Cult

I am beginning to suspect that my new gym is some type of cult. It has all the signs--perky people trying desperately to recruit new members, brainwashing techniques that make you feel worthless so that you become desperate for the hope they promise, and obstacles at the door if you try to leave once they've sucked you in. John and I joined this new gym because of the nice facility, state of the art equipment, and abundance of natural light (my reason more than John's, I think). On our first day, they gave us fitness assessments to scare us into spending more money to improve our body compositions and fitness levels. We, of course, fell for their ploy hook, line, and sinker, but as our first week went on, we noticed that this gym seems to have a strong focus on selling products and services that are probably unnecessary for the average Jane and Joe (like us) who doesn't plan on competing in an Olympic event. And what makes matters worse is that in spite of how unnecessary this stuff is, the staff at my gym go about selling the products by essentially saying that without the product, no one will acheive the results you want. Logically, this is not the case. People have acheived results for years before this technology was even available. To me, this pushiness with a smile reminds me of a cult, not a gym. No gym that I have gone to before has been so forceful in trying to get everyone to fit the same mold and do the same things. And while most gym staff is laid back, these people are as sickeningly perky as they are unabashedly pushy in their brainwashing tactics. And once you pay for one thing, they think you're a true sucker and they try to convince you to pay for something else. For example, John and I bought heart rate monitors, but then we were told that to most accurately determine how hard we should be working, we need to pay $90 each for another assessment. I'm quite happy with the approximation I made up in my head for free. I will have to learn to turn my headphones on as soon as I walk out of the locker room so that I can enjoy my workout in peace without being told that the only way I'll ever be good enough is to buy into a philosophy and practice that my wallet simply cannot afford.