Gym Woes

Unfortunately I don’t have a lot of great news to report since my last post.

In fact there’s kind of some bad news. My gym, my NEW gym, at least the branch in Arnhem, where I live, has been taken over by another company. That means I can no longer go there. This also means that I am not seeing the personal trainer anymore, nor have I actually been to the gym for a couple of weeks.

Funnily enough, remember back when I went to the gym with a friend of mine, in another town (I thought I’d mentioned it anyway but I can’t find the post)? Well we both belonged to HealthCity and then her branch was bought out by Basic-Fit. They took away a lot of the classes, no more trainers and you had to pay extra for things like showers and lockers. At HealthCity they also had things like free beverages (non-alcoholic) and child care services (not that I needed it, but still), but that’s all been dropped as well.

What pissed me off the most is that they just assumed I would switch over to the new membership and they deducted the money from my account, whilst my company also deducted the membership fees from my salary. I got the money back, thankfully.

But now what? I can go in Amsterdam, but that means being home pretty late, so I’d need to really re-think my food schedule (not only eating something before gym, but AFTER the gym, since it’s 2 hours to get home, but ALSO that food is already prepped for the next day, since I won’t have time the rest of the evening to prepare). I could go in Nijmegen (a city close to me) but I can’t take public transport at all. I’d have to go home first, eat, get the car, drive a half an hour…. You get the picture. Again, I’d have to re-do my food schedule as well. I could go in Utrecht, which is halfway between work and home, but again I have the same challenge really.

This is quite annoying.

I quit my other gym to go to HealthCity and now I really don’t think this is going to work out. I signed up for a year! I feel like I’ve been tricked! Surely they knew they were going to sell. You don’t just make this decision from one day to the next. I started in Feb, they officially changed 1st of May.

My biggest fear is that my company also are not going to get me out of this contract and I will be paying eventually for two memberships, since I really do NEED to go to a gym to work out. I want to do strength training and I don’t have the space or the equipment at home.

In the meantime this means that any and all weight loss is stalled yet again because basically I’m only doing the bare minimum.

I realize this really is a luxury problem, but it still could end up costing me quite a bit if I end up not going to any HealthCity. No one likes to just piss money away, whether it’s a luxury or not!

What am I going to do…?

Comments

  1. Emilie Smith says:

    That absolutely sucks. It is amazing they got away with such significant changes. Agree that not going is not really an option. Don’t know Dutch geography well enough to comment on your options though. Hope you find a solution!!

    1. Renée says:

      yeah I’m totally sure they knew about it and my branch won’t be the last to change.

  2. Tracy says:

    I wouldn’t class that as a luxury problem. For some people, going to the gym is time to themselves, time to de-stress. Sometimes, the ONLY time of the week they get to themselves.

    (For me, other than going to my parents’ house, going to the gym is actually the only time I socialise. Without my gym membership I wouldn’t leave the house unless I had to go to the shop. Gym = necessity, not luxury!)

    So I totally understand why you’re so pissed off about it. They MUST have known about the buy-out, and I’d be pissed off, too, since they didn’t tell you.

    Not really sure what to suggest otherwise, though. Everything seems so far away from you! :( Hope you do get something sorted out, though. Not being able to go to the gym SUCKS.

    1. Renée says:

      thanks hon. gym is important to me and I was actually finally making time for it, making time for ME, more than just going for a run.

  3. Heather says:

    Oh, that SUCKS! You have to pay for showers? What? And, they didn’t ask you if you wanted to stay prior to taking your money? Wow. Nice customer service.

    Anyway, the bigger issue – where to work out? It is not a luxury – research and adjust. It’s worth it!

    1. Renée says:

      yeah I think it’s ridiculous. I guess people want to pay less for the gym and I don’t necessarily have anything against saving a buck or two, but come on. It’s basic stuff. Lockers. Showers. Classes. Trainers.

  4. Tammy says:

    Shit man, that sucks! Isn’t that just Murphy’s Law though, you finally found a great trainer and really enjoyed your gym and WHAMMO, they change it all up on you.

    Looks like the only option is to move to Rotterdam, there are lots of gyms here!

    No seriously, I hope you find something you like soon. Sorry this has gotten buggered up on you.

    1. Renée says:

      wouldn’t it be great if I could *just* up and move to Rotterdam ;-)

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