Thank you, George Brown

I don’t actually know George Brown, but he appears to be a pretty good guy here in Fresno.  You see, George Brown owns several gyms here in town, GB3.  

A new GB3 opened very close to our home. I clocked the drive today. At 5:15 PM, presumably the height of rush hour, I was able to drive from our home to the gym in 6 minutes.  When the gym opened last month I urged Rick and Max that we should join.  Not only is it is conveniently located, but it is really affordable, Max can go on his own without a parent present, and they have all usual gym equipment and classes, including a lap pool.  It is clean and new. It is inviting. And it doesn’t feel like a meat market, if you know what I mean.

I have been experimenting with going to different classes and going at different times of the day. So far I love the spinning classes – there is always a bike available. And even though it is the busiest time of day, I like going in the evenings.  

Evenings are family time at the GB3.  I walk in and I see children and parents – and even grandparents – working out together. Mothers and daughters in Zumba classes.  Two generations walking on side-by-side treadmills. Fathers and sons spotting each other at the weight machines.  

Evenings at the gym also show the diversity and multiplicity of cultures and religious groups that is Fresno.  Hispanics, Armenians, African Americans, Sikhs, Hmong, Caucasians, and the occasional Jew (that would be my family) – we are all at the gym together.  Side by side. Getting healthy – or at least trying.

Yes, there is an epidemic of obesity in this country. I see that too at the gym.  Yet, each evening as I get back in my car after a good workout, I have a sense of hope.  Families that workout together, that get healthy together, are making an effort to put an end to that epidemic.

Thank you George Brown for making it affordable and easy for that to happen.