New Year, New Gym: City Fitness Philadelphia

{via}

After my major fitness extravaganza last August and the half-marathon I ran in September, I fell off the fitness bandwagon. I fell off it hard. Though I did do a few at-home Cathe workouts, trips to the gym were non-existent, as after the summer term ended, I let my not-so-used membership to the Penn gym lapse. Since mid-summer, I've been waiting and waiting, and waiting some more, for the new City Fitness gym to open up just a few blocks from our apartment in the Graduate Hospital neighborhood. First they were going to open in August, then September, then November . . . after a number of setbacks due to construction in a historic building, they finally opened just after Christmas. Meanwhile, I kept watching their pre-opening specials come and go, as I didn't want to get roped into a membership when the actual opening date kept being pushed back. Then, when we were in Florida, Rue La La ran an awesome deal for a year's membership at the gym, and I jumped. Basically, I got a full year's deluxe membership for just under half-price. (A deluxe membership includes unlimited use of gym equipment, unlimited classes (which I'm totally looking forward to attending), and unlimited tanning (Oh! Yay! Yeah, that "perk" won't be used). I think my membership deal also comes with three personal training sessions and a 30-day pass for a guest.) Not too shabby, really. 

Thus far, I've been to the gym four times, and I'm really loving it. Surprisingly, each time I've gone (at varying times during the day) there have been plenty of available treadmills and ellipticals. Today during my lunch hour I took a 30-minute Butts & Guts class (basically a lot of leg work, core work, and plyometric exercises), then hit up the weight room for a little free-weight action (though the weight room still totally intimidates me, sigh), and finally ended my workout with 20 minutes on the elliptical. 

They're still putting the final touches on the gym (I think a juice bar is still to come), but so far, so good. I'm looking forward to trying out more classes (I've already got my eye on taking a spinning class tomorrow and a Body Pump class later this week) and getting back into the regular routine of heading to the gym on a daily basis. The fact that it is only five blocks away will definitely help my motivation. And let's face it, after rampant holiday eating (which, I actually don't regret at all), it's great to be getting back into a fitness routine. And since I've already signed up to run a half-marathon in May, I can't afford to let my fitness level slip any more! 

How about you -- do New Year's resolutions have you heading to the gym these days? Have you added anything new to your fitness routine?