Week 136: A Gym Reflection

Week 136: August 3rd-9th, 2025

Every week, I try to go to the gym at my apartment at least 4 times. Its always been important to me to keep a regular workout schedule, and I'm happy that my apartment has a small gym to use. However, for the past month, I've also been going to 24 Hour Fitness as a guest on my boyfriend's membership.

In the general San Diego County area, there are at least 17 different 24 Hour Fitness locations. The ones I have been to are the Balboa Avenue (Convoy) location, the one near La Mesa on Navajo Road, and the one near Lemon Grove on College Grove Way.

Out of all of these locations, I prefer the College Grove one because it has consistently been the cleanest, least smelly, and least busy of the three. The Balboa Avenue location is the most popular, because it is the largest, but it seems to be the most dated of the three and it is definitely the most smelly. The Navajo Road location is clean enough, but its got an odd layout and can get pretty busy.

The "Recently Renovated" 24 Hour Fitness at the College Grove center

I wanted to provide a general review of the locations I've been to as a way to compare them and reflect on the past month or so at the gym. I've still been going to my apartment gym, mainly when my boyfriend is busy or does not want to go to 24 Hour Fitness, and I think my workouts have felt more satisfying at 24 Hour Fitness.

I've listed a couple categories below where I've rated each location I've been to. The ratings are out of 10, with 10 being good, and 1 being horrible. "Cleanliness" refers to the general appearance of the gym, like dust or trash on the floor, as well as the frequency with which I saw other people wiping down their machines after using them. The "Business" refers to the possible wait time for each machine, or how crowded the gym felt at a given time. This may differ per time of day, of course, so my rating is an average of the different times I've been to each location.

Now "Smell" gets its own category literally because of the Balboa Avenue location. This location could be one of the best, because it seems to be the biggest and most popular. Unfortunately, the overwhelming mustiness and collective body odor is almost enough for me to never return there. I only tolerate it because my boyfriend prefers to play basketball there over College Grove and Navajo Road. The "Overall Vibe" rating kind of a combination of all of them, but it is also based on...well... vibes. Duh. If something was weird, or the vibes were off, this category will reflect that.

College Grove:

• Cleanliness: 8/10

• Business: 7/10

• Smell: 8/10

• Overall Vibe: 8/10

Navajo Road:

• Cleanliness: 7/10

• Business: 7/10

• Smell: 7/10

• Overall Vibe: 7/10

Balboa Avenue:

• Cleanliness: 3/10

• Business: 4/10

• Smell: 2/10

• Overall Vibe: 6/10

Since the gym at my apartment consists of just three treadmills, one StairMaster, a handful of weight machines, free weights, and a TRX station, sometimes it feels hard to get a variety of workouts in. At a "real" gym like 24 Hour Fitness, the many different options for strength training, cardio, and stretching give me more variety and excitement. As many of you know, I used to be a "gym rat," and when I lived in Berkeley, the Downtown YMCA gym was my second home. I've changed a lot since then, and haven't had my own gym membership since 2020. Returning to a real gym like 24 Hour Fitness reminded me that the social motivation and competitive nature of a gym environment is good for me.

I often feel a lack of serious motivation to push myself when I am working out at home or at the apartment gym because I am usually alone. There is some sort of phenomenon that occurs when you and your workout are possibly being perceived by others. You might push yourself a little bit harder, either out of fear of looking weak or lazy, or wanting to prove you can do it, its hard to say, but recently, I've found myself doing the hardest workouts when I'm with or near other people.

In reality, this is a little silly, because no one is actually paying attention to anyone else at the gym except themselves. The likelihood that someone else noticed that I have only done 15 bicep curls instead of the intended 20 is very low. Even I could care less that one guy has benched more than I could. But, the silver lining of this feeling of being perceived, whether it is actually happening or not, is that we push ourselves a little more. I used to have a more internal sense of motivation, but over the years, especially after college, this has changed. After my back surgery in 2021, it took a long time for me to get back to a place where I was happy with my fitness level and my body. Now, I find myself seeing the appeal in workout classes and things that I used to think were silly, like the run Challenges on the Nike Run App, don't seem so silly anymore. If having the best score on the "Leaderboard" on the apartment gym StairMaster means I go to the gym and get a workout in, where's the harm in that? (By the way, whoever "SR" is, sorry I kicked you out of the top 3 spots last week! "ELM" for the win!)

Anyway, this week's report is a bit boring, but it was a nice exercise (pun intended) in reflecting on my progress at the gym over the past month. I've felt stronger and more motivated to try different workouts. If anyone is looking for a workout buddy, I could be interested. I used to think of the gym as my designated alone time, but I see why people need buddies now.

See you next week.