I want to establish my credentials before proceeding, because I think they are relevant…read more I am not a gym person. I want to be precise about this. I am not a lapsed gym person, or a former gym person who fell off the wagon, or a gym-curious person who simply never committed. I am a person for whom the gym existed entirely outside the boundaries of my daily life for the entirety of my adult existence. I work in information technology. I sit. I have sat with great consistency and no complaints for approximately three decades. My body and I had an understanding, and that understanding did not involve barbells...until now. I walked into Proximal 50 with the energy of a man who has made a decision and is now in the parking lot reconsidering it. I had no vocabulary. I had no frame of reference. I had a vague awareness that gyms contained equipment and that equipment had purposes, but the specifics were genuinely unavailable to me. And then I met Lexi Bata. I had expectations about what a personal trainer would be. Those expectations were formed entirely by cultural osmosis and were wrong in nearly every particular. I was expecting someone loud. I was expecting someone who would regard my current physical condition the way a contractor regards a badly neglected house. I was expecting to be pushed in ways that suggested the pusher had forgotten I was a person and not a goal. Lexi is soft-spoken. I want you to sit with that for a moment. Soft-spoken. Calm. Genuinely happy to be there, which I found disorienting at first because I was not sure I happy to be there and assumed that sentiment was shared by all parties. It was not. She was delighted. She remains delighted. Forty-five minutes twice a week with a person who is visibly pleased to be doing what they do is a remarkably pleasant way to spend time. I did not dread it coming in. I do not dread it now. Several people told me I would dread it. Those people were wrong and I intend to tell them so (I'm looking at you, Carl). She explained things. She explained why we were doing things, not just what, which matters to a person who works in IT because we are suspicious of processes we do not understand. When she demonstrated an exercise she made it look easy. It was not easy. This is not a criticism. This is an observation about the gap between watching a thing and doing a thing, which turned out to be considerable. I have been introduced to the Elevated Heel Goblet Squat and the Russian Twist. I want to address these directly. When Lexi first mentioned them I assumed they were beverages. They are not beverages. They are exercises with names chosen, I believe, to keep non-gym people slightly off-balance. I do them now. Without falling over, mostly. This is progress. The warehouse training space deserves mention. Being in a dedicated area separate from the main gym floor made the experience of being a complete beginner significantly less fraught. I was not performing my ignorance in front of an audience. I was simply learning, in a space designed for learning, with an instructor who treated every question as entirely reasonable. I also need to address the music. I do not know who controls the playlist at Proximal 50 but I would like to ask them several questions. In a single session I have heard Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Want to Have Fun, a techno arrangement of a Metallica composition I did not know could exist in that form, and Fishin' in the Dark by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Back to back. Without explanation. I find this tremendously amusing and ask that no one change it. Lexi knows when to push. She pushes in the way a person pushes when they know what you have in reserve and want you to find it, not in the way a person pushes when they have forgotten your name. There is a difference. I notice it every session. I came in knowing nothing. Fifteen sessions later I am writing this in genuine surprise at how much I enjoy something I was prepared to merely endure. Go to Proximal 50. Ask for Lexi Bata. Bring your ignorance. Bring your skepticism about the playlist. Be prepared to hear Black Sabbath done by a marching band. She will know what to do with all of it.

This is a really nice hybrid gym concept in downtown Bismarck. They have "crossfit" style classes…read moreas well as a normal gym setup, split into two rooms. One room (the one that usually has the classes) has full squat racks, lifting platforms, and barbells with bumper plates, which is awesome. The other room has more machines and some free weights like dumbells. There is also a squat rack in that room, but I was perplexed as to why the rubber mat that's under it ends so close to it; it makes it hard to squat if you don't like squatting on bare concrete (which has less traction). I got a free day pass from the Radisson, and the checkin process was easy and painless. Bathrooms are large and clean, and there's showers too. One sort of weird thing about this gym were all the signs they had posted around with rules...I'm not sure how strict they are about enforcing them, but I feel like all the rules posted everywhere was maybe a bit much. All in all, a nice option for dropping in if you are in Bismarck and want to get a workout in.

