Alright..so today when Brad left for work he asked me to go to some gyms today to talk about membership prices. So I was all.."SURE I'd love to." We've been talking about this for months..and I'm starting to see the jiggly parts and I'm not all about that.
So...after my haircut, I picked up a sausage mcgriddle (because what says gym membership like Mcdonald's?) and headed on my way.
Time Out: My stylist had told me not to go to Lifetime Fitness if I was content at one of the other gyms...because I'll never be ok with them after I see a Lifetime Fitness.
Time in: I obviously didn't listen to my stylist, because the first gym on my way home was Lifetime. I stopped and went in. BIG MISTAKE. Jason, my ever so kind tour guide, showed me the AWESOMENESS of lifetime. I use that term not at all lightly..I mean that place is like a resort. It has a salon, spa, pools, big screens in the locker room, rock climbing, raquetball courts, basketball courts, a GINORMOUS "fitness floor," and like 80 workout classes to choose from. IT'S ALSO UNBELIEVABLY CLEAN. Seriously. I mean I am not at all motivated to get in shape..but just walking in that place made you feel ready to get PUMPED! Then Jason reveals the price to me. Now, obviously I have never had a gym membership before..and really I had no idea what to expect..so when he dropped the number on me, I was all "wow...that's not really that bad." I told him I would have to talk with Brad and get back to them. Then I called Brad...his response was "WHOA, that is REALLY expensive." Shoot. I mean I was ready to do it..all in..let's get in shape. So that was my first stop..and obviously I'm in trouble because now every gym has to compete with this.
Next stop: 24 Hour Fitness.
It's ok, it's in a strip mall in Round Rock which is pretty difficult to get to. The price is better, but I mean they don't have HEATED yoga rooms (have I EVER done yoga? not once.) and their pool is smaller, and the locker room isn't immaculate. Uh oh. They gave me a free week pass though, so ok. I'll talk to you later Adam.
Next: YMCA
Now this one..I'm all about. Mom and Sarah do the Y at home, and I love going to classes with them, so I've been really excited to price this one. I get there, and you can barely walk through the hallway, but there was a silent auction going on for an awesome cause so I'm totally ok with it. My tourguide, I didn't get her name, was very sweet. I liked her because she was friendly and honest and I liked it. Next thing I know, someone is interrupting our tour to tell her that her car had just been broken into. WHAT?! In broad daylight two cars were broken into the the YMCA's parking lot. I say thanks..and head on my way. A little scared.
Finally: Gold's Gym
I sign in and grab a seat on the leather couch. A leather couch I could have passed out asleep on if given 5 more minutes. Who puts a couch like that in a gym? Anyways, they make you fill out your fitness goals and how motivated you are to accomplish these goals. If you know me, you know I don't have fitness goals. I filled in something about losing weight and getting toned (sounds good right) and then mark myself as a 5 out of 10 for motivation.
In walks Cary my tourguide, who announces to me that he's not exactly pleased with my lack of motivation. He'd really like to see me at a 10...CLEARLY he doesn't know me. He then gives me a tour of the place, and I gotta say, I'm pretty impressed. It's very clean, lots of machines, classes to choose from, lots of good things. Then I do a personal fitness assessment. I have to choose which parts of my body to add fat to, and as you do it the girl in the picture gets bigger. WHAT? It told me my body thinks it's 28 years old..OUCH. My face thinks it's 12. I think I'm in crisis mode. Anyways, the price here was identical to 24 Hour Fitness, and like 2 dollars more than the Y, and I thought I got a discount from the hospital . Turns out you have to enroll through HR so that put that deal on hold.
And I'm done. NO more gym visits for me today. But dilemmas all around.
1. Why is Lifetime Fitness so expensive?
2. Why do I feel like I need all those crazy things? I have not played basketball in years, I haven't ever climbed a rock wall (though I would LOVE to), I've never played raquetball, and yoga and pilates aren't even in my vocab.
