Fire Critic An Unadulterated View of the Fire Service
The North Roanoke Gold’s Gym has offered my department’s firefighters free membership since they opened several years ago. For the past year or two I have taken full advantage of the free membership. Full advantage in the good sense of the word. I appreciated every chance I got to work out at the club with my free membership. I never once thought about taking advantage of it.
As a matter of fact, I was there working out twice when 911 was called. Once for a witnessed siezure almost right in front of me and again for chest pains. The second time, there were 4 or 5 firefighters right there on scene immediately (albiet off-duty).
Squatting. I was probably crushed by this weight shortly after the photo was taken….MEDIC!
As of today, I no longer get to enjoy that free membership. You guessed it…someone screwed it up for the rest of us. I don’t know all of the details, but apparently a firefighter took advantage of the free membership. The details don’t matter. They screwed up a good thing. They screwed up a benefit we had from a local company who thought enough of us to offer a deal for THEIR Firefighters.
I hold no ill will towards Golds. I don’t blame them at all. Tomorrow morning, I will become a paying member of the gym. I have enjoyed working out with my wife at Gold’s. It took her a while to get me to join her, and I appreciate her inspiring me to get in shape. I find a lot of other inspiration from the guys at Fire Service Warrior and friends on Facebook.
I only hope that I don’t find out who messed it up for us until after I cool off. Whoever it was just cost me about $400 a year. Not only that, but they gave me and my department a black mark.
I am not new to these things…The same thing happened at the local Red Robin. We used to get 50% off until a Firefighter took advantage of it. When I worked in Richmond, we got 50% off at one of the downtown Subway’s until someone screwed it up.
We get these sort of gestures because the companies want to do something nice for us. Do not take advantage of that relationship. Don’t screw it up for everyone else.
Me, probably just posing under the weight my wife just pressed. I’m getting there though. The shirt is by Ride Backwards!
With all that said, I will update you on my training…
I am currently down to 152 lbs. My diet is extremely strict. I dream of beer, beef, and sushi. It is up in the air on which competition my wife and I will be competing in. It will either be April 20th in Richmond, May 4th in Richmond, or July 20th in Roanoke. We are on track for the April/May dates, but might put it off til July due to some unforeseen circumstances. I will keep you updated.
I still think it is hilarious to think that I will be competing in a bodybuilding competition, but it is all part of the goal of thinning out and getting ripped. Once it is over, I hope to enjoy a much healthier lifestyle while putting on some lean muscle. One thing is for sure, I am in much better shape than I ever have been. Did I mention I am doing cardio 11 times a week at least 45 minutes each time, typically on the stairmaster?
