"Do you know of any good gyms?" - Things to Consider when Choosing a gym

This was a message from my cousin who lives a few hours away. "Do you know any good gyms?" I'm glad she thought of me and reached out, and I'd love to help. However, the REAL world doesn't work as "this or that" as the internet gurus (and society for that matter) would lead us to believe. It's complex AND it has nothing to do with me. It has EVERYTHING to do with what the individual wants/needs.

The common approach to choosing a gym is to "jump". Pick one you're aware of or that you just happened to drive by, buy a membership, with the best of intentions to start going regularly and your "health will fall into place" in no time. However, that RARELY is a sustainable decision making tactic for most people. Why? Because we didn't take anything else into consideration, including what WE (the individual) WANTS, LIKES and DISLIKES.

You're probably already figuring out that my cousin did NOT get a "Ya, try this place" kind of answer from me. It was more thoughts and questions posed back to her so SHE can make a decision that's right for HER!

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I'll preface with saying I'm NOT a "gym guy". I don't care for them (personally). It's NEVER been my thing, even before college and diving into my career. I'm a private studio / home gym / outdoors activity kind of guy. When I'm taking care of myself, I don't want distraction, stressors etc. I want to focus inward, on myself and my health. That's just always been me and I'm happy with that.

Others LOVE the gym. It's their community, it's their "jam". To each their own. The important part is knowing what YOU personally like and dislike so that you can make the best informed decision. Here's some things to keep in mind when looking at starting at a gym / facility...

Take the FREE 1-week trail or 1-Month Trial offer. Many places will offer something along these lines. Take it. Be as consistent that week or month as you're aiming to be long term, so that you can really get a feel for whether or not this is the place for you.

Bigger gyms mean more people. Seems obvious, but this also means more personalities. Personally, I would be stressed in 5min at a big gym from all the ridiculousness I'd see in what people are doing, what people are saying, how respectful they are or in particular are not being to others around etc... Not for me. Take this into account. You will see all kinds of things, positive and negative. You will have to adjust your routine at times if the gym is busy and people are hogging equipment and/or something isn't available. Be prepared to be flexible in that regard.

Be mindful of your payments. One thing I forgot to mention to my cousin is to be mindful of your payments if you choose a bigger gym. Large gyms and chains in particular, rely on people signing up and forgetting. That is the business model. The amount of members who pay but don't often go to the gym, heavily outweigh those who do. They automatically take your monthly membership out each month, which does makes things easy, but I know MANY people over the course of my career who realized after 8, 9, 14 months that they've been paying for a gym membership they stopped using a long time ago - but the payments kept going! BE MINDFUL. I'm in no way blaming the gyms on this. This to me is a "user error". Which helps prove my point in what we're discussing here. Why? Not only because we're not being mindful of the fact that we pay for the gym each month, but because it clearly shows in many cases that the gym was not that important to the user to begin with. It was a "should do" rather than an "I choose to do" if that makes sense.

What do you like? And dislike? This MUST be taken into account in ANY health endeavour. Don't go by what you think you "should do". What do YOU ACTUALLY want. If a big gym doesn't seem to turn you off, give it a try! If a big gym immediately makes you cringe, don't spend your time, energy and money searching for a big gym to exercise in. Try to find a small comfortable studio OR begin to build your own in your home. This is the perfect opportunity to remind everyone reading this that a gym is NOT the key to health. It's a tool. That's it. You CAN be healthy in MANY WAYS that doesn't require a monthly membership fee.

Consider things outside of the gym. My cousin really liked this piece of advice (which was nice for me to hear because I didn't feel like I was offering much help since I can't give a straight answer). I reminded her to consider things outside of the gym such as travel time, when is realistic to go there, how are you getting there, how easy is that means of getting there, is it going to put more stress into your day or will it be able to work it's way in as part of your days... THESE types of things are regularly missed by so many people who will just JUMP into a gym membership, with the very best of intentions, but ZERO consideration and planning within the context of their own daily lifestyle.

Do you have any health habits in place right now? A suggestion I would make to people is to try putting a basic health habit in place now, for 4-6 weeks(ish) and see how that goes. Let's use an easy example like regular walking:

• You're considering getting a gym membership to "get healthier", but currently you don't have much happening the way of health habits.

  
  

• Instead of going right out today to get a gym membership, you decide you're going to start with a 15min walk every day of the work week. Monday-Friday. 5-walks per week for 15min each. Nothing more, nothing less.

  
  

• Then, you do it! Put it into action without worrying about ANYTHING else health wise. Afterall, adding 75min per week of walking to your month is WAY more than you were doing before, so you're ALREADY progressing and you haven't even bought a membership.

  
  

• After 4-weeks or so, if you've done your walks consistently each week you may have a better idea of whether a gym habit could stick! Now you have gathered accurate personal data to make an informed decision for yourself.

  
  

• You may have realized after you 4-weeks that you feel really great just doing this and you think "You know what? I'm going to just try to build on this for now". Reality is, gyms aren't going anywhere. You can always get a membership in a few months if you wanted.

  
  

• Let's say after 4-weeks you realize you did NOT get your walks in consistently. Geeze, one week you only did 2/5 walks. Another you did none! This gives you accurate personal data that you collected for yourself. If you're not staying consistent with a 15min walk where you leave right from your own door to do it, what makes you think that buying a gym membership will change something? Because that gym membership ADDS MORE steps into the equation: Getting your gym clothes/bag ready each day, driving/walking/travel time to and from the gym, when can you realistically get to the gym (before work, after work, lunch hours...), doing the exercise at the gym also takes time from your day, showering there (don't forget your shower stuff at home!), are you bringing your headphones with you to listen to music or podcast (don't forget that at home either!), childcare / who's watching the kids while you go to the gym (possibly time to get them to childcare if need be)...

None of these things are "good or bad", "right or wrong". That's the point of this post. Nothing is "A or B" in REAL life. It's compex. It is also NEVER about ANYONE else but YOU when it comes to YOUR health and wellbeing. We truly need to STOP handing it off to others in all facets. It's okay to ask questions, but don't seek an answer from an external source as your primary factor in your decision. Use the information you gather to cultivate YOUR own answer to make YOUR own decision. You will be way more likely to choose something that speaks to YOU that way.

Regardless of what's decided, gyms are NOT a must. In fact, especially today I would argue that a gym / slowly building your accessibility to tools at HOME is the way to go for most people. An area at home to work on your health and body should be as common as a kitchen and bathroom in people's homes, in my opinion. I truly believe our world would be different if this was the case. Either way, you can improve, maintain and change your health in positive ways in SO MANY possible ways. If you choose a gym and it doesn't work out for you, DON'T get discouraged.