Hmmm.. What should I do?

[Emma-Leigh]

Ok girls - I need your help. I have to move in a few weeks (arggg.. AGAIN!!!) and I have checked out the gyms in the area I will be moving too... So now I have a decision to make.

At the moment I love the gym I am at. It has a good little cardio room (a rower, 5 treadmills, 3 ellipticals and a stepper) and an excellent weights room with a studio where they do some classes.
It suits me down to the ground. Very friendly people, laid back, no 'show ponies' and REALLY quiet in the mornings (me and a 70 year old guy who walks on the treadmill :D).

Anyway - where I am moving has really poor choices.

The first gym is small and quiet (a plus there). It has a good weights room and is filled with people who go specifically to work-out. Really low key and PERFECT for me!! I walked in and felt right at home.

Problem is - it has 3 treadmills and one bike in the cardio room. Now - I have dodgy knees, and I hate the bike... so I really NEED an elliptical trainer, I can't do all my cardio on the treadmill - I would pull up a cripple in a matter of weeks.

The second gym is one of those **shudder** gyms. You know the ones - an institution rather than a place to workout. It is a 'Finess First gym' and filled with 'show-offs'. Although the weights room is HUGE and has every possible machine in there as well as a good array of free-weights - it is like working out with an audience. I like LOW KEY. I go to the gym in old sweat-pants and an old t-shirt that has been stitched up in places and I go to WORK OUT IN PRIVATE. I get the feeling of no personal space when I walk into this place.

But - it has about 50 cardio machines with a bazillion different machines - and I am pretty much going to get a machine I can use.

Both the gyms are going to be about 5-10 minutes walk from my new place. So distance is not an issue. And, besides the joining fee for fitness first, the price for both is roughly the same.

Now, the third option is the best gym. It has a GREAT atmosphere (filled with a lot of really friendly gay guys who are sweet and gentlemanly - offering you the machines and wipeing the sweat off for you :D). I really like the feel of the gym. It has a good weights room and a decent amount of cardio equipment too.

Only problem is that it is 20 minutes away on a bus and I workout really early in the mornings due to day commitments - so I have to basically be in the gym at 6am!!!

Arggg!!!

So what should I do??!!

Option 1. Small gym. Good atmosphere. Crappy choices.

Option 2. Mega-gym. Crappy atmosphere. Ample choices.

Option 3. Medium gym. Good atmosphere. But ages away...

[gallerygurl]

Emma, I was in this situation before...for different reasons.
I chose gym #1 and I loved it..
FOR ABOUT A MONTH
because my workouts began to suck and suffer from lack of good equipment and variety.
So, I then bought a membership to Gym #2.
I hated it for a minute and then I got used to the people and you know what?? Alot of the people I thought were uncool ended up just being people like everyone else. Besides, I put my walkman on and shut everyone out 99% of the time anyway..Even if its out of batteries!!!!LOL
I suggest going to gym number 2. If you are a morning person most of the real glitsy people wont be there in the morning anyway. Too early for glitz!!!
You wont be happy with lack of equipment in gym #1.
As for gym number 3. Too far and inconvenient for me. Bad weather comes YUCK , no way not worth the bad drive and hassle. I think you will get used to gym #2. People are people and everyones front comes down after a while.You will get to know the poeple you like and the ones that you dont - turn those headphones up louder!!!

[imperfectly_lou]

I am interested to know what gyms you are referring to Emma... wanna PM me?

I am currently dealing with the same situation

My current gym - women's only gym so I feel very comfortable, everyone knows me, I have some good friends. Not many weight machines though but lots of free weights that I mainly have to myself

Other gym - A huge array of equipment, including spinning classes, fantastic aerobics timetable but a wooden aerobics floor (my poor knees) and I feel out of place....

[hotgymchick]

Hey Emma...:D

I would choose option 2..the glitsy gym with alot of equipment. I go to a huge gym with a ton of members.

We have 15 brand new treadmills, 4 ellipticals, 10 bikes, 10 stairsteppers, a rower. We have every free weight, 3 benches, 2 squat racks, a smith machine, and 20 nautilus machines. Not to mention an Olympic sized pool (though I cant swim! haha) and aerobics studios and raquetball studios and a basketball gym....for 20 dollars a month..5 minutes away....

The thing is, there are always a good amount of people in there. Alot of women who don't know what they are doing, mostly overweight, who are rude and hog equipment. Alot of guys who stare and try to talk to me. I go in my saggiest sweat pants, tshirts, no makeup and crazy hair, with headphones. I'm not going to sacrifice my workouts for them...

I'd go with the one with the most equipment. You'll be like a kid in a candy store. And keep wearing the sweats! You belong there just as much as a glitzer.

[Aurora]

I have a gym #2 and a gym #3 membership. Gym #3 is a good atmosphere, tons of equipment, long hours, and far away. So sometimes I will go there late at night when I have nothing else to do and its the only place open. My gym #2 membership pisses me off sometimes, most people there spend their life on the cardio machines and then complain that they dont see any changes in their physique. I have openly heard some ladies say that lifting was gross etc. But these are all things that can be cured with a walkman, Im only there for an hour of my life anyway so who cares right? Its up to you but I think sometimes the further away you are from a gym the more excuses you can come up with not to go.

