The worst gym I've gone to

P

Pugilistic

Guest
I recently ended my membership to probably the weirdest and worst gym I've been to.

My previous gym cost about 70 bucks a month that wasn't the best, but I could deadlift and squat, which was all I wanted.

I moved in with my girlfriend and signed up at the gym she was already going to since I could work out with her and I couldn't find another gym in the area that had a squat rack and permitted deadlifts. But it came with a hefty price tag: more than twice the previous gym I was going to.

And it fucking sucked. It's a popular chain of fitness centers so it gets crowded but there's only one squat rack and one power rack and one benchpress. The rest of the gym is filled with machines and treadmills so tightly packed you barely have space to walk through the gym. You have to be constantly dodge moving bars and equipment if you want to move from what one part of the gym to another. I was afraid of hitting someone walking past while I'm squatting. This is kind of normal for my country but I expected better facilities and environment for the ridiculous price tag.

The trainers and staff were the weirdest. I'm no expert, but I think they were actively hindering their clients. Everything being so close together, it was hard for me to not overhear and see what the trainers were teaching their clients. I saw one guy explain to a guy how he has to learn how to bench press on the smith machine before moving on to the actual bench press which I never heard of before. I saw another guy teach an older client to do overhead presses behind the head on the smith machine. Doesn't this cause shoulder impingement? I saw multiple trainers teach people to half squat on the Smith machine. They seem to love the smith machine.

They also seemed to love touching their clients. I saw one guy keep a hand on his client's ass while teaching him how to squat. Not like a tap as a cue, but the whole time. With female clients, I routinely saw them stand right behind with their hands on their clients' hips to teach them how to romanian deadlift off the rack.

Maybe I'm missing something but this seems like an excuse for them to feel people up. I don't think you need a hand on your ass as a lifting cue. I'm sure most lifters learned to lift without having their trainers feel them up. Am I missing something?

This gym just had a strange vibe all around and the pricetag was ridiculous. It was the only option I had but I felt duped. I don't know if it was worth to pay all that money for a shitty gym just to squat and deadlift.

Cliffs:
Paid about 150 a month for one of the worst gyms I've been to.
Overcrowded and packed to the brim with machines and two racks where I could squat.
So little room it would be a safety liability.
Touchy creepy trainers who seem to hinder their clients either on purpose or out of their own ignorance.
 
This is why i train at home/outside, fuck local gym's. If your mma gym has some weights even better.
 
If all you want is to squat and deadlift, why not just do that at home?

Plus, what you describe sounds great, I'd love people touching my ass more often.
 
Trainers are taught to do that because if they don’t touch the clients as much as possible one could start to wonder if they really need them after all.
 
I recently ended my membership to probably the weirdest and worst gym I've been to.

My previous gym cost about 70 bucks a month that wasn't the best, but I could deadlift and squat, which was all I wanted.

I moved in with my girlfriend and signed up at the gym she was already going to since I could work out with her and I couldn't find another gym in the area that had a squat rack and permitted deadlifts. But it came with a hefty price tag: more than twice the previous gym I was going to.

And it fucking sucked. It's a popular chain of fitness centers so it gets crowded but there's only one squat rack and one power rack and one benchpress. The rest of the gym is filled with machines and treadmills so tightly packed you barely have space to walk through the gym. You have to be constantly dodge moving bars and equipment if you want to move from what one part of the gym to another. I was afraid of hitting someone walking past while I'm squatting. This is kind of normal for my country but I expected better facilities and environment for the ridiculous price tag.

The trainers and staff were the weirdest. I'm no expert, but I think they were actively hindering their clients. Everything being so close together, it was hard for me to not overhear and see what the trainers were teaching their clients. I saw one guy explain to a guy how he has to learn how to bench press on the smith machine before moving on to the actual bench press which I never heard of before. I saw another guy teach an older client to do overhead presses behind the head on the smith machine. Doesn't this cause shoulder impingement? I saw multiple trainers teach people to half squat on the Smith machine. They seem to love the smith machine.

They also seemed to love touching their clients. I saw one guy keep a hand on his client's ass while teaching him how to squat. Not like a tap as a cue, but the whole time. With female clients, I routinely saw them stand right behind with their hands on their clients' hips to teach them how to romanian deadlift off the rack.

Maybe I'm missing something but this seems like an excuse for them to feel people up. I don't think you need a hand on your ass as a lifting cue. I'm sure most lifters learned to lift without having their trainers feel them up. Am I missing something?

This gym just had a strange vibe all around and the pricetag was ridiculous. It was the only option I had but I felt duped. I don't know if it was worth to pay all that money for a shitty gym just to squat and deadlift.

Cliffs:
Paid about 150 a month for one of the worst gyms I've been to.
Overcrowded and packed to the brim with machines and two racks where I could squat.
So little room it would be a safety liability.
Touchy creepy trainers who seem to hinder their clients either on purpose or out of their own ignorance.

Are you talking about Lifetime or a similar style gym? Honestly I can't even imagine paying more than $50/month for a gym membership and it better be a chain with everything I could need. For $150/month they better be sucking dick at the end of my workout.

