Boot camp-style fitness classes that meet outdoors in parks are a much more fun way to exercise than staring at your own sweaty face in a mirror. Do they affect life in the park enough that cities should require them to get permission before setting up shop and pay fees? The city of Santa Monica, California thinks “maybe,” and is considering such a policy. [More]
Gym Staff Member Bullies Couple For Being Fat, So They Want Out Of Their Contract
By February 5, 2013
It’s hard enough some days to motivate oneself to get off the couch and head to the gym: what if you had to worry about being bullied and harassed by one of the staff personal trainers whenever you’re inside the facility? That’s what’s happening to Shayla and her husband. Now they want to be released from their contract, presumably so they can go to a different gym with fewer jerks on staff. [More]
Walmart Will Kick-Start Your Fitness Regime With Chocolate Bark And Crisco
By February 4, 2013
Kelly noticed a display at Walmart with signs that said “Get back on track,” which she assumed meant health foods and workout equipment. What else could it be? (Well, maybe NASCAR merchandise.) Instead of protein supplements and Shake Weights, she found cake mixes and cans of Crisco. Pretty much the opposite of what she was expecting. [More]
Customer Sues L.A. Fitness, Says Pervy Trainers Gave Her ‘Suggestive’ Exercises
By January 31, 2013
No one expects their workout with a personal trainer to be comfortable, but they also don’t expect to be sexually harassed, either. A Dallas woman is suing her local branch of L.A. Fitness, claiming that two different trainers at the gym made lewd comments to her and gave her what she considers “suggestive” exercises to do in front of them. Now she’s suing for Deceptive Trade Practices and Negligence, claiming that she kept up her end of the gym contract (paid her bills, didn’t break any rules) but that L.A. Fitness didn’t provide a safe workout environment. [More]
You Don’t Have To Face Fitness Resolutions Alone: 5 Apps That Help You Work It Out
By January 15, 2013
If the thought of heading to the gym where it might reek of body odor like the cellars at the coliseum in the heyday of gladiators, where you inevitably end up in a standoff with a huffy, tiny woman in yoga pants who thinks you’ve spent enough time on the treadmill makes you shudder, maybe you’d prefer to fulfill your New Year’s fitness resolution at home. But that ain’t easy, either, which is why a slew of apps on the market are offering to help. [More]
Would You Feel More Comfortable Exercising In A Gym That Bans Skinny People?
By June 20, 2012
One of the main reasons given for avoiding the gym is anxiety or embarrassment about trying to exercise while surrounded by people who are already in shape. But some gyms are now actively marketing their services to the people who need to lose the most weight, and at least one has a policy keeping the fit folks from joining. [More]
If You Want To Work Out To A Video, Just Stay Home
By February 8, 2012
Vikram has been pretty happy with his gym, Life Time Fitness. Until an employee caught him working out to a P90X video on his laptop. He was asked to stop. Vikram says that the first employee explained claimed that electronic devices were banned because they might have cameras–a weak argument when smartphones and camera-toting iPods rule the gym. A manager explained that it’s about “competing services.” Presumably the choices are: take a class or hire a trainer at the gym, or follow your workout video at home. [More]
One Man's Plan For An All-Out Attack On His Excess Baggage
By January 5, 2012
Some weight loss experts warn against sudden, drastic changes in lifestyle and diet to try to lose weight, but there’s no restrictions on the results that determination and careful planning can yield. Those who have already given up on New Year’s resolutions to lose weight may find inspiration in people who are making sweeping changes. [More]
330 lb Man Donates $5 To Fight Childhood Obesity For Every Pound He Loses
By October 7, 2011
Some people want to look good for the beach. Others want to be able to enjoy their favorite sport again. Hank, who started his journey at 335 pounds, is motivating his weight loss goal by donating $5 for every pound he loses to a local non-profit that fights childhood obesity. [More]
Training For A Triathlon On The Cheap
By September 12, 2011
Triathlons have shot up in popularity over the past few years, but how do you train without busting the bank? After all, you’re doing three sports in one, swimming, biking, and running. That means three different sports you have to buy equipment for. [More]
Build Your Own Home Gym For Cheap With Craigslist
By January 25, 2011
Getting in shape this year needn’t require a gym membership. A reader over at the New York Times Bucks Blog sent in info and pictures about the home gym he built almost entirely from equipment scavenged off Craigslist. [More]
Music Makes You Exercise Harder
By August 27, 2010
In a recent study, scientists had participants ride stationary bikes while listening to music at normal speed, at 10% slower tempo and 10% higher tempo. When “the music was played faster,” researchers wrote, “the participants chose to accept, and even prefer, a greater degree of effort.” Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to my Zumba class. [More]
Gamers Have Reactions Of Fighter Pilots, Bodies Of 60-Year Old Chain Smokers
By June 8, 2010
To see if gamers count as athletes, a British researcher subjected a whole bunch of professional gamers to a battery of tests. He found that while mentally, in terms of reflexes and reaction time they were on par with world-class athletes, physically, they were slothbags. [More]
Want A Cheap Way To Stay Fit? Buy A Pedometer
By January 11, 2010
The Los Angeles Times says that people tend to get weirdly fixated on pedometers when they have them, and will try harder to hit their daily activity goals. A San Diego State University professor tells the paper, “We don’t know why exactly, but keeping a number, a prompt, in our consciousness on a regular basis is important, and that’s why pedometers are superior to other methods. It’s on you all the time.” [More]
Planet Fitness Publicly Shamed Into Refunding Dead Member's Fees
By November 25, 2009
Gregory Rowell has been dead for nearly two years, but no one knew that he’d set up an auto debit with Planet Fitness on a second checking account. The gym continued to debit his account each month until a bank employee notified the victim’s mother, Patricia Rowell. When she provided the death certificate and asked them to refund the money, they not only refused, but said it was her fault and offered her a six month membership instead. That’s when Rowell took her story to the local newspaper. [More]
We Have No Comment About This Exercise Device, Either
By October 25, 2009
Not content with their stranglehold on the creepily suggestive fitness equipment market for women, the people behind the Shake Weight are now marketing the same product…for men.
Bally's Members Still Paying Dues For Closed Gym
By October 4, 2009
Ten miles isn’t always a quick or easy trip. That’s the message that the former members of a Bally’s club in Vancouver, Wash. want to get across to the chain after their local branch closed with little to no notice. Bally’s claims that they don’t need to end contracts or refund members’ dues since there is another Bally’s within ten miles of the club, but the drive tops half an hour for some customers—not exactly convenient.
