Hi friends!
I’m writing this on Thursday night, as I’m coasting on an exercise high from a workout that ClassPass hosted at The Rush Indoor Cycling Studio tonight. I had never been to the studio before, and found it to be a lot like SoulCycle (review of me trying that out in NYC here): a fast-paced cycling workout with good music and high energy. Thanks for hosting the fun event, ClassPass!
Any other American readers have off of work on Monday for Presidents Day? I do, and I’m pretty excited for the long weekend!
But back to fitness! Recently I talked about how I haven’t been a member at a regular gym since moving last year. I decided that I’d like to shop around for a normal gym to possibly join. I did a free trial at a gym a few weeks ago, and while they had all of the material things I look for in a gym, I just wasn’t completely sold on it. Call me crazy, but I didn’t feel like it had good vibes or was homey enough for me. I like gyms that I join to feel kind of comfortable, not like a big old warehouse that just had exercise equipment and carpets put in it.
This got me to thinking about exactly what I look for in a new gym. My checklist includes:
- Vicinity to my house – It pretty much can’t be further than 15 minutes away.
- Clean facility – as in, they’ve cleaned the mirrors and vacuumed at some point in the last month
- Cost – If it’s too pricey, no matter how much I like it, I won’t wind up joining.
- An aerobics room to kind of get away from the crowd and do my own HIIT workouts and strength training
- A nice selection of dumbbells and high quality equipment, including kettle bells and more than one set of 15 and 20-lb weights in the entire gym
- Group classes
- Friendly staff and members – When I am a member at a gym, I usually workout there 4-5 times a week, and I just find it weird to spend so much time at a place where people might not know your name or ever say “hello.” I’m definitely not a huge gym chit-chatter, but I like being friendly with people and feeling comfortable at my gym with staff members that are warm people.
- The vibe – I’m not sure how else to describe this, other than the gym has to give me positive vibes and a good energy about it. Know what I mean?
(source)
Gym-wise, I’m not sure what I’ll do moving forward. I might be more of a specialty class person these days, or maybe I just need to find the right place. I decided to nab a Groupon for a bunch of boxing classes in the meantime, so in the past week, I’ve gotten my butt kicked a few times at the boxing gym. Actually, my hands are feeling kind of sore from hitting the heavy bag and punching at my partner’s mitts during Wednesday night’s class!
Stats from Wednesday night’s class
While the boxing classes at this unnamed gym have been fantastic workouts that have left me dripping sweat because I’ve been pushing myself hard, the instructor is this overweight guy that pretty much just tells you what to do the whole time and hardly ever shows you by example, which leads me to thinking about my must-haves for class instructors. That’s a topic for another day, but I’ll give you a hint: My list doesn’t include a potbelly or a lazy teacher who only half pays attention! Just saying….
Tell me… What’s on your gym must-have list? Where do you usually exercise – a regular gym, specialty studio, at home or outside?
It has to be close to my house, otherwise I just wont go and it has to have a good weight section. Oh, and enough lockers. I hate that!
Agreed, lackluster equipment/weights does not cut it! Interesting you mention lockers, because that is not a factor at all for me. I always wind up just carrying around a little gym bag with me while I’m working out and hardly ever use the lockers.
I use my gym for spin class and yoga. Occasionally I will use machines, but I have a treadmill at home and prefer running outside. I must have a gym with spin, must must must!
I like to spin at the gym too! My last gym had spin bikes in the aerobics room, so I would put my music on the sound system and spin in there by myself… it was awesome!
Cost and group fitness are super important to me — I don’t want to be paying a ton, but I do want my Body Pump 🙂 have a great weekend, Nicole!
Good classes are pretty important to me too. The tough part is that you don’t know if the classes are going to be great until you start taking them!
We were thinking of joining a gym, but the cost is too much to justify right now and the thought of sending my 10 month old to the childcare room where they just use whoever is working the desk that day- yikes. No. I’ll just continue working out at home 🙂
I get what you mean. My mom used to take us to the gym daycare and I distinctly remember it… I think it was her “me” time, so looking back, I’m glad she took us so that she could workout!
Look at you!! Way to be! Love those high numbers on your workout watches!! Very impressive!
Thank you, Cailee! I love my heart rate monitor!
I think vicinity from where you live is of the UTMOST importance! I LOVE that my apartment complex has a gym…. Driving to a gym is so un-motivating!! Walking to one is far better!
Oooh yea that’s awesome! I used to have a gym in my apartment complex, and it was great to just take a 5 minute walk to the gym. I loved it!
I’m kind of in the same boat right now. My Lifetime membership is on hold right now, and i’m not ready to go back there yet because I need a change, but I don’t know what I want! lol. I did the Classpass for a month, but since I really only LOVED 2 gyms, and most of the gyms included were yoga studios, I didn’t get another month…I don’t know, all the gyms/classes I liked, were specialty, so if I got a membership at one of them, it’s just for that one thing….The Butcher Shop: lagree only. Cycle 614: spinning only. Orangetheory Fitness: same HIIT classes (different stuff each time, but the same “type” of class). PAI fitness has yoga, spinning and TRX, which I loved TRX, but I just found a spot, FINALLY, for my TRX straps at home, so I don’t really need a class for them. The biggest bang for my buck still turns out to be Lifetime! haha
YES that is my problem too! I dig a lot of specialty workouts, but don’t want to pay a ton for a membership at one since I don’t like to do just one thing. I’m glad that you tried ClassPass out at least to find 2 new gyms that you love!
I used to be all about gyms but when I moved to NYC, I decided specialty studios were the way to go. I loved the classes at the studios so much and it allowed me to “play the field” so to speak rather than have a monogamous relationship with my gym. Plus, I could also work out at home when I didn’t feel like going to a class!
It sounds like you had a nice workout balance going on in NYC! Did you just buy 5-class passes or something at a few places at a time, and then you would kind of hop around and take classes when you were in the mood for them?