3. Why am I so intimidated by gyms?
4. Are we really going to do this?
5. How do people make this decision?
All this to say...I obviously won't be the one making this decision, because I am WAY to indecisive.
On the up side..other than Lifetime...they are all almost identical in price, and much closer to what Brad planned to spend.
Whoa. You might ask after reading this why we're even bothering with this? Here's the deal. I love to be active, but I do not like just going out to run. I do ride my bike, but if I just get home fom work I'm not going to do that in the dark alone. I also love classes that make you work. Brad loves to work out, and has wanted to join a gym for some time. So now is the time.
I'll keep you posted.
So...after my haircut, I picked up a sausage mcgriddle (because what says gym membership like Mcdonald's?) and headed on my way.
Time Out: My stylist had told me not to go to Lifetime Fitness if I was content at one of the other gyms...because I'll never be ok with them after I see a Lifetime Fitness.
Time in: I obviously didn't listen to my stylist, because the first gym on my way home was Lifetime. I stopped and went in. BIG MISTAKE. Jason, my ever so kind tour guide, showed me the AWESOMENESS of lifetime. I use that term not at all lightly..I mean that place is like a resort. It has a salon, spa, pools, big screens in the locker room, rock climbing, raquetball courts, basketball courts, a GINORMOUS "fitness floor," and like 80 workout classes to choose from. IT'S ALSO UNBELIEVABLY CLEAN. Seriously. I mean I am not at all motivated to get in shape..but just walking in that place made you feel ready to get PUMPED! Then Jason reveals the price to me. Now, obviously I have never had a gym membership before..and really I had no idea what to expect..so when he dropped the number on me, I was all "wow...that's not really that bad." I told him I would have to talk with Brad and get back to them. Then I called Brad...his response was "WHOA, that is REALLY expensive." Shoot. I mean I was ready to do it..all in..let's get in shape. So that was my first stop..and obviously I'm in trouble because now every gym has to compete with this.
Next stop: 24 Hour Fitness.
It's ok, it's in a strip mall in Round Rock which is pretty difficult to get to. The price is better, but I mean they don't have HEATED yoga rooms (have I EVER done yoga? not once.) and their pool is smaller, and the locker room isn't immaculate. Uh oh. They gave me a free week pass though, so ok. I'll talk to you later Adam.
Next: YMCA
Now this one..I'm all about. Mom and Sarah do the Y at home, and I love going to classes with them, so I've been really excited to price this one. I get there, and you can barely walk through the hallway, but there was a silent auction going on for an awesome cause so I'm totally ok with it. My tourguide, I didn't get her name, was very sweet. I liked her because she was friendly and honest and I liked it. Next thing I know, someone is interrupting our tour to tell her that her car had just been broken into. WHAT?! In broad daylight two cars were broken into the the YMCA's parking lot. I say thanks..and head on my way. A little scared.
Finally: Gold's Gym
I sign in and grab a seat on the leather couch. A leather couch I could have passed out asleep on if given 5 more minutes. Who puts a couch like that in a gym? Anyways, they make you fill out your fitness goals and how motivated you are to accomplish these goals. If you know me, you know I don't have fitness goals. I filled in something about losing weight and getting toned (sounds good right) and then mark myself as a 5 out of 10 for motivation.
In walks Cary my tourguide, who announces to me that he's not exactly pleased with my lack of motivation. He'd really like to see me at a 10...CLEARLY he doesn't know me. He then gives me a tour of the place, and I gotta say, I'm pretty impressed. It's very clean, lots of machines, classes to choose from, lots of good things. Then I do a personal fitness assessment. I have to choose which parts of my body to add fat to, and as you do it the girl in the picture gets bigger. WHAT? It told me my body thinks it's 28 years old..OUCH. My face thinks it's 12. I think I'm in crisis mode. Anyways, the price here was identical to 24 Hour Fitness, and like 2 dollars more than the Y, and I thought I got a discount from the hospital . Turns out you have to enroll through HR so that put that deal on hold.
