Falling Off the Workout Wagon in Ridgewood

There are people who workout because it's a part of who they are, it's ingrained in the natural rhythm of their day. Spin class, work, dinner, homework with kids, television, sleep. Repeat. There are those who workout to stay healthy because they have to for medical reasons. Some workout because they want to attain or maintain a certain clothing size. Then there are those who use it to de-stress and clear thoughts, if you will.

I suppose I'm in the second and fourth camps, seeing as how I'd like to be healthy to try for another child and because working out also helps me to fend off anxious energy and escape. Plus, breaking a sweat just makes me feel better. I'm at my best physically and mentally when I stick to a regular fitness routine. With that said, I'm not sticking to one right now. I've always found it difficult to stick with working out, and the fitness centers in Ridgewood are making it far too easy for me to fall off the wagon as a parent. My experience with them leads me to believe that I'm not the only parent they're letting down, either. Which surprises me, given that we're in a suburban (aka FAMILY-friendly) North Jersey town.

I recently switched gyms in Ridgewood. I belonged to one that offered childcare from 9 a.m. until Noon, and you had to make a reservation in advance. This didn't really work with my schedule as the morning classes weren't timed well for me, and there was no childcare option in the early afternoon when I wanted to workout on my own. So I'm sure you can guess what happened: I didn't go to the gym and I didn't workout. For months. So when my local friends spoke about their gym with childcare available until 3 p.m., then again from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. - with no advanced registration - I was on the horn to join with them. Woot! Mama gets to workout again! Until now.

These past few weeks parents have been home with housefuls of kids. So they're going to the gym with their kids in tow for the sought-after morning pilates and core conditioning and cardio classes for the all the various reasons above and I imagine also for the mind-break from the kiddos - with such inexpensive childcare costs, who wouldn't? (Really, it's only $2/hr. at this gym vs. normal North Jersey babysitting costs of $12-$20/hr for one kid.) When I signed up at the gym over a month ago, the trainer warned me that it would get busy with moms for a few weeks in the summer once school gets out, but that it levels back off as people leave for vacations, etc. I didn't think much of it. It was said to me in passing, and it wasn't a warning that I may not be able to workout, just that it gets busy then. Until I got a call from my friend I was going to meet there three weeks ago, "Uhm, I'm sitting down the street watching the kids eat donut holes. The gym turned us away from class because the childcare room was full. I'm going to walk back there in about ten minutes and see if I can get into the next class. Just wanted you to know in case you're on your way so you can just come later."

What?! Turned away from working out at the gym - not because equipment or facilities were full, but because the childcare room was too full? Yes, and this happened to another friend when I ran into her in the bread aisle at Stop 'n Shop, and happened to me personally two days later (which is incredibly frutstrating to arrive 30 minutes before class starts to see a parent of three - all playing in the childcare room - on the elliptical before class and I'm standing there at the front desk being turned away with Li'l Boo.) Not that I'm complaining about her or against large families - I come from one and want one myself! But seeing her kids taking up three spots in the childcare room was the icing on the cake (which, incidently, is exactly what I went and bought at A&P after being turned away, and then proceeded to eat for lunch "dessert" with the kiddo an hour later.) My beef isn't with other parents wanting to workout while their kids are in the gym's childcare - I'm an advocate for family fitness! I LOVE seeing parents take their kids to the gym with them, or walking into town, or walking/biking around Veteran's track. Showing them by example how to develop a healthy physically-active lifestyle is one of the best gifts we can give our children. Especially for those like me who have a hard time sticking with a workout schedule WITHOUT being turned away at the gym.

No, my anger is focused solely on the gym management. If you know that the childcare situation gets crazy busy during the summer weeks or months, then perhaps you should address it. (Turning multiple people away each morning ain't it.) Get to know your members and listen to them! Add additional childcare resources. Or, make people register in advance for childcare so that they don't show up planning on a workout to be turned away at the front desk. Or better yet, stagger the classes beyond the morning! Currently, the last morning class gets out around Noon, and the next class doesn't begin until 4 or 5 p.m. There are no classes offered in the studio room in between, and I bet some of the parents attending class in the morning may prefer to attend the same less-busy class at 12:30 or 3:30 in the afternoon - alleviating some of the morning childcare congestion.

It doesn't have to be a permanent offering, maybe do it just for a few weeks or the summer months when this would help your members so you don't turn them away for a day? Just a suggestion. If you offer childcare as a marketable perk to members while they workout in your facility, but people arrive and you tell them it's full and the can't stay? That's just wrong. That's like not offering the childcare perk in the first place. It's just as if you were closed . . . and I don't need to pay for the privilege of not working out.

This is an original New Jersey Moms Blog post by c2cmom. She blogs about her adventures in family fitness, travel and charitable activities at Coast to Coast Mom.