters is what I think.
If something isn’t working for you, then it’s totally okay to move on. 

I moved to a new town and don’t know very many people.  It’s SO disgustingly humid this time of year. Walking up the local hill actually makes my face look like this (kinda purple I know).  Walking is my staple exercise.  I live in SUCH a magical location so it’s worth a couple of months of humidity.

After concurring the local hill, and almost passing out from the extreme heat and humidity (which has unfortunately happened a few times), I drove straight to the airconditioned gym, signed up without even doing a walk through. My friends go there so I’d already decided in my head that even though it was a body builder’s (intimidating) manly gym, that I’d make it work. I just couldn’t be bothered with going through the sales jargon walk around yada yada. I was just hot and needed to be cool.

For me, a gym membership itself is nothing more than the right to enter and exit an airconditioned space freely.  I had the expectation that it would be like all the other amazing gyms I’ve been a member of when I lived in large capital cities.  (Like Goodlife and Genesis)

Major fail. Because the gym I joined does not have ONE FAN. NO AIRFLOW. Air-conditioning yes. Fans no.

And for me. That is a killer.

via GIPHY

So whilst my two friends that go there highly rate the facilities, I’ve realised now that we have different needs. (by the way the staff there are amazing and acknowledge that its a little cramped and fans are needed)

Lucky for me I only signed up for three months to get me through the humid season.
I had overlooked that
– The cardio area is tucked away in a corner facing a wall. The equipment is great but I guess I had the expectation that it would have those inbuilt fans in the machines. NOPE.
– There’s no stretching area. Members are ‘welcome to find their own space in between the machines’.  Meaning a body building man, that is sweating to the extreme may or may not flick sweat on you whiles you are stretching.   This happened guys, more than once.  

So the point of this post is to say that I’ve given it a go, it wasn’t for me and now I can move onto something different.  There’s no need to feel guilty or ashamed.  

Sometimes things just don’t work out.  We worry so much that it will reflect us badly by cancelling a membership, but at the end of the day, I know that I was only there for myself and only my opinion matters.

Next time around, if I decide I want to join a gym around I will stick to my normal plan of doing a walk through to check out the facilities or even completing a free weeks trial before signing the dotted line.  Definitely learnt my lesson.

Since then I’ve been testing out group classes elsewhere and loving it!  There are so many amazing things to experience out there in the world, don’t let one crappy experience hold you back from getting out and having fun.

I’ve also made a new bunch of friends and hopefully be midyear (when it’s cooler) I’ll be ready to conquer this epic hike up a pyramid mountain (pictured).  OMG. I know. EPIC.  Nervous and excited..

Like this post?  Here’s another one about ‘When strangers offer encouragement whilst exercising’

Have you ended a gym membership before? How’d you feel?