by Aerynne Aiudi

Created on: April 30, 2009

Twenty Four Hour Gyms and You

I used to work out at a 24 hour gym, and for the most part, I enjoyed being able to do so. I would wake up at 10pm in the evening with nothing to do but eat, and I didn't want to do that because by the time I was 42 years old, I weighed 260 pounds. The reality that I couldn't climb the stairs in our home without stopping half way up and wheezing like someone twice my age was a major factor in why I joined a 24 hour gym along with the fact that it was most affordable. As a result of working out at the 24 hour gym, I was able to lose over 60 pounds, and I feel better than I've felt in a long time, have more energy and endurance, and have become interested in health and wellness with a vigor and zeal that sees me wanting to establish myself in a career that helps others come to a point of working out to get themselves healthier and lighter in body weight as well as spirit and heart and mind. Wellness has now become my career and I have my intial exposure to working out at a 24 hour gym to thank for the latter.

At first my husband was wary about my going out in the middle of the night to exercise because he was afraid that I would get into trouble with miscreants and ne'er do wells who had no respect for women, and may have mistook me for a woman of the evening on the prowl for activity. I told him not to worry, I was just going to exercise in order to get healthier. I had to do something late at night because during the day I was either studying or at work. Twenty four hour gym membership was my salvation, but only for a while.

Unfortunately, my husband's fears were well founded. During a nightly exercise session of mine one night, one of the regulars, a man old enough to be my father, came onto me in the form of telling me a salacious and religious dirty joke which articulated the glories and size of his penis and would I like to see it? When I told him that I didn't appreciate being talked to like that because my husband didn't even talk to me in that vernacular, he told me he loved the way my oversized breasts bounced up and down when I jumped rope as a form of a cardiovascular / aerobic exercise. I, to say the least, was devastated, and told the manager that if they did not reprimand that lecherous creep and cancel my membership immediately, I was going to file a lawsuit.

In conclusion, twenty four hour gyms are good in theory. But when one is mistaken for being on the make by overzealous dirty old men, it becomes wise to rethink working out at 3am in favor of either working out at home or working out at a gym with regular hours. Sad that this has to be the case, but the case so it was and that's my unfortunate take on 24 hour gym memberships, especially for ladies.

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