The Red Carpet Workout - all you need is a bit of Love And Fitness*

*Not actual acronym...


My next gym trial was at LA Fitness. The name screams style, hollywood stars and top technology machines. It also screams high monthly membership fees, but we'll come to that bit later. I was delighted to find that they offered a 3-day free membership trial, and on top of my Groupon voucher to 10 individual day passes for a total of £15, it's barely cost me a bean! (A pay-as-you-go session is £10) I've actually saved over £115 (costing me £1.15 per session (13 sessions) instead of a collective £130). Score! 


Within 24 hours of signing up online to their 3-day trial, I had a nicely-timed phone call from a lovely lady who was asking about my fitness goals, booked me in for a spinning class, and organised my induction meeting for my trial. So 12pm on Saturday (a time I'd arranged) I met 'Barry' from LA Fitness, a very enthusiastic, charming and friendly guy with twinkly eyes who chatted to me about the possibility of joining, and if I needed any help getting started (as if!). Then I entered into the world of LA Fitness. The fitness studio is long, and there is no other way to describe it than literally an 'army' of machinery. I was delighted to find a huge range of machines including a slightly older version of my beloved AMT (Adaptive Motion Trainer), and a 'skater' machine which re-creates the movements of roller blading (VERY good for thigh muscles and glutes!) - a machine I'd only ever seen before in France. Bonus points there! Hygiene stations providing wet wipes were dotted around the place (another winner), and along one side was a row of TVs which you could plug your earphones into your machine and have a choice of four channels (one of them being music). Motivational quotes were plastered around the walls, including my favourite: 'Now the hard bit's over' as you enter the gym (actually getting yourself up and out to go to the gym is the biggest hurdle!). 

It would have been nice to have some natural light streaming into the studio, but then again, being in the middle of  city who knows what was behind all those blocked out windows...! Despite hygiene stations, few people actually clean their machines after use, and they certainly were not cleaned regularly by gym staff. (At Stratford I regularly see trainers working their way around with a bucket of soapy/sterilised water thoroughly cleaning all the machines.) It's a good gym - still no PowerPlates, and not my favourite gym - but it's definitely a top gym I've experienced. I'd have thought though, with so many people paying their overpriced £40 membership per month, that they'd be able to afford more modern machinery. £40 is a LOT - particularly for the humble student. Barry made a fair point that even if did a spin class once a week, it'd cost more per month just doing that than if I signed up for £40/month with unlimited use of classes and gym. For now though I'm just grateful I still have my Groupon vouchers to use up (they're going to hate me!). 


Last night I attended the spin class I'd booked in, being a very keen spinner. And boy, it was amazing! It ticked all my spin class boxes. The bikes (amazing - I actually prefer the older bikes, which make you work harder, than the new all-flashy Trixter bikes which are the 'spin bikes of the moment'), the playlist (upbeat, created by the trainer with latest tracks and NOT just a Ministry of Sound workout CD), the lighting (LIGHTS=OFF. No one likes to see you sweat and vice versa. The main studio lights were off and we spun in a dark room with small UV spotlights lined around the edge of the ceiling - VERY cool!), and most importantly, the instructor. This is where we get to a tiny issue, as Becky, the spin instructor was actually filling in yesterday evening, and usually coaches/motivates at Fitness First, yet another gym (yet to try) in Brighton. So SHE was brilliant, but doesn't give me insight into how good the LA Fitness spin instructors are. After the amazing, intense and energetic class she asked if we had any comments/if we'd enjoyed it, and everyone instantly enthused greatly and asked if she could come regularly to LA Fitness as they'd seriously enjoyed the session... Suggesting that perhaps the spin instructors at LA Fitness might not be so great. But for Becky, I think she actually beats Stratford's spin sessions (they bought new bikes... big mistake). The *ONLY* downside to the class was that the room seemed to lack in ventilation, which made the huge mirror-covered wall steam up within about 10 minutes of the class starting. I also forgot to bring a towel/flannel, so impulsively grabbed a wadge of toilet roll, which of course disintegrated in shreds over my face resulting in me exiting the studio looking like a crazed yeti. Fortunately it was dark and I legged it home! 

