Playing YWCA Fitness Bingo and Discovering New Ways to Improve My Health

Fred Strom first joined YWCA Midtown in 2002 and was a member on and off over the next few years. He joined again in 2009 and has been a member ever since. In this blog, Fred writes about his fitness journey and how playing Fitness Bingo at YWCA has pushed him to get out of his fitness routine and try new things.

I joined YWCA Midtown because it is unmatched in the neighborhood in terms of fitness equipment and space for exercising. I have recently discovered how valuable the services are for improving my physical fitness too, like personal training and classes.

Starting on the Path of Getting Fit

I started out with personal training in January 2018 because the YWeightLoss Challenge sounded like a fun competition to me, and I wanted to lose weight and start on the path of getting fit. It was a big challenge since I was completely out of shape physically. During the YWeightLoss challenge, I put on a bit of muscle and lost some fat. From then, I slowly built up a bit of endurance and continued to add muscle.

Completing Two Coverall Cards

Then Fitness Bingo came along, and it was the right competition at the right time for me. I started out with a free Fitness Bingo Card and hoped that I would be able to get five in a row for a bingo, and then the prospect of doing a coverall card became very tempting! I added a Deluxe Fitness Bingo Card when I realized that I wanted to challenge myself to do two coverall cards. With the Deluxe Fitness Bingo Card's six 30-minute personal training sessions, I used it as an opportunity to further explore my options with personal trainers. In the end, I completed two coverall cards, the Free Fitness Bingo Card and the Deluxe Fitness Bingo Card, by achieving 48 fitness tasks.

Trying My First Fitness Classes

The competition got me to go my first fitness class at YWCA. Now I have attended many classes with different focuses, including yoga (I had never tried any type of yoga before Fitness Bingo), cycling, TRX, aerobic and strength. I tried both free classes and Small Group Training classes, and I am going to continue with both types. I had not been swimming for years, and Fitness Bingo got me to try it again. Swimming is such a good workout that I plan to lap swim at least once a week from now on.

Motivated to Try New Things

Fitness Bingo motivated me to try new things. Fitness Bingo motivated me to step outside of my boring workout routine, which was mostly doing the elliptical trainer or walking on the treadmill. I tried both new activities and things that I had not done in years, including the free fitness classes, Small Group Training classes, yoga and swimming that have helped me take my workout routine to the next level. I loved Fitness Bingo! Now that the challenge is over, I want to use my prize to help pay for my new personal training sessions.