Are you a gym goer? what type of gym you choose?

inflames

inflames

inflames

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I have been a gym goer now sense i was about 16 and now i am 34. Well on and off i have a had few breaks off in that time. Most recently after my 2nd child was born i stopped going for about 18months to help out around the house etc and have now started up again. I found a local gym that i liked with a few perks, i will come to this in a mo. I have certainly noticed in 18 years of using gyms see trend changers and over the last 5 years the explosion in the number of low cost gyms. Personally i have not used one of these, i see why they have become popular but they seem to lack swimming I enjoy going swimming. My previous gym what was a local Virgin Active was great gym and across the road from where i worked at the time, but use to cost me a arm, leg and then even more if i wanted to take the wife and daughter swimming. Anyway I started this thread after reading this on the telegraph earlier.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-f...yms-have-muscled-way-fitness-market-but-good/

So what type of gym do you use? Any perks if any? How much do you pay?

I currently pay £40/month for the use of a gym at local golf coarse leisure centre. I consider this to be a perk, my kids get free swimming memberships until they are 12 so i get to they them once a week for no extra cost.
 
I used to go to my local "health club" which was a rather posh golf club. It was brilliant, had a great pool, sauna, steam room, up to date gym equipment and also had nice food facility's if you wanted. Given it's a health club you didn't get the meat heads (i call them) that you do in the low cost places.

It went bust in 2015 and in our town there is nothing other than low cost gyms now, tried two and just couldn't get on with them, too many young lads, meat heads, people shouting across the gym at eachother etc etc just dislike being there

Tempted to build another 20x10ft shed in my garden and kit it out.
 
I go to a 'body builder's' Gym - I am most definitely not a body builder

My Gym is called Fat-als and half the people there, including the owner, are natural body-builders.

Advantages
-Friendly
-You are NEVER waiting for any free weights or machines, there is loads
-Cheap (30£/m, i get it for 25)
-Music is controlled by gym goers via aux cable
-No one EVER takes up room by sitting on a bench going on fb with their phone
-Weights are not left around
-Not ever busy but there is always someone experience there that would be happy to help your form
-No chavy kids (really, i dont know whether Al does not accept them or what)
-Opens early and closes late, just let yourself in and out

Disadvantages
-One running machine that no one uses just gets stuff like towels and drinks put on it
-Chalk board with the personal bests of a few top competing natural body builders and the odd roid head to make you feel inferior
-There is a guy who comes in every day and changes the music to pounding techno
-Pounding techno guy as well as many others in the gym are major grunters
 
having done multi chain gyms, meat head gyms and local small independant gyms, i dont mind which one it is really as long as its dead when i need to be there and the weights go high enough for me.
We pay at the moment £25 but this is a small gym no perks really cheap and cheerful, our old virgin one was about £50
 
I used to pay about £18 I think for EasyGym, brilliant facilities and equipment in my opinion, but then I moved and it is much more convenient for me to go before work, so now I pay £35 (Which is pretty cheap for Winchester), equipment and facilities are poor but it works around the rest of my day, rather this than not going at all, I was wasting my whole evening including travel to continue to go to the cheaper gym in another town.
 
Used to be then built a wooden shed in the garden with a squat rack and all the equipment I need, got a treadmill in there too for incline walks/running when whether is poor.
 
I've been a member of Pure Gym for over 5 years. There's 2 near to me and I can use either for £12.99 a month. I've been to expensive gyms in the past. I think my esporta membership went over £50 when I cancelled it. I've got no problems with it at all. I'm sure I could find a better gym but I'm not into it enough really and having the choice of 2 gyms for £12.99 is too good to turn down and I don't need to feel guilty if I don't use it for a couple of weeks but I did when paying ~£50. It's a bit more expensive than that if you join now but they never increase your price which is why mine is cheaper.

