Do you belong to a gym?

[SFGloria]

Do you belong to a gym, and if you do, do you feel that it is a good value for the money? I have made the decision that I am going to try to get myself in better shape, and I thought I would be able to do this on my own, but it hasn't worked out quite as well as I thought. Since I'm having difficulty motivating myself, I thought getting a gym membership might be a way to motivate me to do the exercise that I need to do. I've never joined the gym before, so I'm curious if others find that the gym makes them more motivated to work out, or if it's just a waste of money?

[Retired To Win]

The key word is motivation. If you really want to use the gym equipment, you will have the motivation to drive over there. But if you don't have motivation, you'll pay for the gym membership and then find you don't go because it will feel like too much "work" to go.

When I did body building, I had the motivation to go to a gym. And I didn't have the money to buy all that equipment anyway.

Now, I have a stationary bicycle and a resistance-exercise type machine in a corner of my basement and I'm saving all that gym membership money

Good luck!

[corn18]

As Retired to Win states, joining a gym won't motivate you to go to a gym. If you are like most folks, you'll just get irritated that you are paying $30 a month to not use something. To answer your question, I used to belong to a gym and did not find it a good value for my money. Too many people and too inconvenient. I built up a gym in my basement and love the convenience.

This may sound like a weird question, but why do you want to exercise? The answer to that question can be very telling. If you want to exercise to lose weight, then that is a less than ideal approach. Losing weight is 80% diet and you don't need to exercise to lose weight. Much easier to eat a well balanced diet at the correct caloric level (e.g. a deficit). If you are exercising to improve your physical fitness and overall health, then pick an exercise you enjoy. Do NOT get on a treadmill because you have to. Get on a treadmill because you want to. And if you don't like getting on a treadmill, don't get on a treadmill. If you do things you don't enjoy in order to lose weight or improve fitness, you will be one of the many lemmings that end up fatter and less fit than when you started.

So, what do you enjoy doing? If you enjoy DVD type workouts, then do those. If you enjoy cycling, do that. If you enjoy walking with your kids or friends, do that. If you enjoy it, you will do it forever, not just for a while. Some simple programs that require no equipment are Couch to 5k (C25k), You Are Your Own Gym (YOYAG) and yoga.

Me, I like moving heavy things so I am a powerlifter. Been at it for a year and love it. It's also the cheapest bit of kit I have in my basement gym. I got a used power rack and olympic weight set off Craig's list for $350. Still using that same set but I have added more weights as I have gotten stronger. I love it and hope to be able to compete this year.

Do what you enjoy and you will have a lifestyle change that you can sustain forever.

Tom

[Spiffster]

As others have said, motivation is the hard part... I got a ridiculous deal on my membership at 24 hour fitness, so keeping my membership, even during times where I dont use it as often as I should, is a no brainer. Im not sure if 24 does this anymore, but there were running a deal about 6 years ago where if you paid for 3 years in advance, you got a discount and each year after that was 60 dollars a year. I think I paid around 600 for the three years, which was a steal in itself.

On the motivation side of things, I have a friend that I workout with four times a week during my lunch hour. We basically motivate each other by holding the other accountable. Without my friend, I would always find a reason not to go as often, so for me having that accountability is key. It also helps to have a spot on heavy lifts.

I would check with your local gym to see if they have a similar deal, and find a good friend to workout with. Good luck.

[edg126]

I've belonged to various gyms for about 10 years now. I agree that you probably won't gain motivation by signing a membership. I am a long distance runner and swimmer, so the gym supplements those hobbies/passions. I love to run and swim, so it's fun, not work or a hassle. I can't swim outside, and the running works great for when it's dark or raining.

In all those years, I also would say that while cardiovascularly (if that's a word) it's helped, but weight maintainance has mostly been the dieting part, and a less sedentary lifestyle. I lost a lot of weight/belly fat the year I bought our house and spent 5 hours a day outside in the summer fixing up the house.

On the other side, I feel like I've put on a few pounds training for this cycles marathon, I'm constantly hungry and am not managing my diet right.

But not to be negative, give it a shot, you might like, maybe it doesn't work out and you waste a hundred dollars, but maybe you'll find something you like and get your moneys worth

[riverwed070707]

Agree with the others. Paying for a membership isn't going to motivate you. That said, my gym membership is worth every penny because I know how to motivate myself to get there. What motivates you? Weightlifting was intimdating for me when I was starting out because I had no clue what I was doing. Lots of gyms will give you a free wellness consult and teach you how to use the equipment. Some other things that work for me are group classes, setting goals with a target date (ie signing up for a race and creating a traning plan so I'll be ready by race day) and working out throughout the day instead of trying to find the time to spend 1.5 hours at the gym each day so if I get busy and miss a portion, I haven't done nothing the whole day. For example, I get up every morning and do push ups and situps. Takes me 5 minutes but I've already got my heartrate up. I try to get to the gym every day at lunch, which means I only have 45 minutes to work out -- 15 min cardio, 30 min lifting or in a class. I try to do yoga for 30-45 min each night. I often miss one or even two of these activities but rarely does a day go by where I don't get at least one in and on the days I do all 3 I feel really great and accomplished. Key is to challenge you and choose things you enjoy. I say all the time that its hard for me to even consider yoga a workout becuase its really just playtime for me becuase I enjoy it so much.

[disneysteve]

I thought getting a gym membership might be a way to motivate me to do the exercise that I need to do.?

Quite simply, this will not work. Motivation comes from within. It isn't external. Joining a gym or buying home exercise equipment or fancy workout clothes or a stack of training videos or a Wii Fit won't actually make you exercise. Only YOU can make YOU exercise. If you are motivated to take better care of yourself, you don't need a gym to make that happen.

Unless you are looking for something that you can't get at home, like a swimming pool, I say skip the gym and do it yourself. If a few months go by and you have been consistently exercising and know that you're going to continue to stick with it, that could be the time to look into gym membership if you want to expand what you're doing or take classes or get that pool access.

For home equipment, check craigslist. There is a lot of unused home exercise equipment gathering dust in people's homes because they bought it thinking it would motivate them, which it didn't, and now they are unloading it for a fraction of the original price.

[BuckyBadger]

I agree with everyone about motivation - joining a guy won't make you motivated.

However, assuming that you have dealt with the motivation part and are looking for a gym, I wanted to make a recommendation.

I've been a member of 2 gyms over the years, although I'm not a member of any now. I wanted to recommend Planet Fitness. They've been in the news lately because they've made some odd choices in enforcing their policy of inclusion. They want to be welcoming to the casual exerciser, but that's led to them treating some other people oddly harshly.

But anyway, they're only $10 a month and all the ones I've seen have been VERY nice. Clean, lots of equipment, and often open 24 hours.

I also was a member of 24 Hour Fitness at one point, but Planet fitness was cheaper and bigger.

Good luck!

[riverwed070707]

I agree with everyone about motivation - joining a guy won't make you motivated.

However, assuming that you have dealt with the motivation part and are looking for a gym, I wanted to make a recommendation.

I've been a member of 2 gyms over the years, although I'm not a member of any now. I wanted to recommend Planet Fitness. They've been in the news lately because they've made some odd choices in enforcing their policy of inclusion. They want to be welcoming to the casual exerciser, but that's led to them treating some other people oddly harshly.

But anyway, they're only $10 a month and all the ones I've seen have been VERY nice. Clean, lots of equipment, and often open 24 hours.

I also was a member of 24 Hour Fitness at one point, but Planet fitness was cheaper and bigger.

Good luck!

I can't help but be skeptical of a gym that serves pizza on Fridays Is that for customer retention?

[feh]

I don't belong to a gym, because I consider it an unnecessary expense. I'm pretty disciplined about regular exercise.

I bike, run and swim. I only swim because I don't like running during the winter; a winter pass to my community pool is less than $50. My only other expenses are/were the purchase of my bike and new running shoes every couple years.

Edited to add: I also lift free weights, which are in my basement. Bench and weights purchased decades ago.

[BuckyBadger]

I can't help but be skeptical of a gym that serves pizza on Fridays Is that for customer retention?

Well, at least it's only one Friday a month. One Tuesday morning a month they have bagels, too.

I never partook in those!

But it's a good gym. They are very into catering to the amateur exerciser, the infrequent exerciser, and the easily intimidated exerciser.

It seems to be a very successful model that's working quite well for them.

[feh]

Relevant article I came across this morning:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/6-ways-to-beat-pricey-gym-memberships-2014-03-21

[rennigade]

Planet fitness is exploding in terms of new gyms popping up. Why? Because they cater to non motivated people. They promote themselves as wanting you to fail. Apparently they have very little free weights...and the dumbbells that they do have only go up to 65lbs. That sounds like a lot but if you do any kind of lifting to gain muscle...you'll realize that doing a chest press exercise with 65's becomes quite easy. And any gym that wants to provide free sh*tty carb day (pizza day) is a freakin joke.

I go to la fitness...its $9.99/biweekly (good luck getting that rate anymore.) Im there 5 days a week from 5am-6am. I personally love it. I love the way you feel after you work out. It calms you down, helps mitigate stress throughout the day.

As for being motivated just by joining..like others said...it wont happen. You have to enjoy pushing yourself and making your muscles burn. If you're looking to lose weight...forget the gym. Eat low carbs and lots of veggies and meats. The weight will literally fall off.

[BuckyBadger]

A gym that caters to novices shouldn't have heavy free weights. It's a lot easier to hurt yourself with those. It's not *intended* for very advanced lifters, so why should it have those things available?

It's not a gym for everyone, that's for sure, but it is SUPER honest about that fact.

But I always thought of is like credit card rewards - the companies give them to lure in people who are going to end up paying fees. Those of us who aren't going to pay fees just get the cash rewards and run. We took advantage of the credit card company, so why not do the same thing with the $10/month fee at planet fitness? If they have enough machines and weights for what you personally are going to need, take advantage of Planet Fitness' cheap price and run with it.

[corn18]

Planet fitness is exploding in terms of new gyms popping up. Why? Because they cater to non motivated people. They promote themselves as wanting you to fail.

That is the definition of the weight loss / fitness business. We all want to be healthy and fit, but it's hard. And genetics are sometimes quite unfair. The more we fail, the more money the weight loss / fitness business rakes in.

This is very similar to wealth building. We all want to be wealthy, but it's hard. And fortune is sometimes quite unfair. The more we fail, the more money the credit business rakes in.

I am thankful I found a health / fitness approach that I can sustain. I lost 70 lbs and I'm now in better shape at 48 than I have ever been. And I have been able to maintain and even improve that for 2 years.

I am thankful I found these fora and am getting my wealth building on track. We'll see where I am in 2 years. I am now hopeful where before I was hopeless.

Tom