Gym Update

When you last heard from me I had given the old Yugoslavian "olympic" gym a try: http://ouryearinslovenia.blogspot.com/2014/09/pomilujem-sibka-americanski.html.  Some questioned my fortitude.  Would I stick it out in that harsh location?  The short answer is no.  If scary old equipment and harsh lighting makes one strong, I will have to settle for weakness!

The search for the right place resulted in a bit of a Goldilocks problem.  The NEXT nearest gym to our house is the 4P fitness club.  If the Olimpijia gym was too severe, the 4P was way too slick.  It's in this big, empty office building (sure sign of the burst Slovenian bubble: an almost empty, brand new office building) and has all new and shiny equipment.  The people who work there are aggressively ripped and good looking, as were most of the clients.  Here's the advertising on the side of the building:

Tragically, those two are actually emblematic of who comes to the club.  Weirdly, the second ad features a guy in a big wig with DJ headphones and a Borat swimsuit next to the same female model:

No idea at all why.  Here's a shot of the sad "for rent" sign. I'll do a post on the busted bubble some other day, but memo to banks: never loan money to build a "Mega-Center" office building 10 minutes from downtown and 10 minutes from anything else of use if your only tenant is the 4P fitness center:

The gym is nice, but plays deafening EDM on a loop and often has a long line of ripped and surly guys blocking the squat rack.  In short, not ok for me.

I finally found a gym that was "just right," the gym in the University of Ljubljana Faculty of Sport.  It has a 25 meter swimming pool and a small, but functional, weight room/fitness area that has a nice mix of professors and students and is never very crowded.  I mostly go in the morning and at that hour it actually reminds me a bunch of the gym at UT, which suits me fine.  And don't worry too much about me getting soft.  The gym has a bunch of inspirational photos on the walls to keep me strong:

 And yes, that is Arnold Schwarzenegger and Loni Anderson in evening wear.  If there is anything more inspiring than these three photos, you will have to show it to me!