[mirror]

Emma, I'd also go for #2. I'm at 'fitness first' and it's not so bad! The facilities more than make up for the crappy atmosphere. plus it's nearby so you can go in offpeak hours. I'm there when they open @ 6.30 am and there's no one in the weights room. and thing about those kinds of gyms is they're so impersonal you can be quite 'private', odd as it sounds - and you can always get on a machine even when it's busy.

[egoatdoor]

I guess this is becoming unanimous. I pick the "shudder gym" too. :D You can train around a bad atmosphere, but you can't train around bad equipment or commuting issues. As some others have said, it is probably pretty quiet early in the morning, especially in the weight area, so you should have some feeling of privacy. Headphones and your most ratty looking workout clothes will fend people away if you do start being bothered. ;)

I recently had to go back to a "shudder gym" for financial and other reasons. I work out on weekend mornings in the cold weather months and there is NO ONE in the weight room at 8 AM on weekends. I can do supersets and whatever I want.

[Hibiscus09]

I vote #2 also. Wear your headphones & put a mean look on your face. LOL Just kidding about the mean look! I know those types of gyms can have show-offs, snooty women, etc. Just determine to ignore them as best as possible & go into your own little world while lifting.

I'm going to a gym now that has plenty of equipment, but most of it older. However, I go at lunchtime (the social scene is at night & the snooty women in the morning around 9:00 -- :D ). At lunch, it's like a senior citizens gym & I love them. They don't bother me when I'm lifting and they're generally nice people when they do have something to say. I've never tried early, early morning -- so I don't know what it's like then but at my last gym that crowd was fine because they're not awake enough yet to socialize & just want to get their workout done and get to work on time.

I do wish, however, that the gym had better equipment and more options -- like spinning classes! I'm still considering switching gyms.

[sillygirl]

I agree. Go with #2. When I'm at the gym, I'm there to workout. That's it. I'm not talking, I'm not gossiping, I'm not focusing on anyone else except ME!

[I know you're that way too, Emma- I'm definitely not scolding you!]

I usually have my headphones on and baseball cap pulled low when I'm at the gym. If I didn't, I'd never get any working out done! I work at the gym I belong to, so all the members are constantly trying to talk to me!

Anyway, I'm lucky. The gym I work at & belong to is actually a family Rec Center...so we don't have too many of the "show offs". We do have one girl that is, though, and all the women hate her. I find it hilarious myself, because while the girl is nice...she doesn't seem to have much of a personality besides what is wrapped up in her good looking body. She comes trotting into the gym wearing black knee high leather boots and short TINY TINY TINY mini skirts...and she's usually hanging out of her gym outfit...to make matters worse, she's about 6'1". She's not a tiny little thing- she's noticeable no matter WHAT she's wearing.

The best part is- she's a school teacher! LOL! SHE WORKS AT THE LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL AND TEACHES CLASS DRESSED LIKE THAT!

But it's great watching the other women seeth and "bare their fangs" when she comes down to work out...they always come up to the front desk and say to me, "SOMEONE down there is putting on a SHOW. HMPH."

:rolleyes:

Anyway. Pick the gym that has the best selection of equipment, invest in a good CD or MP3 player, and off ya go! :D

[sillygirl]

Originally posted by gallerygurl
Besides, I put my walkman on and shut everyone out 99% of the time anyway..Even if its out of batteries!!!!LOL


Hahaha, oh my god. I do that too! My batteries will die and I'll think "Screw it, the headphones are staying on."

I also really like 'people watching'...I actually get bored if I'm at the gym and no one else is working out...even if it's the "show off" people, they're fun to watch and see how other people react to them...

[Aurora]

Originally posted by sillygirl

I also really like 'people watching'...I actually get bored if I'm at the gym and no one else is working out...even if it's the "show off" people, they're fun to watch and see how other people react to them...

LOL. The trick is to watch but not let them know your watching haha. Sometimes it can be quite entertaining. The whole "rest" between sets concept was really a farce invented by a people watcher LMAO.

[Emma-Leigh]

Arggg....

Seems the **shudder** gym will be my new home.

**sob**

[iboyo]

emma - i vote for gym #1, and this is why. do you really need the elliptical trainer? is it making your knees better? worse? no change? are you satisfied with no change? maybe now is the time to really overhaul and evaluate your program. i go to a #1 gym, family run, quiet homey atmosphere, i bring all my pupils there as well. i find all ANYONE
needs is barbells and plates, but this is something that is learned. i love aurora's story about her gym #2 where everyone spends half their lives on cardio machines and there is NO CHANGE IN THEIR PHYSIQUES. i suggest everyone read that item, several times, and think about what it is telling us.

[egoatdoor]

Originally posted by iboyo
i love aurora's story about her gym #2 where everyone spends half their lives on cardio machines and there is NO CHANGE IN THEIR PHYSIQUES. i suggest everyone read that item, several times, and think about what it is telling us.

But Emma, Mirror, Aurora, Lou and the rest of us know better. We chuckle at these cardio junkies. :D