Dufisthenics

So I was in the middle of a stressful day at work.  I stepped into the truck for the recently more stressful commute to the Wellness  Center.  After the now typical 10+ minute commute dealing with relentless snowbird lane cloggers I pull into the parking garage.  I then am behind three vehicles, all mongering for an open spot on the ground level.  As I completed the entire loop without finding a single spot available I literally blurted out FCK THIS and in a split second spun the wheel right, out of the parking lot.

I was just sick and tired of dealing with the bogged down commute day in and day out.  The lack of a parking space just set me off, I had enough.  I decided I would drive to nearby Cambier Park and do some sort of outdoor workout.

I have not walked through Cambier in quite awhile.  It turns out they have a massive and nearly new looking playground area.  On the perimeter of it are some adult outdoor exercise machines, none of which excited me much.  Inside the playground it was a different story.

They had a ton of things I could use including a lot of hand over hand things like rings, regular monkey bar as well as an up and down set of monkey bars, sort of like a small version of what they have at Tough Mudder.  They had a nice bar I could use for pull ups and equipment everywhere where my imagination was the only limitation.  It was pretty freaking awesome.

I over did it with all of the hanging/pulling stuff.  I walked out of there with two bloody blisters on my right palm.  It was sort of funny working out with a crowd that mostly consisted of children with their parents/grandparents but the place is so big nobody got in the other’s way.

So of course outdoor workouts are a nice change up to the routine but are not a permanent answer to my lunchtime exercise needs.  Trying to do what I did today in 95 degree August afternoons would be brutal.  It is pretty clear to me that I need to bail on the Wellness Center, it’s location makes the commute just miserable during season and not great any other time of year.

Some of my gym buddies have actually stepped foot back into Planet Fitness and have delivered some positive feedback.  The lunk alarm, while still hanging on a wall is either broken or disconnected.  The staff is no longer watching the gym floor like an elementary school teacher looking for someone to break the rules.  They even brought some heavier weights back into the place with dumbbells that go up to 75 pounds.

So who knows, maybe it isn’t as maddening as it was when I bolted out of there 5-6 years ago.  It’s literally a 1/2 mile away from my office.  I will be dropping in sometime soon to survey the situation first hand.  Even though I vowed to never set foot in Planet Fitness again I also am a person that is not afraid to reevaluate a situation if merited and based on that evaluation make different decisions.  We will see if this is one of those situations.