Monday, January 19, 2009

24 Hour Fitness Gym Review

So despite having a fitness center at my apartment complex and belonging to a gym in town already (for another two months)... I decided to join a 24 Hour Fitness gym about 10 minutes away (by car) because the thought of a gym open 24/7 is quite the dream come true! If only the fitness center at my apartment complex was 24/7, but unfortunately it is catering to the stereotypical college student who sleeps in after getting wasted the night before. 

I signed up for this gym yesterday and it only cost me $81 for the initiation fee & first month membership. What I like is that I can discontinue in 30 days and get all of my money back if I end up not liking this gym. The man I met with yesterday who signed me up was very nice & a pleasure but it struck me as odd that he worked at such a health conscious place yet was extremely overweight... But that is another topic to discuss at a later time. Since I had a day off from classes today, I did in fact sleep in until 8:30 am, but made my way on over to the 24 Hour to check out what I had gotten myself into and here is what I think: 

Location: North Boulder (with over 400 clubs nationwide!) 

Gym Type: Sport

Amenities: Basketball Court (yea, won't be using that), Cardio Equipment (yes sir, I am all over that area!), Free Weights (perhaps looking at this area will get me "pumped"), Functional Training Room (for classes?), Group Cycling (enough said), Group X (I will have to figure out what that means and get back to you), Kid's Club (thank goodness I do not have any kids, but for all those who do, there is NO excuse not to work out!), Pool (apparently it is salt water), Pro Shop (with ALL my favorite sugar, calorie & carb free energy drinks!), Sauna & Steam Room (when I have more time to myself I plan on sitting in those rooms for hours) & Whirlpool
Monthly Membership Fee: $24.99 (for one club) 

PROS: Lots of variety, Nice Staff, Personal Trainers, Cardio Classes, Sanitizing Spray for Equipment, Lots of Parking, Showers with Shampoo & Soap in Locker Room, No Time Limits of Equipment, Good Energizing Music, Variety on TVs, Coffee Shop Right Next Door 

CONS: No Towels Provided, Kind of Stuffy, Locker Room Lockers Don't Have Locks (You have to bring your own), Obnoxious People Who Talk Loudly & A lot (but that is not the gym's fault), Personal Trainers & Cardio Classes cost Extra, A Clock Blaring in You Face (screaming @ you that you have ONLY been on the machine for X amount of time! ha ha).  

OVERALL: I have never belonged to a mainstream gym before and over all my experience was pretty good. I felt really motivated to work out hard because everyone around me were doing the same (except for this LOUD man who was talking to his two friends - college kids, ugh, ha! How ironic, I am a college student). There are so many cardiovascular machines that I will have no problem mixing up that part of my work out (considering, it is pretty much all my work out)... and hopefully I will gravitate over to the weights to build more upper body strength. To all those who want to join a gym and feel a bit uneasy about it... I think I would recommend 24 Hour Fitness because it has REASONABLE prices (unlike the other gym that I belong to in town... don't get me started on how much it is to belong there for a year) and because even if you don't feel like working out, simply entering this gym will motivate you to hop on a cardio machine and belt out an hour work out! 

Interested: www.24hourfitness.com

PS: You can get a free 7 day trial but there is fine print (aka: not 24 hours a day & must be used consecutively) 



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