Ann's post titled "Gym: is it right for you?" reasonates on so many levels. She debates over cost, location, classes, and time spent. I've pondered these issues too.

She has a point that having a gym downstairs from her work makes it easy to incorporate a fitness routine into her daily life; she's also lucky that her employer encourages a healthy lifestyle by subsidizing the membership. Sounds good to me. My gym, New York Sports Club, offers many different locations, hours, and classes. The branch closest to my apartment is only two blocks away; there are no excuses!

The hours at my location are very good; it feels like the joint is open all the time. It was open on Christmas and on New Year's Day with slightly modified hours. It makes the most sense for me to take classes there as they're free for members. I've taken a few, but I'd like to start a mat pilates class on a consistent basis. However, many people tell me that taking classes that aren't part of the gym can be more rewarding.

I've noticed a surge in the number of people at the gym these days. It's January, so everyone's high on motivation and spirit. It's hard to maintain that motivation each day but I can honestly say that once I incorporated the routine into my daily lifestyle, there really was no going back. If I ever need more motivation, I look around at all the other bleary-eyed people wiping sleep from their eyes and say, "hey, I'm here moving my body. That's a good thing."

On a separate note, I had a run-in yesterday with some chocolate-covered peanuts--a quarter pound to be precise about it. Chalk it up to nervous eating, competing deadlines, and free-floating stress. However, on the plus side of the equation: I tried the stairmaster for 10 minutes in the morning. Is it me, or is it hard to get the hang of it? Then I wandered over to the cardio wave machine and the controls didn't work properly. Frustrated, I headed over to the treadmill and ran 1.25 miles, then walked to complete two miles. I realized something too: Treadmill running in the a.m. is hard for me. I just wasn't into it. If I'd been outside, it might have been a different story.

Later in the day, I went back to the gym to run/walk two miles. It's quick bursts of activity like this that make sense to me when I'm feeling more stress than usual and on days when I fall off the wagon in the snacking/nervous eating department.