Community gym or join Genesis gym?

63hanson

After reading about strength training and how important it is, I'm ready to make the commitment, but I have a dilemma...do I go to the community gym that is free or do I join a commercial gym? Now it may seem like a no brainer, go the free route, but I'll list the pros and cons and you can help me decide. Or maybe just typing it out, I'll be able to figure it out on my own! Lol.

Community gym
pros- Free, can take my own personal trainer(my daughter's boyfriend).
cons-small, not lots of equipment. Not in the best part of town, Shorter hours, Farther away from my house.

Genesis gym
pros-large, lot of equipment, access to pool and group classes included in membership, 2 free sessions with one of their
personal trainers. Close to my house. Longer hours.
cons-membership fee(discounted because of my employer)locked into 6 months, sometimes it gets pretty crowded.

I'll probably start out at the community gym and if I stick with it, maybe join the other. Does anyone have experience with Genesis? I think they are a regional gym. Does anyone go to a community gym, if so do you like it?

Thanks for your input!

anemoneprose

I go to the city gym.

Pros: it's cheap, has everything I need, there's a pool, it's 13 minutes from my house. People are there to do work, not mess around. I have literally never seen anyone on a cell phone, like people complain about. It's maintained reasonably well, not as bad as some centres I've seen (e.g., hair in the shower, gross, none of that here. Patrons are probably not as diligent about wiping as is ideal, so I wipe equipment both before and after.)

Cons: Has a larger than average population of annoying young men (which is annoying), but it's tolerable.

Posh gym I used to go to:

Pros: lots of specialty classes with talented teachers, cleaner than my house (or a hospital), complementary towels and nice toiletries (like, you'd have a choice of sets, depending on your skin/hair), & slippers for the shower

Cons: expensive, has a larger than average population of douches (not showers). More of a 'show' going on than work.

For me, the key criteria are
- location. this makes the difference between going or not, 100%.
- cost

As long as there are a few suitable cardio options, and some kind of weight room, it's enough to get the job done.

63hanson

You are right. I'm going to do the community gym for one month and see how it goes. Through my work we can join certain commercial gyms the first of every month and then our contract runs through December. So if I don't like the community gym, I can join the commercial one for 5 months and it won't be too big of an investment.