New gym, new gym!

Hello!

As you can maybe tell from the title, I'm rather excited about becoming a member at a new gym :)

If you saw my post about the Hilton gym, here, you'll know that upon moving back to uni I searched for a local gym to cater for my fitness addiction.

The Hilton's health spa, aka gym, was a good choice for me at the time. It was close to my house, it was even closer to the bus stop from where I would get of from my teaching practice and it allowed me to shower and do my hair before leaving the premises (providing the towel, hairdryers etc)- ideal for the life of a student teacher...I couldn't even recognize what time was, there was never enough that's for sure!

Anyway...so I completed teaching practice and all was really good as I got a month off to go home and rejoin my local gym. I forgot how much I missed the fitness classes and so moving back to uni was bitter sweet...My local Hilton doesn't provide any classes through lack of space!

Since being back (just over a week now although you'd think it had been longer with the amount of work I've had to do!), I just haven't been feeling the exercise. Slightly concerning when it's me that's saying that....the girl that did pretty much everyday intense workouts for months on end and loved it!

So, I asked myself why? Well partly because I'm no longer on a set schedule anymore, with a lot of independent study days, so I'm not getting off the bus from placement and walking over the road and doing a gym session anymore. Instead the gym's a good 15 minutes walk from my house and let's face it, the cold weather (snow atm) isn't helping matters!

"It's too cold to leave the house!"

But mainly the reason I'm not so inclined to go, is the 'no fitness classes' thing. I've never been a massive fan of the gym...sure I often go an awful lot but it doesn't mean I don't battle with the option of staying home in my cosy pjs instead! I go because I'm committed to exercising and quite frankly the thought of returning to the chubbier version of me prior to the summer scares me to death. However, forcing myself to go to a couple of gym sessions every now and then is fine when classes are among them, but when the only option is gym, gym and more gym...big thumbs down.

So... when a few of my housemates started talking about joining up to a gym that offers classes such as Zumba, Boot Camp, Spinning and more, I was immediately interested. Also, like I said in my New year resolutions post , going with friends can be much more motivating. I was, until recently, under the opinion that I preferred to go alone (get more done) but since my sister has also become a fitness gal, we have gone to the gym together. And although we don't talk during the session, just knowing someone in the room is nice and definitely pushes you a little bit harder.

Yesterday I became a member at the Gym 4 All gym. I have to say I was pretty impressed with their student prices. A £15.99 joining free but...wait for it...only £11.99 per month with no fixed contract, meaning you can leave at any time without giving notice. AND they run classes EVERYDAY...don't get that at home! :)

Of course there was the small issue of the Hilton. They require a month's notice in writing in order to terminate membership. At a steep £35pm (student price) it's a little annoying but I suppose in the grand scheme of things I'll be saving quite a bit of money each month!

We planned, my housemates and I, to attend the Zumba class tonight (which is actually taking place right now as I write this). As you can guess, I didn't go.

Indeed, I am unwell :( It seems I most likely caught my mum's cough whilst at home and instead of getting better it's slowly started to get worse. Boooo! So I shall no doubt be having a lovely time in the doctor's waiting room tomorrow (they always run majorly late at my uni one)...just to check it's not turned into a delightful chest infection. Better safe than sorry right?! And quite frankly, it's more annoying now that it's stopping me from doing my activities! I'll have gone a whole 7 days tomorrow since hitting the gym...where treadmill running made my chest feel like it might collapse...so I figured it was wise to lay off the exercise for a bit! As much as it pains me to do so!

I hope you are all well though and sticking to any new resolutions you made! How are they going? Let me know!

Tweet me: @ellie1989

I decided 2013 would be the year of maintenance for me. I met my goals in 2012, so by the end of 2013 I would very much like to be able to say I'm still the same :) I would additionally like to be able to look down and see defined abs...but I'm unsure of the achieve-ability of that one. I'll try though! :)

A little bit of motivation for you all