My New Gym

When I started swimming I cancelled my gym membership. It cost $70 a month, and I knew I would be using it because swimming would tire me out. Now, I'm feeling good, and a new gym opened up a stone throw away from my apartment. Really, I threw a stone and hit it this morning.

Two days ago, I went into the gym to inquire about joining. My first gym had many people who could speak English so I was hoping that this gym would too. The woman who helped me knew none. It took me fifteen minutes to find out that the cost was $150 for three months. In those fifteen minutes I could gather no other information. I only wanted a one month membership, but I didn't want to spend anymore time trying to explain that to her. I just opened my wallet, showed that I didn't have enough money, waved good bye and left.

Yesterday, with $150 in hand, I entered the gym again. The man who was helping me sign up didn't speak English. He kept saying stuff to me in Korean. He picked up the phone, made a call, and handed the phone to me. I thought that the person on the other end could speak English, but she could only speak really slow Korean. I handed the phone back to the man, signed some papers and left.

Today, I returned for my first workout. The personal trainer was there. I think the gym is a family business, and I was dealing with the mother and father on my previous visits. The son can speak English, and he is the most physically fit Korean I have seen. He's ripped. He also insisted on showing me around the gym. He took me through a stretching routine. Then he took me to a treadmill and said, "Treadmir, 30 o' 40 minutes." I explained that I only wanted to use the weights because I swim and don't need any more cardio exercise. He absorbed the information and said, "30 o' 40 minutes. Okay?" I said okay and started walking on the treadmir.

While I was walking I was visited by two women. One I think was the mother. She asked me if I knew how to lift weights. I said I had been lifting for many years. She then told me to ask the trainer to teach me how to lift the right way when I was finished walking. The next girl I assume was the sister. She only spoke Korean to me at first. I didn't know what to do. Then she said, "Run." She reached to my control panel and increased the speed. I quit using the treadmill two minutes later.

I began lifting weights. The third exercise I did was a dumb-bell chest press. During my second set I could feel eyes on me. I put the weights down and looked to my right and saw the father, mother, trainer, and two customers all staring at me. Usually Koreans have no shame and will continue to stare, but all of them diverted their eyes to try and make it look like they hadn't been staring. The mom began walking, but her eyes were at a weird angle and she ran into one of the customers. The customer had his eyes on the ceiling, so he didn't see the mom coming his way.

Overall, I had a good time. It's much cheaper than my other gym, and the trainer knows what he's talking about. And I didn't really hit my gym with a stone. Actually, I would probably have to throw the stone, pick it up, throw again, pick up, throw, pick up, throw, pick up, and then I could throw and hit it. It's still very close.