spit and sawdust or chain gym ????

There are no chain gyms where I live, and whenever I am somewhere in the vicinity of one, they usually make it impossible to "pay-as-you-train" but make you sign up for a membership.

So, no chain gyms for me.

When i went to the gym it was always a smaller no frills place. I'd have stabbed myself with a shank if my only option was a chain gym. Now i mostly workout at home.
I did go to a Y, for a short period of time, but it was new and nobody went there. So it had the chain gym look with a ghost town feel.

I go to a chain gym... because my downstairs neighbor probably wouldn't appreciate a heavy deadlift dropping on their ceiling.

Also home gym for me.

it doesn't matter. whichever gym i happen to be attending i like to look down my nose and label other people as posers for not doing whatever i deem to be what they should be doing. nothing makes me feel as fit as my vague aura of superiority

Pelamblue wrote: »

The great debate !
I'm a spit and sawdust kind of guy, get in head down and work hard with like minded people, no posers or 'I come to the gym to do nothing but chat... but I'm still going so therefore I must fit' kind of people.
Hard graft with proper gear.

I do both...my workouts at home are always more effective though...no wait times...crank the music on my sound system. I buy and am willing to pay for quality equipment I keep in good shape. I have never seen a dip bar I like in a gym for example. No jacked up broken dumbbells to worry about. No drive times...so more time with family. I just go to gym for leg equipment and the gym quality cable cross.

If you're in the US and looking to build a home gym please consider: http://www.blackwidowtg.com/

Ownder is ex Marine and build bomb proof equipment at better prices than Rogue. I have his Landmine, T-Bar Row and Closed Grip row offestting row handles for Landmine, Trap Bar, and Customized Dip bar for my power rack. Dean will customized builds (he did for my dip bar) and is open to ideas...happy to support his business.

earlnabby wrote: »

My gym is a privately owned fitness center run by the healthcare organization that also runs the local community hospital (they do some of the therapy there).

I go there for the pool. The lap pool is typical (25 yd and 5 lanes) and they offer more water fitness classes than the local "Y" or community pools do. The cost is $6 less per month than the "Y" too.

Mine is the same type of set-up. Bonus that my healthcare org pays half of my monthly fees.

Since mine is used both as a fitness gym and as an extension of rehab, we've got most of the bells and whistles. And this group believes that free weights are good for rehab, so we get the whole complement of machines, a power cage, multiple squat racks, yada, yada. Even an indoor track (although it is super short).

Pretty slick set-up. And almost never busy enough that I have to wait for any piece of equipment that I want to use. Now classes ... I hear those are very full.

ETA: if I didn't have this available, I'd have wanted to build a home gym. Don't know if I could have because my house is small, and a gym in the garage is not an option, but that would have been my first pick.

My primary gym is a locally owned 24/7 establishment. Most of the gym is dedicated to weight training with a few cages, a plethora of benches (some adjustable and some flat), an Olympic platform and bumpers, a bunch of dumbbells, and a handful of machines. They also have a small cardio room with 4 treadmills, 3 elliptical machines, and 3 or 4 stationary bikes...I think there's a stair stepper in there too.

It's a pretty awesome place...the people are great and there are enough members to keep the place stocked with high end equipment but not so many members that you have to do a lot of waiting for equipment even during "prime time" at 6PM. It's also very clean...I've been to a few other local establishments for which I cannot say the same.

I also have a membership to Planet Fitness...for $10 it works fine as a secondary gym. There's one right by my office so I use it to do cardio on my lunch breaks on those days where the weather is too *kitten* to get out on the bike or when I feel like doing something different than riding. It also comes in handy when I'm traveling.

ninerbuff wrote: »

earlnabby wrote: »

My gym is a privately owned fitness center run by the healthcare organization that also runs the local community hospital (they do some of the therapy there).

I go there for the pool. The lap pool is typical (25 yd and 5 lanes) and they offer more water fitness classes than the local "Y" or community pools do. The cost is $6 less per month than the "Y" too.

Sounds like mine. What I enjoy about my facility is that the majority of people are cordial, and there are some really serious people that workout along with the rehab work that we do with many of the clients.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

I love the variety of people too. We have members coming in with walkers all the way up to serious fitness buffs and everybody (usually) is cordial to everybody else. If only people would quit pouring water on the heating element in the sauna and steam room and breaking it!