I was shopping for a gym. I want to be transparent about what that process looked like for a person…read morein my situation, which is a person who has never belonged to a gym, has no framework for evaluating gyms, and was operating on the assumption that gyms were broadly similar to each other in the way that parking lots are broadly similar to each other. I was wrong about this. I am getting ahead of myself. I stopped in unannounced. No appointment. No warning. I simply appeared, in the way that people appear when they have made a decision in a parking lot and are acting on it before the decision changes its mind. I was prepared to look at a brochure, take a pamphlet and leave with the information I needed to continue not joining a gym for several more weeks. Christina was at the front. I want to be specific about what happened next because I think it matters and because I have been to places where walking in unannounced produces an expression on the face of the staff that communicates, with considerable efficiency, that your timing is inconvenient. That expression did not appear. Christina was genuinely pleased to see me, or performed genuine pleasure with such commitment that I cannot tell the difference. She offered a full tour. Not a partial tour. Not a gesture toward the general area of the equipment. A full tour, conducted with the calm enthusiasm of a person who likes where they work and wants you to understand why. She showed me everything. The gym itself, which is well-equipped and does not feel like a place that has been arranged to photograph well and experienced differently. The class spaces, which are large enough to suggest that the classes are a genuine offering and not an afterthought. The women-only gym, which is a separate dedicated space and not simply a corner with a curtain. I mention this because the distinction matters and because I was not expecting it and because the thoughtfulness of that decision tells you something about how this particular gym thinks about the people who use it. She explained the programs. She explained the membership options. She explained what each thing included, what it cost and what it did not include, in language I could follow without needing to ask her to repeat herself. There were no contracts. I want to note that I asked about this directly because I am a person who has read enough about gym memberships to know that the contract conversation is where things sometimes become uncomfortable. It did not become uncomfortable. There were no contracts. She said it plainly. I believed her. That was the whole conversation. I did not feel at any point that I was bothering her. This sounds like a low bar. It is not a low bar. It is, in my experience of showing up to places unannounced with questions, a bar that is cleared less often than you would hope. I asked about personal trainers. I was expecting to be handed a list of names and left to make a decision I had no qualifications to make. What actually happened was that she explained a process. Someone would call me. They would talk with me about what I was looking for. They would match me with a trainer who was a good fit for my specific situation. I want to be clear that I received this information with polite skepticism because it sounded like the kind of thing people say when they want you to feel good about a decision you have not yet made. They called. They asked the right questions. They matched me with Lexi Bata. I have now had fifteen sessions with Lexi Bata and I am filling every available review slot on every platform that will accept text, which should tell you something about how the matching process went. Christina told me they would find me a great fit. I did not fully believe her. She was right. I am documenting this publicly because she deserves the credit and because I think it is important to tell people when something worked exactly the way someone said it would. Proximal 50 North is a good gym. Christina is a reason to walk in. The matching process is a reason to stay. Stop in unannounced if you want. I did. It worked out.

Nice, clean, spacious workout studio. The layout is a little weird. I took a spin class and there…read morewas only a speaker in the front and it was hard to hear the teacher. Good workout however. Also The workout room up stairs is very narrow and mirrors are poorly placed. The view is awesome when the sun isn't blinding your eyes. They need to pay attention to a few more details before I think about joining.

Paint night on Thursday nights are super fun. The teacher is very helpful and it is very worth it…read morefor 15 dollars. The teacher goes through the painting step by step very slow so you don't need to worry if you have never painted before. You can look on the website to see which paintings they will be teaching every week. They do not provide you with the wine though, you have to bring your own. This is a very fun date night idea. I would highly recommend this if you are looking for a fun activity to do on a Thursday night.

Has a long trail around the lake if you like walking. Sumer time they have paddle boards and kayaks…read moreyou can rent out really nice lake.

Hi, my name is Craig Bellot. My wife Laura and I are from Louisiana. We have been retired for…read moresome years now. We live in our RV and travel the country for 6 or 7 months of the year. We had the privilege of staying in the Lake Harmon RV park here in Morton County over an extended Memorial Day holiday weekend. This park is in a very beautiful setting and is one of the cleanest and most well kept park that we can remember. The two ladies, Tammy and Adella, are about 2 of the most perfect park host that could be found anywhere. Even though when we arrived the park was full, they worked very hard to find us a spot. It is our opinion that the dedication and professionalism of these two ladies made this the best stay of our summer. We plan on returning to North Dakota and Harmon Lake again next year. Craig and Laura Bellot

The dojo is a very traditional school. They teach Iwama Aikido and the discipline is in line with…read morewhat you should expect from a traditional martial art. It is not for everyone. This is not an easy style of Aikido. The physical demands of the art sometimes end up being more than some individuals wish to pursue. The discipline expectations of kids are sometimes more than many are accustomed to. But those who stay for a while with Aikido are transformed by it. Students are allowed to come and go without financial penalty or pressure. Many take breaks and are welcomed back when they are ready. It is a small student body of ages ranging from 8 to 55 years old. The facility is clean, but not fancy. They are working as a non-profit and putting all income back into the purchasing of excellent mats and flooring, training of instructors and bringing high-ranking teachers here for seminars. The dedication to the art of Aikido and what it can bring to a community is what this dojo is all about. Tuition is kept as low as possible and occasional scholarships are offered and funded by other students so that those who can't afford to train, can. If you want to train, but can't afford to, they will do everything they can to make it happen for sincere students. Donations are gladly accepted.

A variety of traditional yoga styles taught by certified instructors. I relaxed atmosphere in a…read morequiet enviornment.

This giant bubble is the Mandan Tennis Center! They have four outdoor pickleball courts that are…read morefree and first come, first serve. The hours for the outdoor courts are from sunrise to sunset. During the month of May, that's 6am-9pm. The courts are will maintained and clean. We went early in the morning after sunrise and there was no one in sight around 6-7am during the week. They have indoor courts for tennis and pickleball, but they charge per person. I believe the also have rental equipment. There's plenty of parking available in their large lot.

Ever seen a sundial? Optimist family park is the only park in this city that features one. Some…read moreother features of this park are a basketball court, horseshoe pit, reservable picnic shelters, sand volleyball courts, decent sized grass fields and restrooms that are nicer than at most parks. Located in a friendly neighborhood, this is small park is perfect if you got a hour or two to just chill. It isn't crowded and has pretty much all you are looking for in a park.