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Does anyone here go to a gym or has been a member of one? Me and Rowenna were thinking of joining Howe Bridge gym because it looks as though they have decent facilities.

Basically, I was just looking for advice on membership rates, length of minimum membership, etc.

Mike and I are members of Total Fitness. We pay ?75 a month for joint membership and are tied into a contract with them for a year. Plus there was an initial joining fee which as I recall Mike and I both got reduced rates on because I joined when the gym had just opened, and Mike joined when there was an offer on. This is normally about 1 months membership, I think!!!

If you were interested in Total Fitness I think there is one near you in Walkden. I think there might be some sort of recommend a friend scheme where we can get you free membership for a day/ week to try it out and there might be a reduction on the membership fee- but I would have to check it out.

All in all, gym membership is quite expensive but the facitilities are much cleaner and newer than the Council leisure centre. For Mike and I we see it as a bit of a luxury really, but well worth it !!

Mike also really needs to use his Gym Membership! I have not been for a while because I have been studying hard!

My fitness costs:

Swimming once a week at the Aquatic Centre in Manchester, price: ?2.70
Badminton once a week at the Bolton Arena, price: ?2.30

Total cost per week: ?5.00

Total cost per moth: ?20.00

Total cost per year: ?240.00

Both places are clean and pleasant, both have fitness equipment I could use (if I weren't so skinny and therefore liable to fall apart on the machines!) and I'm not giving away money when I can't go.

I think if you're going to tie yourself to a gym membership then you also have to make that extra commitment to go several times a week, without fail...which is why I haven't got a gym membership! :)

Well, I've been told that for the year the membership will cost me ?170 and that includes unlimited swimming. However, I don't want that because of the amount of kids from my school that use it.

Rowenna's would be ?240 because she doesn't work for Wigan Council.
Overall, that is ?410 which works out at roughly ?8 a week or ?35 a month. I thought that was quite steep but having done some more research I don't think that is too bad!

I had a brief gander at the gym on my way to pool last night and it looked decent - lots of equipment and not too many muscle bound freaks / posers which have always put me off in the past. It was also very clean which I was surprised about considering that it was sooooo dirty when I was a student. The amount of equipment shocked me as well - I thought that it would just be weights and a running machine, etc - I was amazed at how many high-tech machines they had, and the variety of them was staggering.

Two quick questions - where is the best place for gym wear? Am I right in thinking that somewhere like Soccer Sports has decent bargains. Also, I need women's gym wear for Rowenna as well - so ladies, any suggestions regarding that would be helpful. The other question, is what is the ''induction'' usually like - I can remember my one vaguely from Uni but only that my inductor was blonde, 22, had a nice hourglass figure and did this exercise for her thighs that made me go weak at the knees!

Sorry to disagree with you there Al, but it was my experiences at the Manchester Aquatics centre which turned me off council gyms. Namely:

- dirty nappies left on the floor of the changing room.
- hair/ plasters and other unmentionables in the pool.
- pervy men sitting on the side of the pool for no apparant reason.
- scallies (don't think I really need to add to that !!).

Maybe the men's changing rooms are better- and to be fair I haven't used the gym there. Although I was going to go to an exercise class there once but they had some bizarre system of paying in advance for the classes, and you would lose the money if you then found you couldn't make it. Bit too much pre-planning involved for my liking.

Ok, I admit that the changing rooms leave a little to be desired (they're unisex, so I know what you mean), but they're a damn sight better than Uttoxeter swimming baths, which were a tad on the basic, unclean side!

The pervy people on the side are called 'Lifeguards', they're there mainly to perv and sometimes to rescue people! ;)

The scallies are usually well into the hours that they are not allowed to leave their house due to their ASBOs when I go!

