Two weeks ago I saw an ad for Eagle Ridge Fitness on my facebook news feed. I don’t know what made me click on it but I did and it led me to a video showing all these normal people who had joined Eagle Ridge Fitness and had lost weight, toned muscle and just in general gotten in better shape using this gym.
I called them, asked some questions, and ended up making an appointment for a one-on-one consultation. It was supposed to be last week but I pushed it to this week because I was still too sick last week to go.
Google Map lied to me, it said it was a 35 minute drive but it was longer, plus Google Map sent me to the wrong address so not only was the drive longer than 35 minutes, it was even longer due to me going to the wrong place. Lovely. *rolls eyes*
I was super late for my appointment, luckily the lady I was meeting was understanding about my getting lost, also lucky for me she didn’t have an appointment directly after mine so there was wiggle room for me to be late.
The place is super small, and it isn’t like a traditional gym. You don’t just drop in whenever you feel like it, you choose two days a week that you go in, and you pick a specific time, so say, every Monday and Wednesday at 7pm, That is your time slot and you are expected to be there, if you don’t show they call you to ask where you were – so you are definitely held accountable! You work out with the same people each time you go so you start to feel like a team (so I was told). The workouts are partially tailored to what your goals are, the classes are kept small, 8 people max per session, and the trainers know in advance of any injuries or medical problems you have so they can take those in to account when devising your workout plan.
The second part of their program is about nutrition. They give you a welcome package when you join that has recipes, a generalized meal plan, information on what you should be eating, in what portion, things like that. They also require you to keep a food journal that they look at every month, that is partly to help keep you accountable to what you are eating and also, if you are eating properly and you don’t lose weight in a month then they know to tweak your program. Sounds like a good idea, it helps you avoid plateauing. The lady I spoke with said it takes a couple of weeks for your personalized meal plan to be made, that is why they give you the generalized plan when you join.
All in all I liked what I was told about this program. I don’t like how far of a drive it is from where I live but I’ve driven farther distances for things less important than my fitness and health so the distance isn’t, in my opinion, a good reason to not join.
A truly excellent reason to not join, and my reason for not joining, is the cost. You can either sign up for a year, for 6 months or month-to-month. If you sign up month-to-month it is approx $300/month, the 6 month contract is two hundred something per month and the year long contract is $191 a month. Talk about out of my price range! I asked why it is so much more expensive than a gym membership and the response was it is combining a nutrition plan and personal trainer in to one program, so instead of a person joining a gym and paying for a Weight Watchers membership (as an example) they just join one program and get both, for less. Um…no. Just no. lol. Least not for me. I have access to Weight Watchers material without paying for a membership, so I’m saving money there, and the cost of my local gym is nowhere near what they are estimating. Sure, I don’t have a personal trainer, and sure I don’t have someone creating a program just for me, and sure this means my results will come slower, and sure I don’t have someone calling me when I skip the gym and getting on my case so that I never skip again, but I also don’t have an extra $200-$300 a month to pay for someone to hold my hand while I try to get in shape.
If I had the money I would probably give them a try, it’s not that I think their approach is all that original or amazing, but I think there are times in your life where you need a nudge, heck, a full on push, to get you on your way. I know I need to exercise more, even if I don’t have an amazing workout plan figured out I should at least be running three times a week and doing some basic muscle work if only to keep active, but I don’t. I also know my eating sucks and trying to figure out how to get that back on track leaves me feeling confused and a little lost, which oddly enough leads me to eating bad food in a weird attempt to make myself feel better…using food for comfort, not a good plan!…and yet, I do it, sigh.
But none of that matters, because I don’t have the money. I had a moment where I thought I could maaaybe afford one month, use that as a kick in my butt to get me in a routine of working out, then take what they taught me and do it on my own, but since you don’t get your personalized meal plan until 2-3 weeks in, and from the sounds of it the first month is sort of a learning curve not only for you but for them knowing what works best for you, in order to get anything out of this place you should really go for longer than a month and that I know I can’t afford. I figure, no point in straining to find the pennies to pay for one month when it takes two or more months to really get results.
So for now I will stick with my outdoor walks, my dragon boat practices and my attempts to get my lazy self to the gym – I may not get results as quickly as I would if I was signed up with Eagle Ridge Fitness but I’m determined to get results, even if it does take me a little longer than I’d like. 🙂
The Amazing Shrinking Woman 
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