CityView Magazine

10 | March 2020 F A M I L Y M A T T E R S Fayetteville Fitness: A Good Fit for Anyone BY CLAIRE MULLEN I t's March. Two months into the new year. Time for a check-in. How are you doing with your resolution? Time Magazine recently published statistics from a December poll, in which 30 percent of respondents said that they did, in fact, make a resolution for 2020. Of those, 50 percent reported that their top resolution was to exercise more. If you can relate to those looking to shape up a little (or a lot) now that all that pumpkin pie, Christmas cookies and conversation hearts are in your rearview mirror—and as we move full speed ahead toward swimsuit season—I completely understand. On a recent trip to my local gym, a familiar staff member greeted me rather incredulously with, "ere you are! We were wondering where you'd gone!" Oof. In an effort to combat the age-old excuse of just not being able to fit an excursion to the gym into our demanding schedules, my husband and I had a shiny new Bowflex Max Trainer delivered to our doorstep four months ago. Not one single size 7 Brooks cross- trainer has stepped on it since. And, for the record, my husband doesn't wear a 7. Although it's easy (and true) to say that life just plain gets busy, for me, having a gym membership AND a rather pricey piece of exercise equipment in the corner of the playroom makes it next to impossible to legitimize any excuse. Many of us are stationary now more than ever before. We spend hours a day in front of screens of various sorts at work only to come home and do more of the same. With grocery and meal delivery services soaring in popularity, we don't even have to leave the couch for our Little Debbies and bacon cheeseburgers. Even things invented for manual mobility like bicycles, skateboards and scooters have become motorized. But it's not all gloom and doom. Although, yes, there are a multitude of gateways to this sort of sedentary existence, the glass-half-full flipside is that there are just as many innovative ways to make exercise part of our busy lifestyles. No matter your daily schedule limitations, the number of tagalongs you may have, your age or fitness level, the Fayetteville scene has an option for you. If you're one of the rare breeds of folks who prefers to get your miles in while the rest of us are drooling on our pillows, there's a gym for that. Planet Fitness and Fit4Life Health Clubs are open 24 hours a day. Or maybe you're like me and almost always have a little person in tow. I can report from personal experience that you'll be hard-pressed to find a gym in our area with better childcare than HealthPlex. eir play center is open seven days a week to members' children ages 6 weeks to 12 years old. While I plod along on the treadmill, my two are downstairs craing, snacking, blowing bubbles, playing board games or dress-up. is arrangement is especially nice during the long summer months when the kids are out of school. If putting in your Air Pods, queueing up 90s Jock Jams, and going it alone is not for you, a group workout setting just might be. Pure Barre, Orange eory Fitness, Fit Body Boot Camp and a multitude of CrossFit gyms across Fayetteville offer power in sweaty, Spandex- clad numbers. Fitness influences are all around me, holding me accountable. Even in my own circle of friends. Tiffany Pennink, a real estate agent, mom of two young children and board member for both the Arts Council and CARE Clinic Evening of Care Committee, meets her friend and fellow parent Lindsey Lane, an assistant district attorney, several times a week at 6 a.m. to tackle a workout at Orange

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