After starring in my first hockey match in over 1 1/2 years I have decided that I do indeed need extra exercise and probably a better diet - the half a bottle of wine the previous night is also off the menu next weekend. After 5 mins I was completely knackered and was subbed after 20 minutes for a younger and fitter version (I must state at this point that for some reason they had placed me in the higher team that was four divisions up from what I am used to....... and in terms of fitness it showed). However, the little scroat screwed up twice and that cost us two goals which meant that I had to come back on and make horrendous last-ditch tackles against a very ugly Manc who can only be described as Speedy Gonzalez crossed with Shrek. At the end, we won 3-2 and I slumped off to the showers. My fellow teammates mocked me for having a tubby belly which I found insulting and I realised then that they were all gymers - one of them is entering the Mr.Wigan contest today! This made me cue the line ''why have a six-pack when you can have a barrel'' and I was told many reasons why. In depression at the lack of carbs in my diet and distinct lack of lower stomach muscles, I disappeared off to the bar for a few relaxing bevvies - I know it wasn't a great start to my future training but I got to have 3 free pints from the subs jug.

Around 2 hours later the pain started and 24 hours later is only just going. It was during this pain that I decided to join a gym, something I have thought about doing for a while but now I realise I must do.

I have therefore made the momentous decision to join Howe Bridge gym because at ?150 a year it looks damn good and according to my fellow teaching mate it represents ''excellent value'' (he showed me round). It is a decent sized gym with about 3-7 models for each type of sporting equipment - 3 rowing machines, 7 running machines, etc. It has a number of pieces of equipment I have never even seen before and one hell of a weights section. I also checked out the changing facilities and they were exceptionally clean and get monitored every hour by a different person (they had one of those check-list things prominently displayed). I will start my training soon and just hope that I will be able to keep up with them.

dedication is the most important part of exercise because if you don't do it regularly the benefits to health and fitness will be practically nil. once a regular routine is adopted ahead of watching the idiot box, drinking or wasting endless hours on the internerd, you'll start to enjoy the burn and get a sense of achievement. good luck dude! :D

I must admit that during my studies (and Lizzie's trips away from home during the week) my Gym going has slacked off a bit and I will rue this when I go back later this week.

The routine is the hardest part but it is also good to go with someone to egg you on a little bit.

Which Hockey Team are you now playing for?

I'm currently playing for Wigan Mens 2nds. I was playing for 3rds but I get the feeling that a few people have dropped out. Plus, I'm cack handed which means that I rarely lose the ball in possession and can go past people fairly easily. However, if an horrendous tackle is done on me (where they go for my arm) then I could suffer injury quite easily. The reason I feel I am in the team is because left-backs in Hockey are at a premium - not many like playing there because you are not on the strong stick side and constantly have to tackle and play good zonal defence.

The league we are in is North West Div 4. I personally think that we could survive this year if we had a decent striker but we don't and will struggle to score. (This weekend will be a good indication of how we are to do because we play two matches. If we win one of them I can see us staying up due to early season confidence and optimism). Also, Ralph is still our lynchpin in defence and at 48 that ain't good seeing as the vast majority are fit young kids/uni lads in this league. I don't really wish to go down into the 3rds because they are in Hockey League North Div 8 which is not really competitive (very old men and crap young spotty kids) and is a league I have already won during my last year at uni.

Overall, the most important part is that I had a real good laugh on Saturday and I have something to positively look forward to this weekend.

Is this going to be a weekly playing event then? It sound like fun, I have never played Hockey before in my entire life so I don't know anything about it. Shame really, we should come and cheer you on at some point. I bet it would be good to have your own fan club! :D

We play every Saturday weather permitting and I think there are about 24-30 games in the season. Cup runs for this team are generally extremely short.

Perhaps the coolest thing to come out of this is that a really nice Year 9 kid came up to me and asked me to coach him and his friends because they wanted to learn how to play the game. Apparently they had seen it on telly, watched it on the commonwealth games (when it was on) and after they'd played it for 20 minutes in a P.E. lesson they had decided it was fun and wanted to play it more. They asked the P.E. teacher who declined and put them my way. The great thing about this is that I'll get a free coaching course (worth ?250) free because the school are going to buy all the books, manuals, equipment, etc and they have said they might pay me and I would LOVE to do it (I'd do it for nowt but I won't tell them that!)

when did bedford stop playing hockey? they had two teams [almost excusively girls] on the go when i was a pupil...though that was over a decade ago now! Eee, when i was a lad...

they still have a girls team for each year but there hasn't been a boys team for a hell of a long time grandad