Your Fitness Club?
 

So I went to Lifetime Fitness with the intent to purchase a $30 2 week membership until '07 expires (expensive right? I know gosh). Turns out the membership adviser who was going to give me the temp card, his daughter wants to apply to the U of I. He asked me what's the most important thing for applying, "is volunteering very important?" Well we hit it off, I told him "yes, but extra-curriculars are definitely essential to an app" and he was like "you're a good guy. You know what I'm going to do for you..." And gives me the two week membership on the house.

That's boss cause I was gonna shell out 30 clams for this top tier fitness club's two week program but got it for free! Lifetime Fitness is 24/7, so I can get off my job at midnite and head over and work out or shoot around or whatever. S'nice!

I am still a current member of the YMCA but will probably switch to Lifetime fully next summer; there are just more participants for recreation, a much larger weight section and it looks like a hotel. Plus they supply free towels! Free towels! Endless free towels!

So this is a two part question...Besides LJ's workout thread, what gyms does everyone go to, and what are the ups and downs? Gold's Gym? YMCA? Xsport Fitness?

Mrs. Dallas and I used to be members at LA Fitness. We currently belong to the YMCA. This is better for us in our current situation because there are things for the kids to do. (Having said that Mrs. Dallas is the one who uses it... I've been seriously slack about exercising.)

ACAC. It's good.... I have no complaints.

Every YMCA I've ever been to has had SHIT for free weights.

I have used several Gold's Gyms over the last couple of years. They are almost always stacked with free weights (there was ONE that had a mediocre section), and have a good mix of cardio and machines. I love Gold's.

I'm now using the University Sports Centre over here. There are no real gyms I can get access to. The place sucks balls. Two benches, a shitty squat rack, and a smith machine are the extent of free weight equipment. They have a poor mix of machines too. All the cardio equipment you could ever want, but it's on 20 minute time limits. The fuck?

Yea, most YMCA's can't touch the quality of a good commercial gym, but the name alone cannot describe the differences. You have to go to each one and check them out.

How much are you paying for it?

I go to the local country rec centre. The weights there I would guess are not tops and there is a limit on all the cardio machines if others are waiting, but I mostly go to swim and it only costs $180/year. I don't use it in summer because we go to the outdoor pool.

LA Fitness was $24/month. great place. very few knuckle draggers grunting at themselves in the mirror, plenty of equipment to choose from, good racquetball courts, and plenty of gym bunnies to make the time on the cycle or treadmill more entertaining. i used it a lot when i had my old office but cancelled it recently because of convenience.

The best fitness club I've ever personally experienced is without question unlimited access Martial Arts studio and training (in this case Tae Kwon Do). It's cool, because the whole family can do it if applicable, and the combination of discipline, cardio, and body resistance workout is amazing. I've been a member of Bally's, World Gym, Rec centers, and attended them faithfully when I was a member. I was bodybuilding and in great shape, but I got bored. The only downside I see to Martial Arts is that it's expensive. You're lucky if you get away with spending under $110/month/person, but the benefits for me are completely worth it.