Joining a gym

Preparation Task
Preparation task  score: 6 out of 6
Task 1  score: 7 out of 8
Task 2  score: 9 out of 9

Summary
The man has come to a gym asking for information about costs, stuff and facilities. He has seen on
the outside sign that the gym has the best budget membership in the city and the lady has
confirmed it: if he finds a cheaper rate than they will match it.
They don’t have sign up fees or cancellation fees: the last means that there isn’t a minimum
number of months after which you have to leave if you don’t want to be charged.
They don’t do 24h: they open at 5 pm and close a midnight. They tried the 24h but there weren’t
enough people to make profitable keeping the gym open.
They have trainers who can make a personal evaluation of the customer: the man hasn’t ever
worked with a personal trainer before.
The personal trainer can design an exercise plan right for the customer and including nutritional
advices too. This is free for a trial period but than you have an addition cost for the trainer.
They offer a sample visit.

Useful expressions
 I’ve been meaning to  avevo intenzione di
 I was wondering if you could help me  Mi chiedevo se potevi aiutarmi
 To get something straight  capire bene (Let me get this straight/I can’t get this straight)

My opinion
What do you look for in a gym?

I think I would look for budget rate, clean changing rooms, easy possibility to find parking nearby, qualified
stuff.
I used to go to a gym few years ago, I also changed two gyms, but after a while I was finding it boring.
I think the best way of doing this kind of activity is to be followed by a personal trainer and to follow a diet: the
first is very expensive and I can’t do the second because at my home we all eat the same thing: I haven’t
enough time during lessons period to cook for myself so I eat what all people in my family eat.
I say this because if you train hard and follow a right plan you might see quite soon good results and in this
way is less boring. If you spend years in the gym without seeing results you will be soon bored of lifting
weights.
During a period I took the training seriously but I think the way a was going to the gym was quite unsafe: my
goal and the amusing thing was adding every week more weight on the barbell (dumbbell) and doing a sort of
challenge with friends in the gym. This leads to muscle or articulations aches and it could be dangerous in
some kind of exercises. I know it’s stupid but that was the only exciting thing to get out from boring.
I stopped going to the gym when I started playing tennis: I think outdoor activity is more pleasant than the
indoor one: I stay indoor all day long so it’s enjoyable to stay open air for a while, even if it’s cold in winter.

What kind of exercise and physical activity do you like to do and how are you maintaining that now, at this
time?

I like playing tennis because first of all, unlike going to the gym, it’s a game and so I think it’s more entertaining,
you fell the competition with the other people.

I attend lessons with a master, we are usually four people: in the first part of the lesson we improve our
technical skills, basically repeating different kind of shots, backhand and forehand. In the second part we play
with the score, both in single and in double.

At this time I stop playing tennis and I do a short routine twice a week, just few exercises: push-ups, squats,
dumbbell, abs.