Orange Shoe

After an interesting turn of events, I have joined a small gym with small group personal trainers.  Let me start at the beginning...

It's looking like my current job will turn into a regular (non-temporary) position within the next month or so.  That got me looking at apartments again, and I pretty much figured out which area of Chicago I'd likely end up in.  So I was looking at grocery stores, restaurants, and other amenities in the area (thanks, Google Maps!) and came across a small gym called Orange Shoe Personal Fitness.  No prices on the website, of course, but I was interested enough to schedule a consultation, not expecting to actually move forward with it until I moved to the area, if at all.

But during my consultation yesterday, I learned of the option for small group "personal" training, which is much less expensive than the one-on-one personal trainer.  Small groups are in pre-scheduled time slots at various days and times during the week, and they are capped at 4.  There are different session "themes", with my favorite (title-wise, at least) being the "Pirate Throwdown".  Sessions rotate trainers, and they actually do the same thing with one-on-one personal trainers.  Their rationale:  This type of team approach allows us to alternate trainers from session to session to keep your workouts fresh, all the while keeping your goals in mind. You'll have more ideas, more perspectives, and more partners helping you towards your fitness goals.

The approach seems to work well in their small gym environment.  It's definitely part of the appeal.  I've always been a big fan of the "Personal education.  Extraordinary success" model (a big part of the reason I chose Centre).  So after the consultation, I got talked into signing up.  I think it will help tremendously with my half-marathon training, and it will help me reach other fitness goals, as well.  Who knows, maybe next time you see me I'll have a six-pack.  :P

Even though the small group option was much less expensive, it is still not cheap, as I'm sure you can imagine.  So I think I'm going to put off the apartment search for several more months.  I'll save up the money that would have been going to rent, groceries, etc. and have a bigger emergency fund or can invest some of the money or something.  Yes, I'll continue having my crazy long commute, but I've started to not mind it so much.  When I don't have any new audio books to listen to, I get a lot of time to think and just relax.  Plus I'm looking into biking to and from work some days when the weather gets nicer.  So it'll at work out.