I do not belong to Lifetime Fitness, but by the looks of the outdoor water park attached to the gym, it looks like fun. Which, by the way, is part of the reason I affectionately call the place Funtime Fitness.

That, and when Lifetime Fitness built it’s first gym in my neck of the woods all of the cool kids made a mass exodus from my gym and went there, taking all of the fun with them (right, Carrie, Sabrina, Sarah, Jen, Heather, and Kristen?)

While I am not a member of Lifetime Fitness, I recently discovered I can get a piece of their fun, or at least a piece of their minds, by reading their magazine Experience L!fe.

I first grabbed a copy of their magazine that was left behind in a waiting room a few months ago and I picked up my second copy at my local grocery store this week. Who knew it was a mainstream magazine?!

Why am I telling you this?

I’m telling you this because I want you to Experience Life (arr, arr.)

In all seriousness, if I was handing out an award today, I’d Experience L!fe the Fitness & Spice Seal of Approval.

Experience L!fe is not packed full of fluff, workouts that I would never do, or recipes that I would never eat. But what it is packed with is sound advice, articles written by reputable sources, the latest gear that I’d actually use (and some that I’m already using like Lynx Performance Grips and Valslides!), and food that I will be eating later this week.

Be on the lookout for Experience L!fe on magazine racks where you shop, consider a subscription, or take a look online and while you’re there, check out their blogs. There’s even a blog over there titled “Pumping Irony”…now why didn’t I think of that!?

Now I really must go quit having so much fun and go see what’s happening over at 48 Hour Fitness and Rural Inactive!

I don’t typically wear lifting gloves when I workout because:

• I think calluses are wicked cool
• They can be a bit of a hassle when you only really need them for heavy lifts and not your entire workout
• I lose gloves like socks (meaning I have plenty of gloves and socks without mates) and sporting the Michael Jackson look in the gym is not cool

But lately I’ve been using these great little Lynx Performance Grips that Angela regifted ;-) gave me a few months ago.

I think they’re great because:

• They’re tacky. And by tacky I don’t mean cheesy, I mean they adhere to the bar and the palm of your hand with ease
• They are the perfect solution for when your hands are sweaty or slippery from slapping on way too much body lotion before you workout
• Sometimes your grip strength gives out before your muscles do (for me that’s lifts like deadlifts, chin ups, and pull ups)
• They’re affordable! You can find them online at sites like GNC or 24 Hour Fitness for about $10
• They come in pink! (They also have other colors like black, blue, orange, and red)

Now I really must go grab a bite and get a hold of Ang to thank her for such a tacky gift!