Choosing a Gym

Recently I read an article on choosing a gym and I thought it was far too limited. It only talked about a few aspects when, there are so many factors that influence you decision to work out. Also a gym membership is a serious financial investment. Here is a list of things you need to ask yourself. I have also created a check list to open up and print out and take with you when you visit gyms so that you don’t forget to ask them anything.

1.) Location – Try to find a gym where it is easy to get to from home and from work. Parking should be close so if it’s raining you can’t use that as an excuse, but it may be helpful for it to be within walking or bike riding distance. Also, if you work far from home, multiple locations would be a huge benefit. Some gyms that have programs like there are: YMCA and Ballys

2.) Initial Fitness Assessment – How much will the fitness professionals help you with your fitness goals? Do they conduct fitness and health assessments? Do these services cost extra?

3.) Cost – Don’t think that the more expensive a gym is, the more likely you are to go to it because you invested so much money in it. If it’s too out of the way, or awkward to get to, you will be less likely to go to it.

4.) Classes – Look at the class offerings and the times. Are you interested in any of them? Are they an extra cost? Sometimes an expensive gym includes classes that make the cost much better.

5.) Population – You will want a population of fellow gym goers that you are comfortable with. Some gyms are geared to families, so if screaming kids running around under your elliptical machine isn’t what you want, you may want to avoid these. There are also some gyms like Curves now that are women only, so if you want to avoid the man factor check these out. Some gyms have plenty of young professionals or if you’re more comfortable with a middle aged population.

6.) Hours – What are the hours the gym is open, and are they different on the weekends? What are the hours of the pool? What times are the classes?

Finally, if they give you a free trial visit, save it for the busiest time typically between 7:00-9:00 AM and 5:00-7:00 PM. You don’t want to see the empty machines and pool lanes at some random hour and then get there at your normal workout time and realize the place is packed. Here is the checklist for you to print out:

How to get LESS Sleep

So everyone's always talking about how people these days need more sleep, and how bad a lack of sleep is for your health, but in reality, Who has time for all that sleep? Here's a list of ways to get less sleep. Also a helpful tip, any time you find one of those sites that tells you how to get that all important sleep, just do the opposite.

10 Ways to Sleep Less

1. Force yourself to sleep in a different place or position every night. Totally confuse your body by falling asleep one night on the couch, one on your bed, another in the arm chair, on the floor with a pillow…
2. Exercise late at night. Just when your body thought you were ready for bed, go out and run on the treadmill for 30 minutes. Just make sure that you aren’t doing it at the same time every night so you’re body can’t get into a pattern.
3. Nap frequently, but erratically. Allow yourself an hour nap when you get home from work. Make sure it doesn’t last longer, and you’ll be up till 3 easily. If you can get down to 4 hours of sleep a night, one extra hour totals only 5. If you can get a 15 min nap in the afternoon. It’s better to nap a little then be totally unproductive while waiting to be able to go to sleep.
4. Break the Routine. Get to know your body’s patterns and make sure you screw them up as much as possible.
5. Take your vitamins. An iron deficiency can make you tired. Also the healthier your body is the better you can withstand this sleep loss.
6. Cut out the refined flour. These kinds of carbs lead to up and down blood sugar. Stick with whole grains and more protein if at all possible. What you want is a long and steady moderate sleepiness.
7. Drink more water. Dehydration leads to fatigue, also you need keep drinking enough water to fight the diuretic effects of number 10.
8. Eat little snacks. Low blood sugar can lead to sleepiness. If you start to feel like you’re energy is waning, have a little sack like a handful of dried fruit or a yoghurt.
9. Never Turn out the lights. Keep your lights on when you sleep so that your body doesn’t think you should be asleep for the night, with any luck your body won't be abel to tell that it’s night at all.
10. COFFEE! Coffee is good, but make sure you have a steady stream to keep the caffeine and a moderate level. What you don’t want to do is down a shot of espresso, bounce off the walls for half an hour, and then pass out in a bush on the walk home from Starbucks. Also better for the slow drip release of caffeine are drinks like diet coke and tea.

*These tips are provided for sarcastic purposes only and are not proven to keep you awake, make you more productive, and will probably decrease your general level of health.

(Photo Courtesy of pbo31)