Spin class: 5/5, although with an instructor from another gym, does it speak for LA Fitness or Fitness First? Might have to go again... (next time without toilet paper debacle!)

LA Fitness gym: 4/5 - the machines look rather shabby and unclean, so arm yourself before starting, with the provided wet wipes. 

Alive but not quite 'kicking'.

I've decided to do a few more gym reviews, as I have finally realised how rare it is to find an amazing gym. Plus this is research I enjoy doing and I can benefit from. I guess I grew up lucky, as the gym back in my hometown (Stratford-upon-Avon Leisure Centre) is absolutely perfect. Following their revamp in December 2010, they have 3 PowerPlates for free unlimited use, and the best machine ever called the 'AMT' - Adaptive Motion Trainer Precor.com/AMT. All their machines have been fitted with TVs conected to a hoard of tv and radio stations, plus the layout of the gym is fantastic... I really can't fault it. 


As a student, I decided to hold fire on the gym membership (despite impulsively signing up to two gym memberships during Freshers' Week...), which means I can try out ALL the gyms in Brighton and play about with free trials and online offers.


Anyway, by total luck, next door to my student house is a small gym. 'Alive Fitness' boasts of being 'Brighton's friendliest gym' with a fully equipped studio, so I decided to check it out, and put it to the test! An instant pro-point is that they offer a free gym session for newbies, which is extremely easy to acquire. However, the gym was pokey, and crammed into a tiny room upstairs, resulting in quite a claustrophobic feeling. It felt more like being in someone's 'home gym' than an independent fitness centre. The layout deters women in particular from venturing into the weights room, and the atmosphere was more 'surgery waiting room' (complete with weekly magazines) than 'spring into fitness!' The place was certainly lacking in motivational quotes and cheesy tag lines claiming that this gym could change your life. 


On the plus side, it was quiet, and the gym-users were adults who actually wanted to exercise - not girls in see-through leggings and bikini halter-neck tops (WHO DOES THAT?) who go to the gym purely to exercise their thumbs through the exercise of texting for the duration. The final major blow though was when they practically kicked me out half an hour before closing time. Their site says the gym is open until 9.30, but by 9pm they'd turned half the lights off, the TV screens off, and switched off the machines. WOW. [Big mistake] I don't care if I was there for free (they didn't know that anyway), but I'm there for my money's worth whether or not I'm the last person in the gym! I stoically stayed until about 9.10 until they asked how long I'd got left in an 'upbeat and friendly' way. Major minus points there. To add insult to injury, for a normal pay-as-you-go session, they charge £10 which I felt wasn't in balance with the 'goods'.


Scoring: 2/5. The gym was small, although adequate, yet their enthusiasm to go home early punctured their motto of 'Brighton's friendliest gym'. There were no wipes to clean the machines after and I got a very strong impression that the gym staff weren't into cleaning the machines either. GYM HYGIENE MATTERS, PEOPLE!

Be your own success.

There will be many times in a your life where you realise you're simply just not enjoying much about your life. You may be stuck in a dead-end job, a job you're not enjoying much, another 2-5 years of university to crawl through, bored of your house, hate people at work, no money, no job, and just a bunch of 'dreams'. But stop right there, because this is YOUR life we're talking about. You have control of it, and when you reach times like these, the solution is a 'my life is shit' list. In all seriousness, this might just be my recipe for success. 

So. We're feeling down and unmotivated, and there are several areas in our life that need a bit of fairy dust. But for now, we'll find our 'dust' in the form of ink. Or lead. Whatever floats your boat - basically I'm telling you to pick up a pen and a sheet of paper and write down all the crap bits currently in your life. I put mine in a spider diagram, but a list does the same job - remember to leave plenty of space between each 'problem' because the next step is finding the solutions! 

Everyone's list will be different of course, and parts of them may be rather personal! I'd realised, by the end of January that my life was dull and I wanted to do things for myself - I wanted to be my own person, and not controlled by uni assessments and exams. Examples of my 'shit bits' include finances (every student's woe), uni life in general, and finding ways to de-clutter and de-stress. And so here comes the next, and life-changing bit. Most people KNOW how to fix their lives, but it requires motivation and it's all to easy to say 'it'll never work'/ 'it's too much of a risk'/ 'I'll fall into another rut'. STOP MAKING EXCUSES. So around/under your problems, write ways you can overcome them. 

