Research shows that less than 23 percent of average American adults meet their recommended physical activity requirements, while 82.1 million Americans aged six and above don’t exercise at all.
Your weekly recommended exercise is essential to maintaining healthy body weight and strong energy levels. Are you thinking of starting your fitness journey? Good for you! You’ll need to choose the right gym that supports your sustainable training regimen. Keep reading to find out the top five considerations for choosing a gym.
Training and Classes
When choosing a new gym, you need to make sure the gym has enough resources to keep you interested and engaged with your fitness regimen. Look for a gym that offers a wide variety of classes from low-impact to high-impact exercise, including:
- Yoga – some gyms offer members meditative yoga classes, hot yoga classes, and yoga flow classes.
- Weight training classes – some gyms offer weight training classes to help train members on the proper form and exercises for weight training.
- Dance classes – dancing is a fun way to burn calories and enjoy your workout and can be a great place to meet people.
- Circuit classes – get vigorous boot camp-style exercise with a circuit class.
- Spin classes – train your lower body with a vigorous spin class.
In addition to classes, you can also look for personal trainers at your gym. A personal trainer will be able to give you structured workouts to help you build and shape your body to your liking. They can also help you plan your meals and set a health regimen that gets you closer to your goals.
Location
When it comes to choosing a gym, location is everything. You need to select a nearby gym that is easy to travel to. If you need to use public transport to get to the gym, choose the gym with the easiest route, or choose one close enough to cycle or walk to.
If your gym is too difficult to travel to or far away, you will be less likely to commit to a sustainable fitness regime. The length of the drive or travel will make it challenging to fit the gym into your schedule around work, and you could find yourself blowing off the gym regularly due to the effort of getting there.
If you plan to drive to the gym, you should also ensure that there is plenty of parking space near the gym. If you wake up early and go to the gym, finding no parking spaces will be frustrating. So, ensure you’ll always have a parking space when visiting the gym and try to choose a gym with free parking – if you’re paying to be a member, you shouldn’t be paying for parking too.
Cleanliness and Quality
Nobody wants to work out in a dirty gym. Since the pandemic, cleanliness has become essential in any public place we visit. So, look for a clean gym that advertises its regular cleaning policies. The gym should provide you with the supplies you need to sanitize the equipment before and after using it and supply hand sanitizer before and after your workout.
You should visit the gym before becoming a member to check how clean it is. Also take a close look at the equipment. You need to know that all of the equipment in the gym works appropriately. If the gym has faulty or broken equipment, it will make resources scarce and hinder your workout.
Opening Hours
We all have busy schedules that make it difficult to squeeze the gym in. If you work late or have long working hours, you need a gym that will open when required. Your gym should work for you, and you shouldn’t be working hard to get to the gym during their opening hours.
If you need to wake up too early to get to the gym, your workout routine may not be sustainable for an extended time. So, choose a gym that is open 24/7. With the introduction of a commercial door entry system, gyms no longer need to hire reception staff to verify members.
Users can enter with a fob or code to use the gym’s resources. Access control helps to keep the gym secure – some other gym security features to look for include internal and external security cameras.
The Fine Print
It may seem like a tedious task, but you do need to read the fine print before joining any gym or subscribing to any service. You don’t want to be faced with unexpected costs down the line, so you should look out for the following details in your contract with the gym:
- Cancellation fees.
- Class fees.
- Hidden fees.
- Membership tiers and upgrades.
Final Thoughts
Starting your fitness journey is exciting. You’re taking the first step towards more energy, a longer life expectancy, and your dream body. Consistency is the foundation of any fitness regime, so you should look for a gym that accommodates your lifestyle and facilitates easy travel. Keep these considerations in mind, and you can avoid paying for a gym you don’t use.
Stay Strong Together
Jefit, named best strength training app by Sports Illustrated, Esquire, GQ, Men’s Health, Greatest, Forbes Health, and many others. We offer a community responsible for 92,000,000 workouts to date! The app, which recently passed 10 million downloads, comes equipped with a customizable workout planner and training log. Our technology also has ability to track data, offer audio coaching cues, and can share workouts with friends. Visit our members-only Facebook group. Connect with like-minded people, share tips, and advice to help get closer to reaching your fitness goals.
Read the scientific paper published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research using the Jefit app. Also, a great Jefit app review was recently published by MUO that can be found here.
