Gym, where do you go?

ash_scotland88

ash_scotland88

ash_scotland88

Soldato
Joined
1 Jul 2007
Posts
5,392
I know this thread may be a bit pointless as all local gyms are different, even the chain ones, but...

What gym do you guys use?

I am currently hating my local Pure. It's cliquey, busy and can't even get a look into the free weights area some nights due to the amount of people. I like the classes (I used the Les Mills Grit series) and I like the personal trainers but the majority of the other clientele make is unbearable. So I'm shopping around.

Bannatyne's has the current deal of £38 rolling month and not sign up cost, while a lot of Edinburgh people recommend Virgin Active. Just class time tables aren't exciting for me. What are other people's experience of other chain gyms?
 
Anytimefittness
And same problem of the weights section being to small and always busy other than 11pm-4am which I did do for a bit but gave up.
A squat distant arrived today, so just need to set it up, already had a load of old weights from years ago. Just not sure where it's going to go.

I don't understand why they don't rip out 50%+ of the cardio and put in more free weights. Never seen the cardio or weights machines even at 25% capacity.

Hopefully I can get it set up at home and get back into it, I enjoyed it, just spoilt by the gym.
 
I have used quite a few.

La Fitness. I joined there in May 2014. It was a small gym, really small, and used to be a Dragons Gym until LA bought it in 2009. I went there years and years ago, so when I looked to join up again I went back there. It shut in November 2014 and we were moved to another LA gym in Bedford. I hated it. Overcrowded (to the point that I had to wait 20 mins to lock my bike up outside due to all the racks being used), filled with young idiots that would just stand around hogging multiple pieces of equipment yet not really using any of them. I got out of the contract, after an argument with them. Membership was £24 per month on a rolling month-month contract.

Joined a local leisure centre in December 2014, they use Impressions gyms. Again the gym wasn't the biggest, and the free-weights area was really quite small, but the gym never got really busy. Even at 5-6pm I never had to wait that long for stuff. Only real issue I had was that they bought a squat/power rack, but couldn't afford to but any more Olympic bars or plates for it, so it was quite tricky to get the right weights some times. Membership was £39 per month on a rolling month-month contract.

Now at Gold's gym in Bedford. I looked at quite a few before joining. It suited me the best by a long way. Opening times are ideal, they open at 6am, so I get down there then, do my workout, hit the shower and am in work by 7.30-7.45. Loads of free weights and hammer plate machines. Cardio Cinema, which plays movies throughout, so take the boredom off if you are doing 30 mins or so on cardio. My only criticism if you can call it one is that they don't have a pool. I say criticism, but I hate swimming anyway, so very rarely used it at any other gym. Membership was free for the first month, no joining and £37 a month.

I tired The Gym Group for a day before I joined Gold's (open 24hours etc). Never again. Place was a dump. Weights left all over the place. I got there at 5am on a Monday and there was literally a handful of people in there, yet all the lockers were taken?! It would have been cheap, but I could see why. No dumbbells over 24kg in weight and very little in the way of benchs etc.
 
Pure gym, pretty poor selection of equipment but its cheap and im unemployed so can go at off peak times. Makes waiting for equipment bearable
 
At the moment I'm 'ere.


£36 a month although I paid an annual membership which was cheaper than buying monthly/weekly etc. Has a proper cage, a couple of racks (one with a platform), a more typical fixed half rack in the corner and a standalone platform for deads etc. Lots of equipment a couple of novelty things like a Viking Press machine, GHR station (which doesn't seem very optimised for GHRs annoyingly) and a deficit rack. I love it apart from a few minor niggles:

a) although the plates are rubberised they're a bit poo and not proper bumper plates
b) the benches have horrible J hooks that are both too high for my T-Rex arms and too deep so it's impossible to unrack the bar with my scapular retracted. I have to drag a DB bench into the racks although this usually isn't a problem
c) they have a variety of barbells - some seem thicker/thinner or have more aggressive knurling, have rings in different places and I swear some of them don't weigh the same - I try and stick to a particular one to keep consistent if I can although this isn't always possible
d) the short straight/EZ bars are fixed weights which is a pain for micro-loading stuff like LTEs so I don't tend to use them, although on the flip-side the cable machines have those fat pins you can hang plates off to microload them

They sell bulk meat, Walden Farms stuff, supps, have a tanning machine and a bunch of other stuff I'll never use but the clientele has WAY more variety than my previous sweat'n'****** gym (read: more wimmenz) and there's a few actual athletes that sometimes train there like a Team GB hurdler who does lovely power cleans and outrageous box jumps.
 
I just joined the local council run sports centre, membership is £19.50 which is a good deal considering the amount of equipment they have and it's all kept up to date and changed every few years. For £27 you get full access to all facilities including all classes, swimming pool, tennis courts, squash, badmington etc.
 
Crossfit Box at home, and a TheGym at work - both excellent, for £16 a month TheGym has 2 squat racks, plenty of benches and quiet enough at lunch time that I get decent use from it

My crossfit box is great - i also go during free periods allowing me to work on technique / things I want plus great coaching during the night sessions.

If you enjoy working in groups / classes then I can recommend crossfit
 
I've been a member at several gyms around my local area depending on which one I was living or working near at the time. I've tried Fitness First, which was pretty decent except that the free weights room was tiny; David Lloyd, which was actually way better than people give it credit for, though it was £50 per month there; currently I'm at my local Pure Gym. It's not bad for a gym that only costs £15 per month, though the other members can be a bit *****. I just pop in my headphones, ignore everyone else in the gym and get my workout done.
 
Paid £11.99 for my Pure before I had to have my ACL reconstructed, for the money really can't complain for a 24/7 gym. Actually good levels of equipment but it gets ridiculously busy at certain hours and training on the weights solo leaves you with little chance of getting a solid workout. I went quite late though so was brilliant for me though!

Now that I need a solid gym to start my physio properly I'll probably try the local gym where all the meatheads go.
 
I was deadlifting and I was disturbing a couple on a date in the bar :/ they complained, I complained back, they banned deadlifts, I told them they were in breach of contract since the Ts&Cs had changed from when I signed the agreement, they kindly asked me to leave, but would forgo the 3 month cancellation fee.
 
I'm a mug who pays for 2 gyms currently due to work. Virgin Active in Solihull when I'm working away (I get corporate discount and use my overnight allowance to cover the rest) and Everyone Active in Watford.
Currently paying just under £60 for both me and the mrs which gives us access to gym, pool and classes. Gym is quite small, but very quiet after 9pm so I rarely have to wait.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom