I love my local gym because.....

manderson27

Over here in the UK we have leisure centres that are run by the local councils. That means that you can pay per session, for the gym, classes, swimming etc. Children, students and the elderly get concessions. They provide a variety of classes and facilities including child care, you can pay as you go or buy yearly memberships and there is always someone on hand to help you

Now because these types of facilities are provided by the council they are functional not fashionable so they attract a cross section of the british public.

This means that the people who go to the gym are just your normal, average, everyday people. They are not there to make a fashion statement or to show off to other gym members, they range from the skinny young guys trying to build, to the big guys competing. From young people training for sports, to old age pensioners trying to recover from hip operations. From super fit atheletes, to people just starting their weight loss journey.

Just this week a spoke to:
An elderly man who was at dunkirk and was also a cancer survivor.
A lady who had arthritis and was trying to keep mobile
An England rugby player (not mentioning names) but he was hot!!! and we have a phyisotherapist in common (who knew)
A lady just starting on the road to weight loss and was terrified of the gym but was coming anway.
And just this morning a middle aged gentleman who had lost 7 stone (98 lbs) in the last year and trying to persuade his wife to join him.

I pay £36 a month ($56) this covers the gym, all excercise classes, swimming and the steam room. But for me it is the people that give me the best value.

I love my gym.

Why do you love yours?

trophywife24

Your gym sounds lovely

I go to the gym in our apartment complex. I'm the only one in there at 6am so I always put I Love Lucy on the tv and do my thang. I love it, a little 'me' time in the morning.

taunto

I love mine because its in my home and its free!

workoutgirl23

Mine has a day care included in my member ship price. its so nice. i have two kids. so when i want to go work out, i can bring them with and they get to play in the day care. they love it. its awesome.

Impy84

mine is around the corner literally. no frills and clean

LollipopViolet

I love my gym (I'm in the UK too) because:

It's affordable, and on a rolling contract so I'm not tied in (our council one is £25 a month, i pay £18 a month)
It's easy to get to
All the members I've spoken to have been lovely
All the staff are lovely
Although not council run, we too see a wide variety of people coming through the doors - for example, a Paralympian athlete trains at my gym. I regularly see him, in his wheelchair, and there are a couple of other wheelchair users too, as well as people of all ages, abilities, weights etc
I love the layout
They hold various different events, like today, I took part in a charity all day spin class (2 PT's were doing 12 hours, we could do as long as we wanted - I did 2 hours 15 minutes woohoo!)
The classes are great, and included in the membership
The PT's are friendly but will leave you alone unless you ask to book a session, no hard selling while you're trying to work out like at my previous gym
Great equipment

Yeah, I REALLY love my gym

Hendrix7

It has a prowler, a squat rack and it's never very busy!

debbiestine

I love my gym b/c it's only 7 min. from my house. It costs me $30/month or less if I pay for a year in advance and I love taking the kickboxing/weight/step/zumba/bootcamp classes. It's a beautiful gym- and still new looking plus it has an olympic size pool/jacuzzi/steamroom/kids club and is 2 stories. (and cheaper than the run down ymca)

jeet1966

it is close, brand new (all the equipment is top of the line) no frills, costs $10 bucks a month (with company sponsorship), otherwise is $15 which is really good too. It is a work at your own pace, no presure facility and I love going there!

LadyIntrepid

I love my gym because the members are every shape, size, color, nationality, age -- it really is the full spectrum. Most everyone is friendly and uber-supportive of each other. And the trainers and class instructors totally completely utterly rock.

lisaslim1976

I love my gym because we have lots of students in our town, and I can perve over all the fit toned young men :-p

benich3043

Several reasons. I have three local gyms, and all are free.

My first is literally connected to my office. If I have the time I can hit it up whenever I like. I step through the door of my office and I am there. I hit it up every weekday and it makes it easy to NOT skip a workout. There is a large open area with a 42 inch TV for workout videos and of course showers and lockers. There are enough weights and machines for about six people to use at the same time. There are two treadmills and ellipticals as well. Behind this gym there is a 1/2 mile track.

The second one is literally 1/4 of a mile from my house. It is open twenty-four hours and only accessible with the security code. There is also a large room directly connected to this room designed as a kids playroom. The wall is almost entirely glass so that you can see your kids at all times. The kids room has plenty of stuff for the kids to do to include childrens programming on the television. There are no free weights at this gym however. Behind this gym there is a swimming pool and running path through the neighborhood.

The third gym is about 2/3 of a mile from my office. This is the largest of the three and the most used. They offer free fitness classes to include spinning, TRX (suspension/body weight training) and they host several 5K and10k races and swim meets and also offer Mommy and Me classes for the ladies. They have racquetball courts and basketball court. Due to these reasons this gym is often always packed. There is a regular pool and an olympic size pool nearby along with a quarter-mile tack.

I love that I have several options to give me several options to modify my workouts.

quill16

My gym is actually a local vacation resort. It is 2 miles from my house and it is open from 7AM to 9PM everyday. It has a fitnes center and pool and hot tub, shower and friendly staff. The membership for locals is less than $300 a year. Beautiful spot in the mountains. I feel so lucky.I am constantly meeting people from all over the country who come here to relax. We also have a group of regulars which makes my time pass quickly. Lots of positive support from all shapes and sizes.