A New Routine

My wife and I decided last Wednesday night to finally check out Millennium Place, which is our hamlet's world-class recreation centre, only a dozen blocks or so from our house. After looking at all it has to offer. It has all the regular things you'd expect of a facility of this nature, a cardio room with bikes and treadmills and other hamster cage exercise activities; a weight room with both hydraulic resistant torture machines and free weights; racquetball and squash courts; a skating rink; and two indoor soccer fields (this is a huge place!) It also includes a very large pool, which includes swim lanes, and a larger recreational area with slides and a WAVE POOL for the kids (or in my case, young at heart).

Part of your entry fee includes the drop in fitness classes which include the usual aerobics, kickboxing and cycling classes - but also includes an adult swim-fit class! So, after signing all the release forms, having our pictures taken and giving a void cheque for monthly withdrawals, we now have a family membership! Turns out Sherwood Park actually has THREE facilities (the others not quite a big - although there is another one with a pool, including a diving area!) and our membership covers all three, for what works out to around $35 each a month - not a bad deal! With the end of golf season approaching, it's time I find something else to get active.

I'm not new to the whole gym membership idea - in fact, this will be the fourth gym in my life that I have joined. I had a membership at the YMCA in Ottawa when I was in my late teens, a membership at an athletic club which included squash courts and weights in my early twenties, and a large weight and aerobic club for a year in my early thirties - all of which carried costs far larger than what we are paying now. So, being only two years away now from forty, I'm sort of hoping that this one sticks.

Today will be my first day, I'm planning to arrive for the one hour adult swim fit class.

I've taken the liberty of traveling to the future and taking a picture of myself and posting it below.