I haven't owned a gym membership since the early 1980's (anybody else remember European Health Spas? Shag carpet + working out = ewwww!) Anyway, now that the kids are older and there's a teeny bit of extra money in the coffers, I bought a membership to my local gym. I use the treadmill, the elliptical (only occasionally because I suck at it!) and take group classes. I haven't yet ventured into the free-weight area, but got The New Rules of Lifting for Women www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_
sb_ss_i_1_15?url=search-al
ias%3Daps&field-keywords=n
ew+rules+of+lifting+for+wo
men&sprefix=new+rules+of+li%2Caps%2C257 for Christmas, and I have my lifting gloves, so it's one of my goals for the year. Anyway, long story short, I've read before on other people's blogs about the glut of New Year's Resolutionaries who clog the gyms in January. I believed it, but had never experienced it first-hand. Yesterday, when I went to my Wednesday RIPPED class, there were more people than usual, including one woman who took over the space I'd staked out for myself with weights & yoga mat and then proceeded to spill over into the next area I moved to. Aggravating, to say the least. Don't get me wrong, I am ALL FOR people working on improving their health. There is a polite way to work in groups, is all I'm sayin'. Apparently the rest of the gym filled up during my class time (4 to 5pm - prime after-work gym window) so there were 3 people queued up to fill my parking space once I figured out how to back out without hitting any of them :-(

It'll just take some getting used to, I guess, and I'm up to the task. Although, from what I've also read on other people's blogs, by the time I've adjusted to it, most of them will have given that whole healthy-living thing up until next January!