You can get a membership like LA Fitness for around $30/month. I get access to all gyms across the nation and they are everywhere. There's literally 8 different ones I can go to with thirty minutes of driving. They all have at least 2 squat racks and several power racks to use for squats. They have a bunch of bench press options from flat to incline. They can have deadlift platforms. They have a great selection of machines and cardio equipment. They almost all have saunas and most have heated pools. It's certainly not a dedicated powerlifting or weightlifting gym, but I've never been to one that didn't have all the basic tools you would need for a comprehensive strength session. You'll always be able to squat, deadlift, bench, row. You get all of that for less than $50, so why anyone would ever pay three times that is beyond my understanding.

If you live in a boring shit tiny town and your only option is something super expensive then you're better off buying a barbell and weights package for like $500-$1000 and building yourself a free squat rack. When I was in between gyms, I went to The Home Depot and bought wood boards and built a squat rack for less than $100 that held up to 400+ lbs with no concerns at all.

I could only see paying over $50 for a facility that really caters to a specific need like a weightlifting gym with trained coaches for cleans/jerks/snatches, or a powerlifting facility with all the bands/chains/boards/monolifts. Those are select circumstances where I would understand paying more, but your basic Gold's Gym/LA Fitness/Retro will suffice for basic needs.
 
I live in Korea where options are far more limited and there are gyms for much cheaper, just not in this area. couldn't believe I paid that much either. I am the dumbass who got tricked in the end. Fortunately I am moving
 
My gym is $20 a month. Literally always open. It’s kinda ratty though (which I like). Just a big room with old weights. They do have some machines and cardio, but cardio is only like 1/4 of the room. It’s a weird assortment of people in there. Geriatrics, power lifters, soccer moms, dad bods, athletes. It works though.
 
My gym is $20 a month. Literally always open. It’s kinda ratty though (which I like). Just a big room with old weights. They do have some machines and cardio, but cardio is only like 1/4 of the room. It’s a weird assortment of people in there. Geriatrics, power lifters, soccer moms, dad bods, athletes. It works though.

I went to a community center that was like that. $15 bucks per month. Super small room with a few machines, a squat rack, a rack of dumbbells, and a few treadmills and ellipticals. I worked out with a bunch of older guys who had been lifting there for decades. There was also another younger guy about my age who was super strange. Pretty sure he was some kind of neonazi or a wanna-be militia or vigilante type.....he sure did love baseball though.
 
Even 70$ s month is crazy, but twice that? Tha fuck?

I work in a camp setting, 2 weeks on, 1 week off. The camp has 2 workout rooms. 1 has all the weights in it with no cardio. I call it the meathead gym. Dumbells from 10-110 lbs. 6 bench presses. 4 other benches. A couple of machines, and a ton of plates. But strangely enough, only 1 squat rack.

The other gym has dumbells from 10-100 lbs. 1 bench press. A bunch of smith type machines. 2 squat racks, and a shit ton of cardio equipment ----> ellipticals, treadmills, recumbent bikes, spin bikes, stair climbers etc etc.

On top of that, there are 2 big rooms where you can stretch, do core training etc. And they run classes in those rooms -----> boot camps, yoga and even an introductory MMA class. There is also a rowing machine, more spin bikes, a speed bag, and various other shit. Plus they have personal trainers that will help you out if you're interested.

And on top of all of that they have an indoor running track, and an indoor sport court to play floor hockey, basketball etc.

Best of all, everything is 100% free.

When I'm home for my week off, we have a family membership to the local YMCA. I think it costs us about 60$ a month, but that is for up to 5 family members from the same household. My wife and kids both use the membership. It's a decent gym, and includes access to the pool, hottub, sauna, steam room etc.
 
Do the right thing TS. Call your old gym. say you're sorry and that you want to go back.
 
If you need the equipment and is taken just ask if you can work in with them. If you're strong enough they will tell you they're done once you start warming up with their max. On the otherhand if they are strong, then you just found yourself another comrade in the gym. This is honestly me when I use to workout in 24-hour fitness in the city
 
Are you talking about Lifetime or a similar style gym? Honestly I can't even imagine paying more than $50/month for a gym membership and it better be a chain with everything I could need. For $150/month they better be sucking dick at the end of my workout.
Yeah paying that much is absurd. I work out in a half indoor/half outdoor 40k sq foot gym here (Eos) for $16 a month. It used to be a Gold's Gym up until a few years ago so they have more than enough equipment and even have a combat sports room, pool, movie theater etc. They have gyms in LA, Vegas and Phoenix as well.

The only downside is that it get crowded of course and it's full of social media whores that love to use the equipment to take pics and vids of each other or stand in front of the mirrors and take selfies non stop.
 
Yeah paying that much is absurd. I work out in a half indoor/half outdoor 40k sq foot gym here (Eos) for $16 a month. It used to be a Gold's Gym up until a few years ago so they have more than enough equipment and even have a combat sports room, pool, movie theater etc. They have gyms in LA, Vegas and Phoenix as well.

The only downside is that it get crowded of course and it's full of social media whores that love to use the equipment to take pics and vids of each other or stand in front of the mirrors and take selfies non stop.

Yeah there's a lot of social media whores at LA Fitness. Luckily they hang out on the bro equipment and leave me alone in the racks. Since they only use the rack for curls and other shit like that, when I'm squatting nobody pressures me to hurry up. The rest of my workout I can do in a corner with a barbell.
 
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