Shakin’ it up

For the last several years I have been a member of 24 Hour Fitness, a national chain of fitness centers with varying degrees of quality and cleanliness. It’s one of the cheapest options in SF (cheaper even than the YMCA!). I have used two different personal trainers at the location where I go, neither of which were particularly knowledgeable or inspiring. The gym is a utilitarian affair–I arrive, dump stuff in the locker, do my cardio (right now I’m doing 45 mins on the elliptical), lift some weights, stretch and go home.

The problem is that I’ve stagnated. Last year was a rough year in terms of my exercise/eating habits. A wildly busy year with my business often put me on the road (and had me working 80 hour weeks) and thus prevented my ability to go to the gym and I ate out more often. That was a recipe for disaster in terms of fitness and weight management.

My gym is one of the lowest rated on Yelp in SF. I don’t think it’s as awful as they say, but I can understand some of the complaints. The classes at the gym are hours when I don’t really go and besides, they’re lame.

So I’m looking for another option. I know this will likely cost me more money but I consider it a supplemental health insurance. Ideally, I would like to hook up with a serious personal trainer who can set me on the right path so I can see results. So all these options would also include supplemental help/direction/guidance/inspiration from a qualified personal trainer.

Option #1: Stick with 24 Hour Fitness but try a different location

There are several SF locations, including one a friend attends on Ocean and a couple downtown ones.

Option #2: Home gym

I have bought some free weights and a balance ball. So I could conceivably do my weight training at home. I have purchased a number of workouts for my MP3 player. In fact, I did a lower body workout on Saturday and I’m still sore! I don’t have a cardio machine but could take up more walking/running (although I historically have hated running).  SF’s hills make an ideal option for outdoor cardio work even without much running.

Option #3: Another gym

There are numerous options here. I am taking swimming lessons at the Y and would like to continue with that until I feel I can do a full session of lap swimming. So a gym with a pool would be great. Better classes at convenient times would be good, too. In SF some of the better options seem to be:

• Bakar Fitness (affiliated with UCSF) in Mission Bay
• Diakadi Body (consistently highly rated; you have to have one of their personal trainers in order to use the gym); no pool as far as I know
• YMCA on the Embarcadero

Option #4: “Boot Camp” type classes

The two highest rated ones I’ve seen are:

• Koi Fitness
• Bianchi Fitness

The boot camp option sounds very appealing because it’s outdoors and doesn’t rely on machines and contraptions, which means I could do some or all of the exercises on my own. The drawback is that it’s outdoors and in winter, that won’t work for me. The idea of exercising in the rain simply doesn’t appeal.

I’ll be reporting back.