Buy Walking Videos24 Hour Fitness Xpress Zone: Update
Over a month ago, I started going to the gym three times a week to do the Xpress Zone workout. Here’s what I have noticed:
Weight training initially slows weight loss: Even though I have been eating very healthy the last month, I have only lost two pounds (as opposed to my usual pound a week when I’m eating healthy).
I am toning up: Even though I’ve only lost two pounds, I am toning up. My clothing is fitting better, so I KNOW that I am losing fat. It’s just not showing up on the scale yet. This is hard for me to face when I have to weigh once a week, but it’s great when I pull on my jeans.
Gyms are full of gross, sweaty people: 24 Hour Fitness has a rule that you’re supposed to carry around a towel and clean up after your own sweat, but it is NOT enforced at my gym. I end up using my towel to clean up the sweat of dripping wet, gross people.
Gym ettiquette is non-existent: People crash down weights, grunt and scream and sit like zombies on the circuit (Xpress Zone) machines. I’ve even had the 24 Hour Fitness personal trainers sit their clients at the circuit machines and have them do their exercises, talking to them while they rest between sets.
What’s the verdict?
I love weight training, but I HATE the gym.
Tune in tomorrow to see what I decided to do to keep up with my weight training without having to wipe up the sweat of other people.
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February 27th, 2006 at 6:14 am
Amen. Strength training is awesome, but the gym is a magnet for narcissistic a**hats.
Try shovelgloving – it’s strength training with a sledgehammer. Sounds weird, but it’s easy to fit in, no nasty gym, and as a bonus, it works your abs without crunches (which I hate more than the gym).
http://www.shovelglove.com
ps (no affiliation with the site; I just like the routine)
February 27th, 2006 at 10:37 am
Hee! Poor Laura. I love lifting weights. I’ve also noticed that the numbers on the scale don’t move as quickly when I’m hitting the weights pretty hard, but I do trim down. Which makes sense: a pound of muscle takes up less space than a pound of fat.
Have you ever read Krista Dixon’s fantastic weight training site? It’s at http://www.stumptuous.com/cms/index.php . She has a section on outfitting your own home gym, and making your own low-tech but equally effective gym equipment. (I like the “make your own medicine ball” article, with a child’s ball and some sand!) Enjoy!
February 27th, 2006 at 11:09 am
When training, it’s a good idea to remember your posture and keep your balance and neck free. Otherwise you can end up with severe neck tensions and strain.Noel Kingsley
February 27th, 2006 at 8:29 pm
Be careful of using your towel to mop up other peoples’ sweat. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus infections are becoming increasingly common, especially in gyms. http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-sci-staph26feb26,0,7345008,full.story
note: I used to be a member of 24 Hr. Fitness, but then cancelled because I was sick and tired of people yakking on their cell phones and also leaving sweat (and who knows what else) on the various pieces of equipment.
December 8th, 2006 at 5:31 pm
Laura, we’ve hit this in similar circumstances. You usually like to go to a gym, rather than exercise at home because of the social characteristics of people helping people pass time doing repetitive exercises. But you are right. Sometimes the experience can be likened to trying to thread the eye of a needle with a sledgehammer and a blindfold. If you still prefer the gym over the home scene, youmay even want to consider scheduling your sessions wigh a close friend. Working ou together and talking to one another gives you the social benefit of the gym but will help (a little) pull you away from the less apealing distractions you mentioned.
March 25th, 2007 at 7:13 pm
I have been with 24 Hour Fitness for a few years and the cell phone thing is really out of control around here in Houston. Even with headphones on, you can’t zone out when some trollop is talking loud over the din of aerobic machines. And the employees are clueless too, you just know that if you complained, you would be the problem. When I used to go early in the morning, I got to observe the cleaning techiques employeed by the staffs at several different locations…One guy, with one hand towel, and a can of disinfectant. These guys will wipe down an entire gym of equipment with the same towel. It’s disgusting to think of all of the grunge and oil getting slathered from machine to machine. I invited a local TV station to swab the gym equipment like they had done in stories about other public places but they never would. It was finally explained to me that Bally’s and 24 Hour Fitness spend a lot of money on advertising. Bally’s seems a little better around here, but 24 Hour Fitness employees just hustle personal training and could care less about cleanliness or etiquette.
January 10th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Hi, I’m a personal trainer at 24 Hour Fitness and can agree with most everything you have said here so can a vast majority of the rest of the employees. Trust me we have our own major gripes. Please keep in mind we report everything reported to us to upper management. The frontdesk staff and the trainers can do little but that. As for pushing the training you are right and we hate doing it. Speaking from a trainer’s perspective, we are only there to pay our own bills and hopefully help people with fitness not to become the next Trump. Thats where upper management comes in. Just my two cents.
February 19th, 2014 at 6:31 pm
I did the Xpress Zone when 24Hour Fitness was still promoting it. I rejoined this week and fortunately, they have all the machines in the same row with faded Zpress Zone stickers on them. To start, I’m doing 10 minutes of treadmill for warm up, one pass down the Xpress Zone weight circuit, and finishing up with 10 minutes of half running, half walking on treadmill.