The time has come to say good-bye to an old friend. A friend that has been with me for 4.5 years and over 40 lbs of weight loss. This friend is my local 24 hour fitness and its time to say good bye. Prior to last Sunday I held two gym memberships: a 24 hour fitness membership and a GAC (Gardner Athletic Center) membership. The GAC was for those times I was at home and wanted to hit the gym with my wife. The 24 hour fitness membership was used during my lunch breaks (my office is 4 miles away). Both gyms had equal amenities: cardio, weights, etc. But they also both lacked the most important thing that I now wanted in a gym: family involvement. So often the kids would ask us if they could workout with us. Of course we always had to tell them no as kids are not allowed to work out in either place. 24 Hour has a kids club that consists of a few play gyms but nothing too entertaining. I have never been one to discourage my kids from wanting to live healthy lifestyles so I knew that we needed a change of venues. That was when my wife and I started to discuss the YMCA. After a little research I discovered that not only was there a YMCA a few miles from our home but also one that was only 2 miles from my office. Score! We headed out to our hometown YMCA last Sunday and took a tour. We loved the place. It had two pools, a walking track, cardio, free weights, 3 kids clubs (for all ages), summer activities, and free fitness classes. The best part was that our kids could work out right beside us (if they are 8 years old and taken a special class)! This was fantastic! We could get our kids involved in taking care of themselves at an early age…and we could go swimming! I took a tour of the YMCA by my office and it had similar amenities (plus a basketball court). After seeing both YMCA’s and discovering that our monthly membership would be less than what we are currently paying for the other two, it was a no brainer to make the switch.

So even though I will miss the 24 hour fitness and the journey that we had together, a new chapter is now upon me. A chapter that involves our family and our overall health. Family first…always.