Even though I haven’t worked out at Richard Simmons’ studio Slimmons in years, I was still pretty upset when I heard that the studio would be closing down next month. I know I’ve written about Slimmons before, but I feel this is important and I’m going to share a lot of my story there again.
I first went to Slimmons because of my friend Alex. She told me how much she loved going to workouts there and I decided that it could be something fun to check out. I never expected to go there regularly, I just thought I could have it as a fun story to tell people. Not everyone gets to work out with the one and only Richard Simmons, so I wanted to do it! I had no idea what to expect but went into the workout with an open mind.
And I was surprised to discover that I really liked it! This was right after I had regained a lot of weight that I had lost, so my confidence was very low. I didn’t want to return to the gym that I belonged to because I didn’t want people to stare at me (or worse, remember that I was recently thin and judge me for gaining back the weight). But at Slimmons, nobody is looking at you. Yes, part of that is because Richard is just so ridiculous that you can’t take your eyes off of him. But another part is that he made it such an accepting environment that you wouldn’t dare to think negatively about anyone else and you are very focused on bettering yourself.
Alex and I would go to Slimmons on a somewhat regular basis. I tried to do at least one of Richard’s classes each week. And I started to make friends in class pretty quickly. One of those friends is one of my current day job bosses (she actually got me a job shortly after we met at Slimmons). And one of my favorite bloggers (who is more of an acquaintance) was someone I met because he also went to Slimmons. I had a lot of people I saw each week, and it was nice to have people who expected to see me each week in class.
And of course, I had to share my love of Slimmons with other people. I brought a bunch of friends there (including having one friend celebrate his birthday there).
And because my dad is always interested in trying whatever workout craze I’m loving, he had to come with me to Slimmons. I didn’t get a picture when just my dad and I went, but the next trip my parents had to LA got my mom to join us! My mom loves tennis and hiking, but I don’t know if exercise classes are really something she loves. But she had fun at Slimmons and I had to get a picture of her with Richard.
And as soon as Richard found out that our dog Dante was in the car, he wanted us to get Dante so he could meet him and get a picture with him too!
The time at Slimmons with my parents and dog was my last time working out there. I had something happen that made me not want to work out there anymore. And until I found Orangetheory, I never found another workout place that was as accepting and welcoming as Slimmons was.
As soon as I heard the news that Slimmons was closing, I was had a bit of a pit in my stomach. Slimmons was so important to Richard and it’s making me worried that there are more health issues that he’s dealing with than are known right now. While I don’t work out at Slimmons anymore, that doesn’t mean I want it to close. It’s an amazing home for so many people to work out in. There are people who wouldn’t think they could work out until they went to Slimmons. And to know that place won’t exist again soon is depressing.
There’s a few more weeks until Slimmons closes down. I’m thinking I’ll have to go back for at least one more workout before it’s gone forever. I know some people I know will be going for the last class ever, but I think that might be too crowded to go to. And while I wish that Richard would come back for everyone to work out with, I really doubt he will be returning again.
Like I said in my last post about Richard, I really do hope that he is doing ok. I hope that he posts more things on social media that are current and show that he is alright. And maybe he will make an appearance at Slimmons again before it closes, but that would be pretty surprising since he’s pretty much disappeared from public.
Even though Slimmons is closing, I’m so glad that so many people have happy memories there. Almost all my memories are very positive ones and I share stories from my time at Slimmons quite often with friends when they find out I worked out there. Hopefully I get the chance to be there again so I can make sure my last memory of Slimmons is another great one.
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