Last night I had a momentary lapse of good judgment, but thankfully came quickly to my senses. I tell you this tale in the hopes that you will avoid the situation I found myself in…this is my personal opinion and maybe others have had a good experience here, so if you have let me know!

For the past while I have been wanting to integrate a regular spin class into my routine. Only issues to this actually happening are the following:

-I need to find a early morning class that allows me to still get to work at 8:30 a.m.
-I need to find a place which is close to home because if I am really honest with myself I am not that motivated to travel far at that time of day

So, sadly I live in an area where there are no cool spin studios. My only option as far as I know  is joining a gym. I’m not a huge fan of gym memberships as I like to go to the smaller specialized studios, but I was prepared to give it a go if it meant I could start spinning regularly.

To cut a long story short, I saw that Extreme Fitness was offering a 7 day free trial at any of their locations. Perfect! I could redeem this online coupon and see if joining a gym was for me. I went to their website, filled in some details and printed off the coupon that was emailed to me.

Next steps? I wandered into the location by my house hoping to take an evening spin class. Did this happen? No. As soon as I walked in I was told I would have to meet with a membership coordinator. This part didn’t really surprise me, but what did surprise me was that after I was taken through a whole spiel about my fitness goals/tour of gym I was asked the question of what pricing did I think was appropriate.  I had explicitly said to the membership coordinator that I wanted to see if the gym was right for me and did not want to sign up at this time. Not a message that resonated apparently. His manager was then called over to “see what she could do for me” and after talking to her it became clear that their 7 day free trial is truly a scam to get people into their gyms/signing up for memberships.

Turned out she was willing to redeem my pass , but she warned if I redeemed it I wouldn’t be eligible for any deals if I did decide to become a member. Pure scare tactics and pretty disgusting marketing tactics.

While this gym may be conveniently located for me I would much rather may the $15 cab fare to get to a morning class at a proper and ethical spinning studio. Sadly, I would have probably joined this place if they hadn’t used any of their sleazy tactics.

Moral of the story?

There’s no such thing as a “free trial” at this place.

PS: I did go back on their website to see what “restrictions” were in place and the only thing that you had to abide by and none of what I expereinced was mentioned.

This past week was a bit of a whirlwind. Lots to do at home and at work. I’m hoping that this week goes by just as fast because I can’t wait to get to the long weekend part! Don’t you just love long weekends?

Since I have been extremely relaxed with my blogging over the past week (a.k.a. not posting!) I thought it may just be easier to do a few of my week’s loves and hates.

The “loves”:

• Making it through a tough 10km tempo run. I may not have loved this run while actually running it, but I was mighty proud that I made it through.
• Going to a boot camp class with a colleague. It was a fun way to pass an hour and to also incorporate some form of strength training into my life again!
• Checking out two Toronto restaurants which were participating in Summerlicious
• Making this smoked salmon concoction with wild rice:

• Getting to eat some delicious corn:

The “hates”:

• The two blisters on the sides of my big toes -I was a bit lazy with replacing my running shoes this time round and now am having an ongoing battle with blisters Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make blisters heal faster?
• Not having a favourite Pilates teacher around anymore – I have taken a membership at a studio which I love. Part of the reason I love it though was because of a certain teacher. Now she’s gone and I have lost some motivation to sign-up for classes there. Sigh. Sometimes I hate change.
• The fact that summer is coming to close in a month. Why does summer ever have to end?

So, as you all know I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with yoga. I’m still waiting to have that Jennifer Aniston moment of yogi bliss transformation. That said I do know that yoga is a sport I should learn to incorporate more into my life. Even though I do Pilates on a somewhat regular basis (three times a week or so) I don’t think it has the same stretching benefits that yoga has.

I need to get myself to a yoga class soon…

Only issue is that I have already spent my monthly “fitness allowance” already for June, so don’t really want to spend $20 or so on a drop-in yoga class. Thankfully King West Fitness is running an “All You Can Yoga” this weekend.

This weekend and a few other weekends this summer King West Fitness in Liberty Village is offering free yoga classes Saturday and Sunday (at 10, 11:15, 12:30, 1:45 and 3:00). All you need to do is drop by before one of the classes – no need to register. Take one class or take as many as you want.

I’ve never been to this gym before, but looking forward to checking it out & seeing what the yoga they have to offer. Curious to see if it will similar to taking a class at a yoga studio.

Before signing off today I thought I’d share a quote from something I read that really resonated with me.

“The best ideas come from imagining the possibilities otherwise you’ll just get more of the same.” ~ H. Ferrara

Always good to be reminded that your imagination is a good thing!

A couple of weeks ago I received an email from someone letting me know about a new group training class at Goodlife Fitness called Competitive Edge Training. The name of the training program intrigued me, so I did one of my q and as with Dwayne Walker. I haven’t yet had the opportunity to try this workout myself, but after learning a bit more about it it seems fun! Is always neat to try something new.

Can you tell me a little bit about Competitive Edge Training (C.E.T.)?

C.E.T uses multidimensional conditioning techniques to improve all participants’ fitness levels.

There are a lot of different types of workouts available in Toronto. What makes this one stand out?

C.E.T is a program which encourgages participants to challenge themselves physically and cognitively. While increasing an individual’s fitness level, C.E.T works to increase an individual’s teamwork, communication, concentration, and stress coping capabilities.

What kind of results should I expect to see from Competitive Edge Training?

C.E.T works to get participants to improve on the folowing:

1. Fitness level

2. Physique

3. Weight

4. Coordination

5. Strength

6. Speed

7. Communication

8. Team work

9. Concentration

10. Stress coping

Do you have to be in great shape to join or can be people of all fitness levels join?

C.E.T is for individuals of all levels of fitness – from beginners to advanced levels. Everyone can benefit from the training.

Is this workout female friendly?

C.E.T is both beneficial for males and females of all ages.

If someone only had 10 minutes to workout what exercises would you recommend?

As a professional trainer I couldn’t recommend any particular exercise without meeting the client first and knowing more about their health and fitness history.

What’s your favourite healthy post-workout meal?

For post-workout meals I like to enjoy any lean meat with high levels of protein. It is important to replenish protein levels after a workout to aid in fast muscle repair and growth.

Where can I go to do this workout?

Currently C.E.T is being operated out of The Union Station Goodlife fitness club, located at 7 Station St. C.E.T is open to members and non-members and runs twice a week Tuesday and Thursday from 4pm to 5pm. For more information please contact us directly:

Competitive_edge_training@yahoo.com or visit our facebook site at http://www.facebook.com/competitiveedgetraining and the site at competitiveedgetraining.webs.com

You can contact us also by phone @ goodlife fitness 416-964-1821and ask for Dwayne Walker or Chris Ross.

Did you know today is International Women’s Day? I first became aware of International Women’s Day when I was a child living in Turkey. To mark this year’s International Women’s Day I thought I’d give a shout out to the women that have inspired me fitness and health-wise:

• The first one is an easy one for me. My Mom. Over the last few years she has constantly inspired me with her ability to become an incredibly healthy and fit woman. 
• Ms. Run Shorts – an incredible running coach and friend.
• All of Team Green – I could not have run a marathon without any of you. 
• My childhood friends who I went to the Hillside Club with. You name it we did it. 
• The entire team at Core Studio – because of all of you I love Pilates.
• Carla and Myrna Saliba – both have played key roles in introducing running to me.