Does anyone belong to a club and not use it?

We have a family membership at the Y and for a very long time, hubby was the only one using it. I'm finally getting my butt there a few times a week. It's getting cooler and it's too dark in the mornings right now. This morning it was pitch black for the first 40 minutes of our walk. I'm not crazy about it. I much prefer walking when the sky is nice and bright. That's one of the reasons I like to walk; the sunlight. I'm getting ready to go to the Y more often and walk less in the early sixes.

Do your exercise habits change with the weather?

No, I've never belonged to an exercise club. I have taken 2 paid courses in the (distant) past to learn certain exercises. Found it required considerable self-discipline to attend these paid classes. lst course was: tai chi (10 wks.) and latter was aerobics. Dropped out of the latter course like a hot potato. It just wasn't me: am LOUSY in doing any exercise involved coordinated group musc synchronized movements!

Metinks am a person who likes to do any regular exercise ...on my own time.

Yes, my exercise habits most definitely changes with particularily season changes. Right now I'm only cycling on weekends due to heavy rain season. So I try to up my stretching exercise routine at home, to more frequencies per week. About 4-5 times weekly. If I don't do it for many weeks, I will end up small backache and muscle stiffness allover..not good.

Several times during the winter in past few years we either do snowshoeing in the mountains or x-country skiing for 8-10 kms. Snowshoeing for us means 3-4 hrs., slogging through about 10-15 kms. each time. It's a great workout. Most definitely I have to have done my stretching exercises to prevent soreness.

Here on the West Coast, in the mountains, snowshoeing is becoming quite popular. Some people run in snowshoes for 8-10 kms. in the mountains...something I can't do ...without falling on my face.

Hope you find a happy medium, Dotsie between walking and 2nd type of exercise/sport alternative. Might take some time to find and like the 2nd alternative to do it often.

DAH!!! Wasted two maybe three memberships in Health Clubs over the years. I get all jazzed up, join, and then fizzle out. Like Orchid I prefer to do things on my own, no audience, no hecklers or cheering sections for me...

One of the employees where I work finds a paid fitness club membership helpful. She likes the regime/structure and availability of machines. It's Curves.

A sister of mine and her hubby have paid memberships as alumni at a local university where there is good equipment and variety of people. Allows each person (they take turns since they have children) to make use of machines & indoor running track for winter.

Same sister also goes jogging by herself in non-snowy weather.

Both of above options allow person to come and go as they please during service hrs.

Whatever works. In my personal opinion Dotsie, if you loved cycling as a child, most likely you would do it often enough now..if you were fitted on a correctly sized bike with proper gears.

Cycling is for ex-runners who have had problems with their knees. I know you don't run but have problems with knee(s).

I belong to a club and I make the most of it!

Way back when, before I got married, I did Jazzercise after work several times a week. When I got married (and quit working) as much as I enjoyed working out with my Jazzercise buddies, it just didn't make sense to wait til that late in the day to work out anymore (I'm a morning person!) but by then I was hooked on group exercise and there were many places closer than the Jazzercise place they were going to anyway. So I looked into other options and joined a gym.

So over the years I have belonged to several gyms.......right now I belong to a Lifestyle Family Fitness center that is only 4 miles from my home, and I LOVE IT. I'm there most weeks between 4 and 6 mornings,usually around 9:00 a.m. doing different types of exercise classes. For me, it's not just the exercise......it's a social gathering too as I've gotten to be friends with many of the people I see there every day. I walk on my own each morning before I go to the gym (well ok I have my dogs for company) but for me, nothing beats my exercise classes. My gym offers weight-lifting, aerobics, yoga, Pilates, step-aerobics, kick-boxing, spinning, plus all the exercise machines you could want if you want to do your own thing, and tanning booths (I've never gone into those, I spend enough time in the sun!)

My exercise habits don't really change with the seasons....other than I walk a little later in the mornings because the sun comes up later right now. But then again, the seasons don't change all that much here either except it gets much more comfortable to walk when it's not so hot!!

And I definitely make the most of my gym membership! And have made some great friendships with other women thru the gym. That's where I met the woman who has been my best friend for the last 16 years......she moved here from North Carolina, didn't know anyone, joined the gym, and one day just popped up and asked if I'd like to go to the beach.

I agree that it's all a matter of finding what works for you. For me, knowing that my gym pals are going to be in class makes it a lot more fun, and the fact that it's already paid for motivates me to get going every morning. Plus I've been doing it for so many years now that I feel like crud if I don't work out and my gym classes are my exercise of choice.

Some people seem to more motivated to do some form of exercise with a friend on regular basis.

I certainly enjoy doing cycling with someone else at times. And no question, my partner has been my cycling "cheerleader" during the first few years of returning to cycling over a decade ago.

Also to do exercise with someone who is similar or abit better than you, is helpful. I find to cycle with my partner, it reminds me to step up my pacing to keep up with him. Keeping up with him, means just so I can see him at least 1 km. away or so to know where he is heading.

It also helps me climb hills, if I see someone ahead of me who is successfully mounting the hill..that I am about to climb. For hill-climbing, I absolutely hate to see people observing me....in case, I should fail...and walk with bike.

That's our definition of riding together...which doesn't bother me at all. It has helped build physical endurance and inner mental endurance...that has enabled me to cycle solo at times also.

I know that some women, in particular, really need to have their riding friend close by and to talk. But I seriously find it difficult to talk when riding at a good clip and pay attention to traffic road activity. Cycling for me is not really about socializing, it's more sharing the same panoramic views with other people as we ride along together .

I've belonged to the same health club since 1991. I don't go as often as I like for 2 reasons:
1. migraines -- when I'm sick 5 days a month on average, it takes about 2 more days to fully recover, when I'm too plowed under to do much of anything. And then I've lost all this work time, so I have to work mega-hours to catch up. Which means I often miss 2 weeks of gym time, and then I work out for 2 weeks, and then I get another migraine.

2. I've lost a bunch of time due to back pulled out.

I love working out, was always active, but my body is crumbling as I type

Meredith, are you still teaching your class for cancer survivors?

orchid, I admire your love of the outdoors!

Dotsie, I was teaching my class until 3 weeks ago, when our contract for the room was up. Now the city wants to charge us and I'm determined to keep the class free, so I'm looking for new facilities to host us.

I've been speaking to the management at my health club, and they've said maybe...