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LA Fitness

As you may recall, I have been a member of LA Fitness for over a year now.  Because of this project though, I decided to quit my membership and do new things at new places.  But so far I haven't actually stopped going to LA Fitness.  Why?  Well, when I first started with the company you pay first/last month from the start.  And so even though I put in my cancellation a long time ago now, I still have access to the club.

Actually, my club access will now continue through Feb 20, 2012.  What's great is that they will refund the last payment they enforced onto my auto-billing and still give me that access as a "oops, sorry you tried to quit but we didn't let you" policy.

Although that still leaves me with 10 days of no fitness, I think I'm going to take the 20 free days at LA.
For the month of January I went to the gym about 2-3 times per week but never did a single class.  What I found was that it's incredibly difficult for me to do the classes because you have to plan on it and arrive at a certain time every day.

I actually did arrive at about the same time every day (about 10:15am)... but there certainly aren't classes at that time.

So my goal for Feb 1 - Feb 20 is twofold:
1.  Take more classes!
2.  Try out the pool.

In all the time that I've been a member there, not once did I ever use the pool!  So I'm off to buy goggles, a swim cap and a decent bathing suit.  And then I'll be swimming...

In other news, I've already lost a few pounds this month!

Diva Den

My next purchase has already been made: $20 for 20 fitness classes and one 90-minute pole taster class!
This package expires in January of 2013 so I can do this one any time this year and be ok.  

So if I plan that I will do about 10 classes per month, this $20 pass will last me two months of fitness.  Here are things that I can do at the Diva Den:

• Aerial Yoga! (see picture) 
• Pilates 
• Hustle & Flow Yoga  Fusion <-- yoga, pilates & cardio! 
• Zumba
• Boo-Ya Burlesque 
• African Dance
• ... among many others! 

You can find out more about the Diva Den here.  

MetaBody Fitness

If I have had any doubts as to whether I could accomplish my goal on the cheap, I think I've already put them to rest.  Like magic, an email appeared in my inbox this morning for another great deal: $20 for a 30-class yoga and fitness pass.

This pass is a little different than what I had in mind, but I'm going for it anyway.  Here are some highlights of things I can do with this pass:

At Giants Gym:

• P90X.. . Er, wait.  It's actually called PDX90.  Must be some spin-off of the real deal, eh? 
• Burmese Yoga
• Zumba

At Motionlab: 

• GYROKINESIS® class every Saturday at 10 am

At Mata-Leao Combat Sports: 

• Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
• Muay Thai boxing 
• MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) 

At Studio Nia: 

• Nia <-- duh.  

At Dahn Yoga: 

• This is what I call "regular" yoga for lack of a better name... 

So I guess I get to pick three locations and do three 10-class passes of each.  I recognize that this will likely be more than a month so I haven't quite decided what I will do about that.  Can I stretch it into three months or is that cheating?  

And let's be honest, Combat Sports, while cool in theory is probably not something I should endure for a whole month.  Can you imagine me doing MMA?  The thought of it is actually laughable.  

The package has to be completed by June 30th so that will begin in March for me.  

About the Thirty Twelve Project

It's the beginning of January and many people across the country are rushing off to the gym.  They're either buying a new membership or making use of the one they haven't really used this past year and want to start fresh again.  But I'm canceling my membership.

I've been an on again off again gym user for about the past ten years and you know what? I'm tired of it.  There's a certain feeling I get when I walk into a gym: a mix of both a sense of home and undeniable sickness.  I want to smile and vomit at the same time.   And seriously, that sounds gross.

So I have a new plan and I think it will be interesting, if nothing else.  Screw the gym.  This is going to be a year of new beginnings each month.  For one year I will do a new activity each month.  I'm not even entirely sure what I'll do this year.  For cost saving issues, I am going to pretty much be up to the wiles of the internet and utilize online discounts and coupons as much as possible.  I'd love your help on it though.  I you see something interesting at a discount in Portland, Oregon that I should do this year, let me know.  I'll probably do it.

Yesterday I scored myself a Living Social deal for one month of unlimited BCOR Boot Camp for just $20.  And because it sounded like it could get me off on the right foot, I went ahead and purchased their one month of online boot camp diet as well.  So starting in February I'm going to a whole month of boot camp!  Yikes!

As far as this year goes, I'm hoping luck will find me in the following classes and/or programs:

• Hot yoga (Bikram) 
• Pilates
• Regular ole yoga 
• Burlesque class
• Pole dancing 
• Aerial and acrobatics classes 
• Trampoline class
• Ballet
• Indoor rock climbing and/or Bouldering 

This year, 2012, I will do new things.  I might not always like them.  In fact, it's entirely possible that I'll find myself a week into a month only to realize that ohhh, turns out I don't like xyz after all.  But it's entirely possible I'll have the opposite; that I find a new passion and great hobby.  

If you're wondering why I'm starting BCOR boot camp in February and not January, it's because I'm still locked in my gym membership contact, having already paid first and last month's fees at sign-up.  Yeah, I didn't plan that one ahead.  

So I'll do my best to go to as many varied classes as I can at the gym until them.  I haven't done the Cardio Kickboxing classes in years now but always enjoyed it.  Maybe I'll revisit those each Monday.  And while I was entirely disappointed in the Zumba classes when they started up this past Fall, maybe they've come around since then..?  

So let the adventure begin.  A new activity for THIRTY days - TWELVE months of the year.