E.g.: Finances - hand out CV, curb online shopping and general expenditure, borrow text books from the library instead of buying them, fill out Student Loan/Grant form for next year, sell things on eBay, search online for free gym sessions/activities. I also wrote a list of things I wanted to save my money for, such as a new car, a holiday, new Louboutins, a new handbag (oh, how to beat a Marc Jacobs?!), more Chanel perfume... Of course, just writing this out on paper isn't going to get the pounds rolling into my bank account, but seeing it down on paper makes it feel much less of a problem, particularly when it's surrounded by possible solutions. If you're going through a really tight financial crisis, it may be worth considering selling more larger items... before the bailiffs do. 

Uni life - I should be aiming for 5 hours of independent study per day. My tutor gives us a reading list each week, demanding we read about 7 books per WEEK in time for the next lecture. I'm really not kidding. So to reduce stress levels, I'll aim to skim read about 4/5. And despite being stuck at uni learning about morphology and linguistic neutralization - things I really won't need for my ideal career afterwards - that doesn't stop me from doing what I want to do around uni time. So expect more blog posts (yay!) as I want to pick up my writing once again. Uni isn't 'prison', so find things to do around your time there - create a life for yourself! But the main thing to remember is to knuckle down and work hard for the next few years at uni so you can graduate with shining colours and walk into your dream job and keep the happiness rolling.

To quote Tommy from 'Friends with Benefits' (my film of the month!): 'Everybody wants a short cut in life. My guide book is very simple. You wanna lose weight? Stop eating, fatty! You wanna make money? Work your ass off, lazy! You wanna be happy? Find someone you like and never let her go.' Part of achieving your goals is by taking on a no-nonsense tough-love approach to your problems. 

Creating this list is also like making resolutions. I wanted to vary my exercise activities, and attempt to like yoga, but was rather difficult if I also needed to be saving money. But by extraordinary coincidence and pure luck, the solution hit me right in the face when I was treating myself to a new pair of running leggings from my all-time favourite sportswear store, Sweaty Betty. The shop assistant was so lovely and chatty - I felt I'd made a friend when I finally left! Anyway, she asked if I was a Sweaty Betty member, and I was like 'hm say what now?' It's a free membership, literally just write your details on a card and you get a shiny pink piece of plastic, allowing you 10% off everything in store (save money), AND exclusive access to their FREE WORKOUT ACTIVITIES in the week (vary exercise). Thank you fairy godmother! So I have yoga on Wednesday evenings in a shop that I love, and a running club if I wanted on Thursdays. For free. Once you embark your life revamp, you never know what opportunities will hit you in the face! I also managed to scoop myself a 3-day free trial at LA Fitness for the weekend, and score a free spinning session there on Monday evening. It's great! A week on and I feel I've turned my life around. I'm actually finally starting to fall in love with Brighton. 


My message is 'think of what you want to do, and DO IT'. Making this list helps you work out which aspects are most important to you. If you're in a crap/boring job but desperately need the money, just keep your head down and keep ploughing on. If your job is actually making you miserable, then quit and find something new. (Probably best to find something new before quitting...) - It's easy to say and much more of a risk to do, but particularly when you're older, your job should reflect your personality, or be something you've worked your whole life for. There's a quote which was stuck up on the wall at my work: 'pick a job you love, and you'll never have to work a day in your life'. I found it rather ironic as it was in a restaurant where I waitress, and however much I like working there, it's still having to be nice and charming to snobby customers when you really just want to throw on a pair of man-trackies, wipe off your make up and watch crap on TV, but you get the idea. And if there's really no solutions for your mass of problems and banes of life, then find something extra to do to bring a piece of sunshine to your day. 


So when you're stuck in a rut, and nothing seems to brighten up your day anymore, revamp your life, and become your own success. You'll be surprised at what a couple of small changes will do.