And I'm done. NO more gym visits for me today. But dilemmas all around.
1. Why is Lifetime Fitness so expensive?
2. Why do I feel like I need all those crazy things? I have not played basketball in years, I haven't ever climbed a rock wall (though I would LOVE to), I've never played raquetball, and yoga and pilates aren't even in my vocab.
3. Why am I so intimidated by gyms?
4. Are we really going to do this?
5. How do people make this decision?
All this to say...I obviously won't be the one making this decision, because I am WAY to indecisive.
On the up side..other than Lifetime...they are all almost identical in price, and much closer to what Brad planned to spend.
Whoa. You might ask after reading this why we're even bothering with this? Here's the deal. I love to be active, but I do not like just going out to run. I do ride my bike, but if I just get home fom work I'm not going to do that in the dark alone. I also love classes that make you work. Brad loves to work out, and has wanted to join a gym for some time. So now is the time.
I'll keep you posted.
7 comments:
We are members at the Y and absolutely LOVE IT!!! We have been at Gold's, Lifetime, 24 hour, Fitness 19 and YMCA is definitely a great pick!!
haha Lifetime is awesome! :) I think you are more of a YMCA kind of girl though!
Yeah, Life Time Fitness is a premier workout facility, so our prices are a little bit higher than the competition. But for the amenities we offer, we think we can't be beat! If you are interested, I can get you a special VIP discounted membership rate if you are interested. It would offer you nothing down and $20 off a month for a couples membership. Here are the details. Then just email me if you are interested!
http://robertstanke.com/blog/2009/12/8/join-life-time-fitness-at-a-special-discounted-membership-ra.html
Have a great day!
Bob Stanke
Community Manager
Life Time Fitness
rstanke@lifetimefitness.com
Well, Hopefully you know "Bob" or thats really weird that he stumbled upon your blog!!
Just incase you wanted my input: The way Jake & I figure cost is by taking the price and dividing it by the number of times we 'think' we will be using it...usually we pick 3x/week that way if you go a little more one week and a little less you still get the average. Then multiply by 52 (weeks in a year) & divide it out by the price per person. This usually gives you a $1.75-4.00 per visit to the gym & then you can decide whether you would pay $ 1.75 or up to $4.00 or more per time you go to the gym.
Now, knowing YOU, I'm with Ellen-but I'm not down with the robbery thing at the Y, so I'd pick 24 hour or Golds! Not that having a gym membership isnt going to motivate you more, but you should start small incase you get burnt out and dont go (then its a waste of money). As for the machines, etc-they really all work the same! & no matter how many classes they have, you can only go to one at a time!
Then after a year, you will be able to decide whether it would be a good idea to spend the extra money each month or year to upgrade to a premier workout center! However, if the price that Bobby boy is offering you is at the cost of the other places, definately live the high life & go for it! I can only imagine how much it costs though.
The place here in plainfield we were looking at was only $531/ couple per year...not bad, but we opted not right now. We'll just stick to our free gym at our apt complex & suck up the free things until we dont have access to them!
Well, now I'm finished with my book & I just noticed I've commented more on your blog than Ive written on mine in 2 weeks :)
Well, Roxanne, I am a new visitor to this blog. I am an Interactive Community Manager for Life Time Fitness, so part of my job is staying on top of of presence on the web, so Google let me know this post was up!
So cute Rachael! So, we are Lifetime members... it started out as a "try this for 30 days" thing to a "we can't go back to 24 hour fitness after this" thing... we love it though, and have heard rumors that the childcare is great... you know for the future. :)
And it looks like this blog post came across the right person!
I'm with Roxanne... a little weird that "Bob" found your blog, but it may just pay off for you.
My suggestion is that you find something close to home, or you'll be even less likely to keep up.
Also, you may want to find out if the fee you pay for Lifetime is all inclusive, or if the classes, etc, are extra.
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