About eight months ago, Sally and I found out that we could get “free tickets” for unlimited excursions to visit Planet Fitness as a “Silver Sneaker,” which, BTW, is so much better than being referred to as a Senior Citizen (take note other businesses) We went up to Chautauqua Mall and signed up with our own self-devised plan to be regulars on a four-day schedule, and try and keep to that schedule as much as possible. The decision to travel to Planet Fitness actually turns into a double treat, as during my stays on the planet, each time includes a side trip to (Radio) Margaritaville through my mobile device and ear buds.

Our decided upon day schedule, which we’ve stuck to a great majority of the time since joining, is Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. (Now that Cleveland Baseball has begun, we need to get a bit more creative in scheduling trips to the planet, but we’re still going consistently.) We each established our own workout that we’ve stuck to since becoming members, with mine focusing mainly on walking, being that I’m a cardio patient (and I don’t really have a desire to look like a cross between Gorgeous George and Jack LaLanne), and Sally walking for about a half hour before moving to the stations wing of P. F. and doing a half hour of the stations laid out by the folks at Planet Fitness. She’s now added some work on the Stair Master as part of her routine. I tried doing some light lifting at the beginning, but then had some back and neck issues, so I skipped that and now concentrate on walking my entire time. My routine is a sixty-minute treadmill walk, at a medium incline at a pretty good pace (for me), followed by a five-minute cool down walk, all resulting in 4 miles walked. We do those routines on M-W-F, and on Saturday, because we go back-to-back days, we modify our workouts a bit, with Sally going a little less on the treadmill, but maintaining her station’s routine, and me walking 3 miles at the same incline and pace as my M-W-F schedule. Since updating our membership, we now enjoy a choice of message chair/machine options with which we often end our workout experience.

There’s something some people might (many do) think is kind of odd about our workout schedule, though we’re not alone. You see, Planet Fitness is open 24 hours Monday through Friday, and opens at 6:00 am on Saturdays and Sundays, and we usually encounter other “gym rats” whenever we go.

A few years ago, my sleeping habits changed drastically, best described by Jimmy Buffett in his song, Coast of Carolina, where he sang, “These days I’m up about the time I used to go to bed.” This wasn’t really my mind’s idea, but, I guess, it was my body’s plan. I began waking up anywhere between 1:00 am and 3:00 am. I was still getting enough sleep, as I’d fall asleep at about 7:00 pm in my chair while watching TV, so I’d still sleep around 6 hours. Gradually, my internal alarm clock changed a bit where mainly now I’m waking up between 11:30 and midnight. I usually catch an afternoon nap, and still get 6-ish hours of sleep in a 24-hour period. But what did I do before in those early hours? Thank God for Blue Blood marathons on TV, then a couple hours of Leave it to Beaver and Hazel, until Sally began waking up around the same time as me, and we joined P. F., so we decided to hit the gym starting around 3:15 to 3:30 am. We were able to move that back a bit (2:30 am, then 1:00 to 1:30 am), for a while, and now we’re pretty much starting our self-imposed 65-to-70 minute (plus massage) Planet visit anywhere from midnight to 1:00-ish am on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Sometimes, if there’s a ballgame on TV, we may just go after the game or take a short nap after it, and with the help of an alarm, get up around 11:30 to midnight, depending on when the game ends, and hit the gym then. On Saturdays, and the occasional Sunday we visit P. F., we’re there when the rooster crows (6:00 am.).

What’s been pretty constant in our routine on Planet Fitness has been the friendliness of the P. F. staff. The Graveyard Shift on M-W-F are great as they always greet us with a smile and a “Good Morning,” and never fail to wish us a great day as we’re leaving. Believe it or not, there are others working out at that time of day, and the two young men working are equally as friendly and pleasant to all.

You might think there’s not much for them to do at that time of day, but these two workers are vacuuming, spraying down machines, refilling paper towel dispensers, refilling the cleaner to wipe down machines, emptying trash containers, cleaning restrooms, and mopping where wet shoes/boots have created possible slipping hazards to people coming and going.

On Saturday morning, the young lady who opens up, has everything ready when those of us who show up to “open the place,” are ready to go. The TVs are all on, the fans are turning, and we’re greeted as we walk through the doors with a smile and friendly “Good morning.”

I guess the only fly in the ointment, so to speak, is the number of people, young and older, who use machines and don’t wipe them down after using them, but I guess some people are just that way.

It’s needless to say, though, we’re having a very positive experience on Planet Fitness, and we’re very happy we made the decision to journey there. There are some days, we think about staying home, but it’s just that, a thought. We’re feeling pretty good health-wise, we feel we’re accomplishing something, and we’re proud of ourselves, and each other, for sticking to our guns and our routines. A lot of that has to do with the way we’re being treated, and the way we feel as a result of that treatment afforded us by the “flight staff” we’ve encountered on our journeys to Planet Fitness.

Thanks, from a couple of Silver Sneakers, to all you P. F. Flight Attendants we’ve experienced on our Frequent Flyer Trips to Planet Fitness, who’ve made us feel so welcome, especially in those wee hours of the morning with some sleep still in our eyes working hard to escape. We appreciate all that you do.