Life Time Fitness = A Lifetime of Fun

Last week a new health club/resort spa, Life Time Fitness, finally opened it's doors in South Austin. Since I have decided that it is time to get back in tip-top shape it couldn't have come at a better time. The last time I joined a health club it was about ten years ago in my mid 20's. We had no children then and my schedule was work late, stay up later, sleep late, go to the gym, rinse and repeat. Like a lot of people, the "go to the gym" part of the day eventually morphed into "sleep later" instead.

But Life Time Fitness is much more than a gym. It's a water park, basketball and rock climbing gym, with racquetball, squash, Yoga, Pilates, spin classes, lap pools, hot tubs, saunas, a cafe and hair/nail salon, a huge children's area with 2-hours a day of childcare included, swimming lessons, soccer days, kid's basketball court, and ample parking!

Granted, I'll probably never take Pilates or get my hair and nails done (what hair?), but I will definitely utilize many of the other amenities. And surprisingly the price of it all for the whole family is less than our cable, phone, and high speed Internet bill every month.

Starting tomorrow my goal is to get rid of my pregnancy weight (the food baby) and increase my running endurance while adding some muscle to my spindly frame. With that will come added performance on the tennis court so I can beat my tennis bum buddy. The only problem I can foresee about that plan is that he is also a member of Life Time Fitness, which means I'll probably have to spike his Gatorade with sleeping pills before we start to play if I ever want to have a fighting chance.

At-Home Dad Advantages

Being an at-home parent does have some negatives, albeit small ones compared to the positives. One negative is the lack of adult communication on a daily basis. Sometimes a trip to the grocery store provides a welcome relief by striking up a conversation with a stranger or friendly employee that knows you as a regular.

But the advantages of being an at-home parent far outweigh the negatives for this dad. For example, this week I have been deathly ill with a sinus/cold virus that came with a fever. OK, maybe not "deathly" ill but when you have two toddlers going bonkers around the house because Daddy is too sick to care if they break anything, death feels like a viable option to release the pain that won't go away. Thankfully they didn't break anything. Not even my spirit! The advantage here is that I didn't have to take sick days from work to get better. When they napped, I napped. When they watched a video, I napped. When they played quietly on the floor, I laid on the couch and checked my eyelids for leaks.

Another great advantage of being an at-home parent is getting to watch the US Open all day on Thursday and Friday! If you are not a fan of golf then you could care less about this advantage. Not this dad! It's a great thing when you can watch nine straight hours of golf - two days in a row - and there is not a boss around to make you turn it off.

Since I'm still recovering from the tail-end of this nasty virus, I think I'll head upstairs while Little Bit is napping and catch some of the first round in bed.