Muscle memory

After hitting the gym very regularly during my pregnancy, things took a sharp turn post-baby.  Once I was cleared for take-off exercising again, I started going to the gym a couple of times a week, sometimes using the free childcare, sometimes leaving Gabriel with Matthew.

I fell into a somewhat regular pattern that completely fell apart once maternity leave ended and I went back to work full time.  After a couple of months of rarely darkening the door of the YMCA, I cancelled my membership.  I just couldn’t justify the $46 a month when I was making it there less than twice a week.

Enter unemployment and more free time — at Matthew’s urging, I’m considering gym options.  I’m torn between my familiar YMCA, which, due to our move, is now solidly in the “biking distance” category, or another gym that is just a couple of blocks away and easily walkable.

I’ve visited both gyms and worked out as a guest in the last two weeks, trying to get a feel for each facility and weigh the pros and cons.  While, on the whole, I’m much more active since I ditched the desk job for days filled with biking around with, and chasing after, a toddler, I’m enjoying the feeling of a good, full-body weight lifting session.*

If it weren’t for the distance, I’d probably pick the Y with little debate, despite it being more expensive.  However, I’d be bringing Gabriel with me most of the time, and I’m a little uncertain about biking with him in wintry weather.

If we have a very mild winter, like last year, it would be a moot point.  But you never know with the weather — with the YMCA, I may well be faced with the dilemma of driving (which I balk at since it’s less than two miles away) or skipping the gym on some days.

I’m still not sure what I’ll do on the gym question (though I should follow through and do one or the other), but I will be looking into some kind of under-the-helmet head covering for Gabriel so we’re ready for chilly rides, one way of the other.  Do they make balaclavas for toddlers?

*Not one to ease back into things, I returned home after the first workout and proceeded to hang a load of laundry, only to find that I could barely lift my arms up to hang the clothes on the line — oops!