Most Important Aspect of a Gym

What is most important to you?

  • Free weight area

    Votes: 59 56.2%

  • Heavy lifting machines

    Votes: 9 8.6%

  • Cardio machines

    Votes: 19 18.1%

  • Classes offered and variety

    Votes: 5 4.8%

  • Co-ed

    Votes: 1 1.0%

  • Large dedicated areas

    Votes: 4 3.8%

  • Boxing / MMA stations

    Votes: 8 7.6%
  • Total voters
    105
I hear ya on the free time. (and kudos for spending your lunch break doing something productive instead of something bad - like the secretary;) )

Personally, I love having a bit of the social aspect to it (just not to the point that it takes over my wkout). As a full time mom, I need to get out of the house before I go nuts. Going to the gym lets me drop them off in the nursery, go work out, and be around other ADULTS.

My gym gets new equipment every couple of years. Right now, we are about to get a bunch of new machines (not so much my thing, but still neat) - and all new freeweights. Ours are only about 4 yrs old, but we're getting new ones anyway and donating the others to a local high school atheletic dept. I'm excited! :D
 
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deschain said:
I hear ya on the free time. (and kudos for spending your lunch break doing something productive instead of something bad - like the secretary;) )
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Lol, good one.
 
tats27 said:
Hello all I am a new member here and I thought this would be the best place to ask.

When you consider joining a new Gym, or what equipment to buy for your home gym, what do you consider the most important. I ask because I am trying to open a new gym in my area, and am working on getting as much feed back as possible.

Thank you in advance.
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And don't forget cleanliness, cleanliness, cleanliness! Keep the locker rooms clean and have disinfectant spray bottles and paper towels available for members to wipe benches, machines and matts.

I can pretty much work out anywhere where they have free weights and treadmills, but if I am afraid of catching staph I will go elsewhere.

Oh, and my personal preference is the rubberized dumbells so I don't sound
like I'm playing the cymbals everytime I bring them together [tiiing - tiiing - tiiing - tiiing!!!]
 
deschain said:
I hear ya on the free time. (and kudos for spending your lunch break doing something productive instead of something bad - like the secretary;) )
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Lol, I was 'doing' the receptionist for about 6 months if that counts :D
(Before I started dating my wonderful girlfriend and mother of my child of course)

I do miss the good old days though
 
RedT said:
And don't forget cleanliness, cleanliness, cleanliness! Keep the locker rooms clean and have disinfectant spray bottles and paper towels available for members to wipe benches, machines and matts.
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Ah, the showers at my gym stink like a urinal and has mould growing on the suspended ceiling a few inches above my head

(sorry about the mental imagery there)
 
Haha that is a pretty nasty image there, mold over the showers.
For you gym goers that use alot of heavy free weights, is there a prefrence to be secluded from the rest of the gym, or do you prefer to be out in the open.

My lay out so far is one of a very open gym floor, with very little partions or walls. SO you will be able to see from 1 side to the other for the most part.

Great info so far everyone, keep it coming.
 
tats27 said:
Haha that is a pretty nasty image there, mold over the showers.
For you gym goers that use alot of heavy free weights, is there a prefrence to be secluded from the rest of the gym, or do you prefer to be out in the open.
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To be honest I don't really care but I think the free weight are should be quite open as it can seem intimidating to lifting newbies. If you've got a free weights area with a few 300lb guys lifting huge weights then a lot of skinny guys and girls might be scared about embarrasing themselves in there and stick to the security of the machines
 
That's pretty much dead on the money CCR.

I think a more open plan is less intimidating for those starting out and/or unsure of themselves. In an open plan, more people can watch you from all over the gym, but the chances of them paying that much attention aren't that great considering there is stuff everywhere and they are watching themselves, etc etc. In a seperate area, it's more intimate, and it's just you and the big no-neck next to you, side by side.

It's hard enough to get people to venture away from the machines, I think making a seperate room wouldn't help that.
 
When I first started lifting, I was overweight, low self confidance. I used machines because all the other fatties used the machines. All the fit guys were over in the free weight aera. I guess I was just scared to go over there at first, on the other hand I did not know what I was doing and the machines had instructions lol
 
Free wts are superior from strictly a technical point of view, but that's a good point about the instructions. Assuming it's a relatively new machine w/ decently clear instructions - a newbie can get a safer and even more effective wkout than they could get attempting free weights and not doing it right.
 
Merciless said:
Free weights without question. In my school's weight room, it's just that, a weight room, not a gym. So it's like 95% free weights and it's a tough place so nobody cares if you throw heavy plates and weight around. I love the hardcore gyms/weight rooms as opposed to the nice and clean, no grunting, no dropping weights, etc.


^^ That's the place where my New England Powerlifting Championship was on Saturday. It was a REALLY, REALLY, REALLY nice place and I would love to go there...but it wasn't a hardcore weight room as I'm used to. Machines galore and just...weird lol. Very nice though.
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I have visions of a Rocky style gym now lol.
 
i think cardio machines can make stuff easier than it is supposed to be.

like running on a tredmill is easier than running outside.

riding the bike simulation uphill is easier than riding a real bike uphill.

the stairmaster is probably easier than actually going and climbing up those stairs.

so if a gym doesnt have cardio machines, its ok. il go outside and do some cardio and get better results.

but if a gym doesnt have free weights, its going to be hard to match a barbell, and dumbell with milk cartons filled w/sand
 
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LaraCroft Girl said:
Cardio Machines are very good for toning in my opinion.
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"Toning" is merely having a low body fat content and for fat burning, cardio is not so great.

You're better off using a weight lifting program designed to raise the metabolism, combined with interval training.

I'd recommend the book "New Rules of Lifting" or AC's other book "Afterburn."
 
For me, it's the classes. I love yoga, spinning and pilates. Also, it's just so much nicer to be with people rather than being along running on a treadmill going nowhere!
 
You should try to find the largest building you can for the gym, but don't use that as a reason to cram it full of equipment. Open space could be seen as a waste, true, but I hate squeezing between two people working out to get to where I want to be. Open space.

Free weights are a must. They are used by everybody and you should never have a certain weight that's off the shelf and being used. I hate to wait when I'm headed for free weights.

Good Music! Both gyms I have been a member of have played very slow, non-controversial music. Play some faster heavier rock, not death metal, but something that makes you want to move. I listen to an iPod but there are days I forget and others the battery dies.

Good luck. I also hope to be a buisness owner someday. I'm in school right now.
 
As I am new to the gym experience I have found I gravitate mostly towards the treadmill. Second are the weight machines as I want to develop definition in addition to loosing weight. But cardio is my first concern in the gym. :)

~DivaInPink~
 
tats27 said:
A few treadmills, and a bunch of jump ropes I think will be my very limited cardio section. Would you be interested in working out at a plce like this, if it met your basic needs that you look for in a gym?

Just trying to gather some opinions, any comments you guys have would be greatly appreciated.
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If it had a treadmill that was available when I needed it. I would hate waiting for a treadmill and then having a time limit because others are waiting. I'm on the treadmill a hour (half jogging/half incline walking) so I don't like time limits. I saw a sign at my gym that said 20 minute time limit when others are waiting. I would just leave and come back :rolleyes:

Other that that as long as the place didn't look like a dungeon, didn't feel cramp and didn't treat carido equipment second class I would be ok with your idea.

I would miss my sauna though:eek:

~DivaInPink~
 
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