How do you evaluate a gym?

- What are the main things you want to get out of a gym?
- Is the staff personable and knowledgable?
- Is there a fairly large weight area (as in, if you want bigger weights later on, what's their highest weight? Do they have a barbell station? - not sure what it's relaly called).
- If you're wanting extras such as a sauna, steamroom, swimming pool, tanning bed, etc. do they offer them and is it extra?
- Do they offer aerobic classes such as (the popular ones): spinning, zumba, turbo kick, boot camp, etc.
- How many different cardio machines do they have? (Arc Trainer, Stationary bike, elliptical, treadmill, stairmaster/stepper, Row machine, etc.)
- Do you have a good variation of weight machines? Chest Press, Hamstring Curl, Leg press, Ab machines, arm machines, pulleys, etc.

I also based my gym off how busy they are (small gym = easier access to machines when I want to work out, and less NOISE/distraction during work out), as well as staff (the girl who signed me up was very knowledgable and educated me RIGHT away about what I would need to do to target specific areas), and who they cater to (all-women's gym = no guys ogling me, no worries about being "immodest".

I'm sure there are others, but really, just think about anything possible you might want or need from a gym and see how the gym fits your needs. Ask as many questions as you can think about.

Some other things I would add:

1. Cleanliness
2. How packed it is/how likely am I to get a machine at the time I would go to the gym? If you visit at 7PM on a Friday night, the amount of people would be very different from a 5:30 Monday or Tuesday night non-summer hours.
3. Class schedule: do I like the variety and does the schedule reasonably fit my schedule.
4. ***Are they trying to give me the "hard sell" or are they really interested in my well being. All gyms, although they are there for health, are also businesses. My cousin went to a gym (will remain unnamed) and the sales guy pushed her so hard, told her how obese she was, immediately needed to start exercising, needed to do fitness tests, etc. Basically she couldn't stand how aggressive and demeaning he was an walked out.
5. Do I feel comfortable? For me, one of the reasons I picked my current gym is there are women (all women's gym) of all shapes, sizes, colors, ages, and fitness levels. I really didn't want to go to some gym where everyone was "super athlete". I wanted "real" people.
6. Can I see myself making a strong commitment to coming to this gym 5-6 days a week.

Best of luck!

- What are the main things you want to get out of a gym?
- Is the staff personable and knowledgable?
- Is there a fairly large weight area (as in, if you want bigger weights later on, what's their highest weight? Do they have a barbell station? - not sure what it's relaly called).
- If you're wanting extras such as a sauna, steamroom, swimming pool, tanning bed, etc. do they offer them and is it extra?
- Do they offer aerobic classes such as (the popular ones): spinning, zumba, turbo kick, boot camp, etc.
- How many different cardio machines do they have? (Arc Trainer, Stationary bike, elliptical, treadmill, stairmaster/stepper, Row machine, etc.)
- Do you have a good variation of weight machines? Chest Press, Hamstring Curl, Leg press, Ab machines, arm machines, pulleys, etc.

I also based my gym off how busy they are (small gym = easier access to machines when I want to work out, and less NOISE/distraction during work out), as well as staff (the girl who signed me up was very knowledgable and educated me RIGHT away about what I would need to do to target specific areas), and who they cater to (all-women's gym = no guys ogling me, no worries about being "immodest".

I'm sure there are others, but really, just think about anything possible you might want or need from a gym and see how the gym fits your needs. Ask as many questions as you can think about.

Check the people that are working out there. do they seem focused on exercise or is it more of a "meat market" and they are there to check out the opposite sex.

Ditto what's been said generally, regarding facilities, availability of classes, staff etc.

I've belonged to maybe four or five gyms in my life and I love my current one. As a general rule, I think there is an "energetic", "professionally run" feel about good gyms. Others that I belonged to were perhaps less expensive but run by say guys whose passion is body-building or power-lifting. I'd avoid them like the plague (and that is coming from someone who loves pushing weights and potentially could perhaps get into body building). You want a gym that has a more holistic view of health and fitness.

One of the things I'd look for is a "variety of people" training there. If there are overweight people, very athletic people, some big muscular guys, a variety of ethnicities, people from all walks of life... that to me is a promising sign. The unseen motivational factor that happens in a gym is I think best when people with varying goals are all in the mix. You learn from and motivate each other, often in an unspoken way. It's something you kind of "feel" when you walk into a gym, an energy.

Along the lines of what I said there, my daughter recently joined a gym an simply loves it. She'd briefly flirted with a gym membership about a year earlier, and said something to me that is quite interesting. "That first gym felt like a whole lot of women TRYING to get fit. This one has a lot of people who ARE extremely fit, and that has really motivated me and made me realise how much I want this." She's not intimidated, but on the other had there is obviously an energy there that is giving her a new vision of health and fitness for herself.

Go into some gyms and observe and get a feel. Look for an energy that makes you WANT to do it!