Being mostly made of lard it has been a long desire of mine to beat the bulge. I know I eat far too much of the wrong stuff and my idea of exercise is opening the fridge door. However, the cost of going to the gym hasn’t really done much to support my change in lifestyle. The Reebok gym at Canary Wharf was so expensive that only the traders that work in the area could only afford the frankly extortionate charges. Certainly the facilities available were world class and luxurious but selling my liver and promising my first child to pay the joining fee alone wasn’t enough to convince me it was a great deal.
In late 2011 I noticed a new building being constructed just 5 minutes from my home that was attached to the University of East London. The university has been expanding fairly rapidly over the years and thought nothing more of it. As the building began to take shape I decided to investigate further to discovered that the very big building was about to become something called, The SportsDock.. Even at this point I was unaware that the public would get access to such a facility. After all, it could have been used solely used for students or as a site for education. I would have to wait until March 2012 to discover that the £21m building was open to the public.
When I arrived on the opening day to investigate the costs, I discovered that there was no joining fee. I’ve never really understood the concept of a joining fee. I’m not sure what real costs are associated in the administration of someone wanting to join a gym but I’m absolutely certain that £40 is quite a lot.
The good news continued with the monthly charge. The unlimited gold package with discounts on classes and free parking was just £40 a month. I’ve spent more than that on lunch. I don’t why it’s so cheap but I’ve got no excuse not to go and get myself fit. The facilities are so good that the US Olympic team will be using them as the their camp during London 2012. The downside of this is that I won’t be allowed to go for a month while they do it. I guess it has something to do with not wanting to show them up or something like that anyway. When it was announced that the US team would be using it as a training camp the sites CCTV was beefed up somewhat at the their request, from 12 cameras to 48. Paranoid or what???
The weights are also supplied by the US team and are in Olympic colors but sadly too big and heavy for a weakling like me. Maybe one day…
So now it’s time for me to attack the lard…
M