Good morning my friends! I hope everyone had a great week last week. To kick off the new week on the positive, this is the Workout of the Week, from GoodAttitudeFood.com. This is The I Got a Gym Membership Workout.
I decided it’s too cold to keep trying to workout outdoors. I also want to have more options for the workouts. A HUGE consideration in choosing a gym was the cost. The post this week will talk about my choice of a gym; how and why I picked the gym I did. The Food this week is a fun kitchen experiment with my crockpot, pork stew. I am skipping a music section this week. The workout will include step goals, workout schedule for the week, a great full body gym routine, and more!
Picking a Gym
The biggest factor for me in picking a gym was the price. I need something that fits my budget. I have put off getting a gym membership for a long time because I didn’t want to spend extra money. After price shopping several gyms, I found one with a membership price that is tough to beat.
Planet Fitness gym membership is only $10/mo in the town where I live.
Yep $10/mo!
Now is some small print to consider and if you cancel the membership there is a charge, but it is a month to month commitment only. If you’re interested in an inexpensive gym membership and there is a Planet Fitness in your area they might be a good choice.
Other Gyms are More Expensive
Other gyms in my area that I checked out all cost $40/mo or more and most wanted a year commitment with a membership. Many gyms in my area cost much more than $40/mo as well.
I was able to find one other gym in the area with a $10 membership. That gym is Xperience Fitness. One benefit they have that Planet Fitness doesn’t have is a pool. I am not a big swimmer so this is not a selling point for me. If you are reading this and you are, Xperience Fitness could be a good option for you.
I went with Planet Fitness because of the location. Xperience Fitness is located in Apple Valley. Planet Fitness is in Bloomington. I live in Bloomington. I will be more likely to stick with going to the gym because it is a convenient location for me. It’s almost on my way home from work.
One Other Thing To Consider
One last thing to consider about Planet Fitness is they do not have a lot of free weights. They have some free weights, but they do not have bench press free weights, deadlift bars, and I don’t think they have any squat racks. I am not big on those particular exercises so not a big deal for me. They do have weight machines for almost everything.
Time To Take It Up a Notch!
Now that I have a gym membership it is time to take advantage of it. So far I have been there for four workouts in four days. I have done some bike work, treadmill work, core work, and used the rowing machines.
The Food – Pork Stew
The Food this week is an experiment. I am making a “pork stew” type of thing in my crockpot. Pork roast was on sale at the grocery store so I picked one up and kind of came up with this recipe on the fly while strolling through the store.
First I cooked the pork roast for about 4 hours on the 4-hour cook setting in my crockpot.
Then I added a pre-chopped mirepoix mix. If you don’t have this, chop up an onion, celery, and carrots. I added more carrots and just roughly cut them up. Then I added a can of chicken broth, a packet of pork flavored gravy, and some other spices. I also put in some mushrooms and a can of black beans.
After adding all of that I cooked this for about another three or four hours on the 4-hour setting. Cook it long enough to pull the pork easily.
#EasyButtonMeal #PorkStew #slowcookin #crockpot
The Workout
7-k steps – 4 days or more. Nothing fancy here, just get walking! 7,000 steps or more, four days or more this week.
Counting up to 1,000 miles walked. Last week the miles walked total was at 359.66 miles. This week I added 24.61 miles to bring the total up to 384.27. I am getting closer to 1,000 miles, one step at a time!
Since it’s so cold out in MN I will be getting steps in at the gym on the treadmill as well as walking where and when I can.
I don’t know for sure yet but I might start adding my miles biked and miles rowed on the machines at the new gym too… maybe. Not sure yet. Stay tuned!
Gym Workout
Fight Tips Warm-up
ALWAYS warm-up! I do the dynamic warmup routine from FightTips before every workout.
Start With Abs/Core
After the warm-up, I start with two rounds of my Tabata abs routine with a minute break between each round. Interval times set to 8 X 20×10. After the first 8 intervals, take a one-minute break, then repeat.
Here is the routine:
- Flat plank, on elbows and toes.
- Side plank left
- Side plank right
- Crunches
- Full sit up
- Sit up twists and touch the opposite toe, alternate left and right.
- lay on back, push pelvis up to “bridge” and hold
- Flat plank in a push-up position, on hands and toes with arms extended
Cardio Time
Bike – Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
Treadmill or walking outdoors – walking with weighted gloves – Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
PF Spin Bikes
Planet Fitness has ok spin bikes. They are not perfect. They are difficult to use out of the saddle. The seats are very wide and not super comfortable. However, they work. You can adjust the resistance up and down easily for interval workouts.
I love spin bike workouts and while the bikes at PF are not perfect, they are still better than no bikes at all. Spin bike is my go-to, feel-good workout! I love doing intervals. You can use an interval timer. Or you can make the bike into a cheap Peloton and ride along with a GCN YouTube video like this one on your phone or tablet. The bikes at PF have a place to put your phone or laptop, works perfect! Costs way less than a Peloton! GCN bike videos are free on their YouTube Channel. They have tons of online content. Doing these videos changed my life! You don’t need to spend big bucks on bikes or bike workouts!
I try to get about 30 minutes on the bike. I usually spin the legs for 5 minutes before starting a video and 5 minutes after finishing a video.
The Row Machine
I tried out the rower machines and really like that exercise. It engages the legs, arms, abs, back. I like to do Tabatas with it. I have been doing 16 intervals of 20X10 – all out max 20, full rest 10, repeat.
Cool Down and Stretch
It is important to cool down a little after a tough workout. I like to walk around and alternate between high knees, toe tips, and front kicks as I cool down. Then I like to stretch my legs and run through two DDPY style Diamond Cutters.
Make it a Great Week
Thank you so much for reading! Thank you to GCN for the awesome bike videos. Make it a great week!
So far Planet Fitness is a great priced gym for my needs. It has the stuff I want to do and more. I might try to fit in their circuit workout sometime this week as well! Either way getting a gym membership was a good step towards getting back on track with my fitness goals. If you read the post last week I called myself out. I have followed that up with action – getting a gym membership. This week I take another step towards being the hero in my story and will get a lot of gym time in!
Be happy and healthy my friends! Be the Hero in your story! Maybe that means breaking down and getting that gym membership your hero (heroine) character has been putting off; as mine did for way too long!