Having such a variety of fitness clubs, gyms, and underground dungeons makes achieving your goals easier than ever.
However, with so many choices it is difficult to make the first step and feeling confident in your choice.
In this post I’m going to show you 6 tips that I recommend you use to find the right gym for you.
Know Your Goals
When setting out to find a place to reach your fitness goals, you need to be clear on what your goals are.
Examples:
- If you want to go to a gym to increase your fitness levels, improve your conditioning, and maybe hit a few machines then you want to choose something like a fitness center. These centers will have nicer cardio equipment, circuit machines, and will not be crowded with equipment you do not intend to use.
- If you want to be a casual gym goer and do some cardio, machine work, and light free weight work then you want to look for big box gyms. These gyms are the most popular since it can accommodate more people with different goals and are easiest to find. You will find a nice selection of cardio equipment, machines, and some free weights.
- If you are looking to seriously increase your athleticism or get into a sport such as powerlifting, a more “hardcore” or “underground” type of gym is for you. These gyms will lack the newest cardio machines and circuit machines but replace them with more weights than you can count, more bars than you know how to use, and more knowledge about your sport than you could ever learn. These are harder to find than any other type of gym.
Are You Comfortable There?
Most places will let you try out their gym (at least 1 day) if you ask. I highly recommend you ask for at least 1 trial run before you commit to anything.
Being comfortable in a gym is more important than anything. If you go to a fitness center and do not feel comfortable being there, you will not be so inclined to go. However, you may find that one of the underground gyms you are more comfortable at, even if you are going to just do cardio and light free weights. You will end up being drawn to go and will make better progress than if you have to fight going.
The take-away from this is to keep an open mind and try before you buy.
When Can You Go?
Sometimes you do not have the luxury of going to the gym whenever you feel like it; maybe you work a funny shift and you cannot go to the gym until midnight.
Knowing when you can go will help you eliminate gyms quickly.
Struggling to fit in time to go during open hours can deter you from being passionate about your goals.
Be sure that the hours of operation work with your schedule and you will have no problems making it.
There are plenty of 24 hour gyms available, be sure to look around.
Exclusivity
Is this gym open to anyone off the street or do you have to be driven and committed to go?
I used to go to a gym that was more “hardcore” and did not have many people who would go. The people who did go were dedicated, trained hard, and didn’t screw around.
Once they opened the doors to anyone that wanted to join, the equipment would get broken, messes were made, kids ran around the gym while people trained, and it was a mess.
In fact, it was why I left there after 4 years of being there.
To most it won’t matter, but keep this in the back of your mind as you look around the gym.
If you are not comfortable with the type of people in the gym, look for a more exclusive gym.
How Far Will You Travel?
Being able to find a gym close to you is convenient. What if the gyms around you are not what you are looking for? What if there aren’t any near you?
How far are you willing to travel to reach your goals?
I know some people who will travel upwards of an hour to get to a special gym to train at because they are that dedicated.
Unless you are becoming an athlete or participate in a competitive strength sport you will not need to travel that far, just keep in mind that the best gym may be the one 15 minutes away and not the one across the street.
How Much Does It Cost?
Quite honestly, cost should be the last thing you base your decision off of.
In some cases, you may not be able to afford a $50 a month membership but skipping 1 coffee out a week will save you that much… How much is your health worth to you?
Conclusion
Picking the right gym can be hard but knowing what you want will help narrow your choices.
- Know Your goals
- Comfortability
- When You Can Go
- Exclusivity
- Travel Distance
- Cost
With these 6 tips you should be able to narrow your choices down significantly and be on the path to achieving your goals.
Be sure to share this article and if you have any questions leave them below!