I think the minimum term most gyms make you sign has a bit of the reverse effect on me as I was always thinking 'I can cancel this in 6 months' ' I can cancel this in 2 months' then I join Pure with no minimum term and I'm still there after 5 years
 
Ayahuasca said:
Used to be then built a wooden shed in the garden with a squat rack and all the equipment I need, got a treadmill in there too for incline walks/running when whether is poor.
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When i lived with my parents, I use to have a bench in the Garage and go running no matter what the weather was that was when i was 16/18. I also had a gym membership to use equipment that i didn't have access to.
 
I like proper spit and sawdust gyms. I don't need swimming pools, saunas (though they are nice), or several acres of treadmills and all the crap that goes with it as well as inflated prices.

I tried David Lloyd for a year or so, until they banned deadlifting - I cancelled the contract and found a much more "pro" gym. No gimmicks, just good equipment, good people,. and I was free to do what the **** I wanted.

I need good equipment that can take a bit of punishment, lots and lots of plates, lots and lots of racks, prowlers, specialist equipment and where they don't play **** pop music. Basically I need a gym without poncy *****, or bicep curlers. With space to do what I want, when I want, and people who are willing to share, egg you on, encourage you, challenge you and be a bro rather than some random anonymous nobody.

Now I have my own gym at home.
 
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Freefaller said:
I like proper spit and sawdust gyms. I don't need swimming pools, saunas (though they are nice), or several acres of treadmills and all the crap that goes with it as well as inflated prices.

I tried David Lloyd for a year or so, until they banned deadlifting - I cancelled the contract and found a much more "pro" gym. No gimmicks, just good equipment, good people,. and I was free to do what the **** I wanted.

I need good equipment that can take a bit of punishment, lots and lots of plates, lots and lots of racks, prowlers, specialist equipment and where they don't play **** pop music. Basically I need a gym without poncy *****, or bicep curlers. With space to do what I want, when I want, and people who are willing to share, egg you on, encourage you, challenge you and be a bro rather than some random anonymous nobody.
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Don't have many Gym's like around my area, they all seem to shut down or get taking over and turned into more commercial style gyms. If i didn't like swimming for cardio i would certainly like that kind of gym. Head down and get on with it.
 
inflames said:
Don't have many Gym's like around my area, they all seem to shut down or get taking over and turned into more commercial style gyms. If i didn't like swimming for cardio i would certainly like that kind of gym. Head down and get on with it.
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That's why I now have my own now - but that's because I moved to the countryside. :)
 
Twice a week PT in a one on one 70sqm strength gym with no traditional cardio equipment but I do cycle there and back
Once a week crossfit
Once a week MMA boxing with a cage and bags and other people to hit
Also have my ghetto gym
 
inflames said:
How often are people training? I do 3 days in the gym cardio, weights and go swimming once a week.
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When I used to hardcore train 4-5x a week at least. I miss those days :(

sk8board_pete said:
Never heard of a gym banning deadlifting thats insane.
Bet they let people do bicep curls in the squat rack
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Yup. And it happens a lot. I even had Terry Hollands retweeting me about it! :D :cool:

Maccapacca said:
Twice a week PT in a one on one 70sqm strength gym with no traditional cardio equipment but I do cycle there and back
Once a week crossfit
Once a week MMA boxing with a cage and bags and other people to hit
Also have my ghetto gym
Click to expand...

Yay for ghetto! :cool:
 
Train at home or at work... I used to train a lot more than at present because of a smaller workload (and the work gym was on site): worked out at around 7-9 sessions a week (five morning sessions with three or more afternoon sessions) and all weights.

I was heavy, but was stronger than at any point since or previously (and exhausted)... but life is more than the gym. :)
 
The gym near me charges £60 a month which seems incredible. Think they aren't a gym but rather a "wellness clinic" :p

I'd be interested at a cheaper price, sometimes I'd rather do a session on a treadmill than be on the roads, though I hear rumors of 15 min max per machine which isn't good for anything running related if true.
 
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