Considerations in Joining a New Gym or Health Club

A few days ago, I decided I need to join a gym again. After a long, busy season of volunteer coaching for a local high school, the season was over and I realized it was time to get back in shape myself. So yesterday, Monday, 8 November 2010, I drove around the area and toured four different gyms and health clubs before deciding on one. I had a number of considerations before I joined any one of them, some of which every person thinking of starting a fitness plan should think about before becoming a new member of a club.

First, I wanted the gym to be close enough that I would not get easily unmotivated when weather or traffic conditions are bad. Living in an area with numerous train tracks -- both commuter and freight trains are common -- can turn a 20 minute drive into an hour long trek around the region trying to get around the train or simply waiting for it as it stops on the tracks for minutes at a time. And I wanted to make sure I found a gym that was not so far away that each time we got a little bit of snow it would be too dangerous to attempt driving there.

Second, in each of the gyms I toured, I was looking at how busy it was. One popular commercial gym was ruled out because I went in the middle of the day (not right after normal work hours) and it was completely packed. If I became a member, I would probably be waiting in line for minutes to use equipment. Another gym I toured was so completely empty that I was worried it might be doing so little business that it could close down and file for bankruptcy any day now. There seemed to be less than ten people in the club total, including three workers, and it was a large facility.

Next, I wanted to make sure the gyms had all of the equipment that I needed. Some gyms have replaced a lot of the free weights, squat racks, and open ares in which to power clean and deadlift with more machines, benches, cables, and other assistance equipment. I wanted to make sure that I could do some basic lifts like squats, deadlifts, chin-ups, and dips. Machines may be a nice option to have, but it is like having XM radio in a car that is missing the engine -- it may be a nice feature, but it will not get the job done. Also, I wanted enough of an open space to warm up, stretch, or perform body weight exercises like pushups without being in someone's way.

Fourth, I wanted the gym to be clean. It does not have to be a super nice, brand new facility, but it had to be clean, no dust blowing around on the floor or on the weight stacks, and no weird smells coming from any of the areas. None of the gyms had a problem with the cleanliness.

Finally, the friendliness and professionalism of the staff that I talked with was important. While the large commercial health club seemed to be filled with out of shape "sales agents" and personal trainers, a smaller bodybuilding gym was run and owned by one guy at the front desk who seemed more interested in the quality of the people he had coming in than in what equipment the gym had. And the empty fitness club just let me wander around on my own to check out the equipment, which was very much appreciated and I got to look around for as long as I liked.

In the end, I decided to go with a gym that was run by fitness professionals, was close by, had adequate parking and adequate space inside the gym to work out, and was not either too busy or too empty. It also had all of the equipment that I needed, and was set up in a way that made sense for the weight machines, cardio training, and the free weights. It was clean and recently remodeled, but had been in the area for over a decade. But I took all of the considerations into account before deciding on this one, and did not settle on the first gym in the area or the most trendy one.