High dollar gym vs. low dollar gym

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around here the difference is valet parking or not.. 

Scales are not important to me and I've never belonged to a gym that provided towels though I like my own soft towels that smell like lavender anyway.

Some days when I am on the treadmill I wish I belonged to a gym where a snot rocket was considered acceptable but then I realize that would not be a place I felt comfortable leaving my children during my workout.

I used to belong to (edit) a certain gym that's a big chain. It was awful. Smelled like mold, you could never find a weight, no towel service and NO SCALE!!!

My new gym smells like roses all the time, has many beautiful people, the weights are always in order right where they're supposed to be since there's many employees running around returning them, nice clean towels and a really nice scale!!!

It's totally worth what I pay.

Oh and the pool doesn't have `floaters' in it.

Edited by mr2tony 2009-07-27 3:28 PM

My old old gym had two many people in too small of a space without adequate ventilation. It smelled bad, had no pool and I could never find a weight unless it was attached to a muscle head. My old gym was bigger, nicer, had a pool, had a basic scale, and good ventilation, was still crowded and I could not often do my workouts due to others in there, not to mention the floaters/walkers.My new gym never lacks ventilation, is huge, has several places to swim, I never have to worry about others working out, always smells great, but does not have a scale. Did I mention that the new gym is free? It is called working out outside during the summer and has never felt better

And escalators. Don't forget the escalators.

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I belong to one of the chain gyms and it's kept up nicely, however, people don't know their numbers and seem to put the 100lb weights where the 40lb weights are suppose to be. Drives me insane.

Seriously?  An escalator?  Bear, you owe me a new keyboard.

I've noticed that the ever present "naked locker room guy" wears designer shower shoes at Globogym.  Walmart flip flops at Average Joe's gym.

Edited by mdg2003 2009-07-27 5:02 PM

wait...your naked locker room guy wears shoes? thats lucky...:P

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I pay $80/ month for my gym
and ALL I use it for is the pool !
BUT: the pool is open year round (bubble over it in the winter) and it's 5 min from my house

You get towels? My el cheapo gym doesn't have a towel service. The expensive gym I went to had towels all over the place... and they all smelled like a mid-August green pond scum. Blech.

We almost switched to Large Chain Gym. Except there was a line to get into the parking structure. We never made it inside. That evening we drove 3 minutes over to el cheapo gym and parked in front of the door. Walked in and the weight room was nearly empty and so were the swim lanes. I have shared a lane three times there in about 3 years. Now, I don't swim all that often, so grain of salt, but last time I had to share, the kayakers had reduced the number of lanes to 1. So I had to swim two whole laps with one other person. It's hard to beat this. My friend says she shares lanes with 3-4 other people at Large Chain Gym. I'll just take my own towel to El Cheapo.  

You have kayaking at your gym? I'm soooooo jealous 

run and bike outside with the stuff you already have and do your core fitness with a wii!!!

We sortof have kayaking. There is a guy that teaches basic and and intermediate kayaking skills and he apparently is allowed to take over the pool at will - Monday thru Thursday evenings and some fridays... except when he isn't there. I have yet to figure out the schedule. And the guy at the club front desk just says, "well, he showed up tonight..."

The days when they practice bouncing around it's like OWS. The best is when the kids get rowdy on one side of the lane and the kayakers are bouncing on the other. For a pool, it's heavy chop. Oh, and I have no idea what the bouncy stuff is. I don't kayak... yet. 

There used to be a guy that taught a beginner diving course at our club. He hasn't been around in ages though. That was interesting. Lots of people floating at the bottom. A little spooky.

I miss my university gym...

I'm jealous of my daughter's university pool.  She's going to U. Md. this fall - heated pool with underwater sound system. 

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I go to the City-run gym here.  $120 a year... I only really use the pools (indoor and outdoor).  No towels but we do have a lot of old naked guys... without towels. 

I have to have a membership to a gym... it is what motivates me to go.  Otherwise I'm wasting money.  If I didn't have a membership, I would not work out at home... I have proved that to myself too many times. 

Here on the Navy base we had two gyms, one was all cardio and the other was some cardio and all the weights.  They recently shut down the all cardio and moved everything to the other.  It is an old quionset (sp?) style gym that they just use the large fans to cool.  During hot, and not humid days, they open the doors at either end for some cross ventilation.  Nice gym but we are supposedly getting a whole new gym in the future (not until I leave) and a new pool (the old one is 35 yards and shuts down during lightning storms). 
We do have free towels at the gym but no day care.  It is also located directly behind the building I am in right now.  Only issue I have is that the streets and sidewalks around the gym that lead to the running trails are all horrible.  Then again, they are supposed to be fixing that too.

Forgot to add it is all free to active duty members and dependants.

Edited by NavyTRIChief 2009-07-28 8:42 AM