Don’t Lock Yourself Out of the Gym

Anytime Fitness of Gilbertsville is a great facility. The club is clean, affordable, and as the name implies, offers members anytime access. As a way of keeping cost down, the gym is only staffed during normal business hours.

In order to gain access to the gym, all you need to do is place a small key-fob near a proximity sensor next to the door. You hear a little beep and the door unlocks. My biggest fear with Anytime Fitness was to walk out of the gym and forget my keys – locking myself out of the facility with no way of opening my car.

Today, that fear came true. I spent the last 20 minutes of my gym session on the Power Mill. The podcast episode I was listening to had finished a few minutes before I was done, so I popped out my headphones and listened to the gym music while I wrapped up my workout.

For one reason or another, my mind began to wander. When the machine beeped to let me know that the workout had concluded, I hopped off, grabbed a towel to wipe it down, then headed out the door with my head in the clouds.

As I stepped off the sidewalk and into the parking lot, I reached into my pocket for my keys. Realizing that I forgot them inside, I turned around just in time to watch the door click shut. I pulled on it and, as expected, it was locked.

What made matters worse was that the club manager had just went to lunch and wouldn’t be back for an hour and fifteen minutes (the door is unlocked during staffed hours so that people can inquire about membership).

I stood outside the door, soaked in sweat, peeking in through the glass. People were inside but everyone was in the strength area (blocked from my wildly flapping hands) and had headphones on (unable to hear me beating on the door).

For a moment I entertained the idea of getting in a little extra cardio and running home. I didn’t want to leave my car and keys behind, so I scrapped that idea and waited around for someone to either come out or go inside.

After 10 minutes of waiting I thought I found my way in. A guy pulled up, hopped out of his truck, and headed for the door. I asked him if he was going inside because I locked my keys in there. He was going inside but it was to renew his membership. His key didn’t work.

10 more minutes went by when two vehicles pulled up and guys with gym bags and weight belts hopped out. I stopped them at the door and they were kind enough to let me in. I suppose standing outside of a gym for twenty minutes, looking like a sweaty mess, wasn’t all that terrible.

Thanks to my friend Jerry for joking that it would have been funny if my wife went into labor while I was locked out. Now that would have been terrible…