Looking for a Gym, need ideas/suggestions

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Hey guys, I was wondering what you guys are paying for gym memberships, and whereabout you guys go. I'm pretty much done with Ann Arbor, hence no more college gym. I'm residing with my folks for my off year till medical school, and need to get a gym membership.

Thus far, my searching has been fruitless. I've talked with the following gyms, Gold's Gym, YMCA, Curves, Lifetime (friggin' ridiculous price), Bally's, and Powerhouse. The cheapest place I could find was Powerhouse Gym for $250/year, which is still too expensive.

I'm thinking about inquiring with the local colleges in my area, OCC. IIRC, UofM offers like $15/month memberships for non-student/faculty. So if I can score something like this around my area, that'd be great. Any suggestions or ideas of places I should get in touch with? Thanks guys.

I think Lifetime offers student discounts if you have an ID. It is hella expensive but it has everything you need and more! (including GREAT looking women

)

still not worth it--- trust me; lifetime is the biggest rip off ever

Just a summer membership for students isn't a bad deal at all (even though he's looking for a year), but living 5 minutes from it and having a lot of friends that work there is a fine benefit as well.

I would try and find just a small, privately owned place. What area are you in?

Originally posted by ancientsanskrit:
The cheapest place I could find was Powerhouse Gym for $250/year, which is still too expensive.

Are you joking?! That's $20 a month. That's .75 a day to use all the equipment/facilites. Wish I could find a place in GR that cheap. You want $20 a year? Get real.

Originally posted by todras:

Are you joking?! That's $20 a month. That's .75 a day to use all the equipment/facilites. Wish I could find a place in GR that cheap. You want $20 a year? Get real.

he's a poor college student. he needs to save all the $$ he can (to pay back all those loans for that crappy U of M education)

stay away from the fitness usa, unless you are 70 years old

been w/ Bally's since 99. My monthly bill is around $9. It lowers each year you are with the gym. Depending on location Bally's can very in quality. The one I go to is very nice though. Tons of machines, smith machines, cables, free weights from 5lbs-100lbs, a lot of tread mills and ellipticals, steppers, running track, pool, sauna, hot tub, aerobic room/classes, juice/protein bar, etc.

One of the best perks though is most memberships will allow you to go to any Bally's in the country. Not sure if other gyms let you do this. That is a huge benefit in itself. I have been to many Bally's in several different states when out of town for vacation or business.

you said your in ann arbor right? -- well, if your any close than that, i do know that if you were to do the bally's membership, there is one in novi.. not to sure the other locations closer to ann arbor, but it's only like, 20 minutes away

Free weights for the win. Id much rather use freeweights then go to a gym. 100 bucks gets you equipment you need forever

I worked out at Golds gym for awhile before I moved away and It was a pretty decent place. However, I had a chance to go there maybe 2 months ago and it had seen better days. The lighting was terrible and the equipment needed some up keep. I think you are going to be hard pressed to find a place any cheaper than 200-250 a year. I guess it really depends on how dedicated you are. If you know your going to hit and miss then go for the college gym. But, if your looking to train hard and have people around you that are dedicated to give you that extra drive I would spend the extra money.

rule of thumb is if you want to gain muscle mass and size and weight use free weights. If you want to tone and increase flexibility use machines and pulleys. The best exercise routine is a mix of both. You can control the weight w/ machines and cables thus giving you more of a stretch plus they are nice if you don't have a spotter.

The main thing is to always keep switching it up. Do not stick w/ one routine w/ the same exercises and same machines. Your body/muscles is a memory bank and will remember these movements and will stop growing. You need to constantly shock your body so it cannot get used to an exercise regimen. Using a combination of machines, pulleys and free weights will hit the muscle in every possible way giving you the best pump(pump-caused by tearing of the muscle and large volume of blood being pumped to that muscle). If you feel you are no longer getting a pump you need to change something up i.e. grip, amount of weight, exercise, etc.

I may have went a little overboard w/ the details. I guess I get excited when I start talking about weight lifting, body building, nutritional supplementation, etc. I'm heavily into it (lift at least 5 days a week) and have a pretty large knowledge base on the subject. Any questions feel free to ask

Powerhouse was(not sure if they still are) offering 150/year

Originally posted by todras:

Originally posted by ancientsanskrit:
The cheapest place I could find was Powerhouse Gym for $250/year, which is still too expensive.

Are you joking?! That's $20 a month. That's .75 a day to use all the equipment/facilites. Wish I could find a place in GR that cheap. You want $20 a year? Get real.

You Dickfor. I told you I could get you a membership to Powerhouse for $23 a month!

Originally posted by B.Brattina:
still not worth it--- trust me; lifetime is the biggest rip off ever

Yep this is true. Being one of the orginal Novi location members I have seen it first hand. That membership has long been canceled.

Originally posted by teamSVTour:
rule of thumb is if you want to gain muscle mass and size and weight use free weights. If you want to tone and increase flexibility use machines and pulleys.

Ive heard the exact opposite. Machines do not let you chose the form you want, you are stuck with whatever position the machine is in. It will not let you focus on different areas of muscle groups.

the rule of thumb ive heard is that for mass and size you do heavy weights at low reps. for tone you need to do less weight and more reps. Nothing will help flexibility unless you take the time to stretch.

I gather this info from three friends. two who go to a gym with the intention to bulk up, and they do. They are also not very flexible anymore. The other friend works out at home with free weights (medium weights, medium reps). He takes the time to stretch and all that jive.

Who knows, maybe all of that is just an anomoly

Can somebody please explain to me what "toning" a muscle does to the muscle itself?

gets the fat off the outside, and delivers the 'cut'

you are absolutely correct w/ using heavy weight and low reps to gain size and muscle mass. You are also correct about using low weight and high reps to tone up and lose weight.

But I was referring to the actual form of exercise. Free weights vs. machines & cables

If you want to gain size and muscle then you do heavy (manageable) weight at low reps. Free weights are the favorite for this b/c often times machines do not have enough weight on them to select. If you want to tone and lose weight then you do light weight and high reps.

Machines while they do limit your form to a certain degree, they are designed to keep your form exact. Meaning you can't cheat. What I mean by this is do you ever go to the gym and see the wana-be tough guys trying to curl huge amounts of weight w/ free weights

way beyond what they are safely capable of lifting ? They often swing their body and use their back to complete the rep. Not only is their form totally wrong but they are also risking injury.

Originally posted by YaaaarrroTour:
Can somebody please explain to me what "toning" a muscle does to the muscle itself?

toning in essence is the process of becoming more vascular and the muscle showing striations (seing the muscle tissue through the skin). I'll try to explain. What this entails is decreasing the size of the fat cells and water retention under the skin which makes the muscle more pronounced. This of course is assuming that there already is a decent amount of muscle already built. Doing this creates more vascularity and makes the striations in the muscle more visable. Vascularity and striation can be seen if you ever watch a bodybuilding competition. When they flex you can actually see each muscle fiber under the skin. The more vascularity and more striations you have the more toned, shredded you look.

I have a toned stomach!

I second the idea of a smaller local gym. I'm paying 99$ a summer for use of the facility and I can honestly say I am getting my moneys worth.

Originally posted by Decepticon:
I have a toned stomach!

No, you have a tuned stomach. Sponsored by hoegaarden

you don't need a gym to get in shape. but it does help with the upper edge. i would suggest running 2-3 times a week and doing push-ups and sit-ups 2-3 times a week. of course by doing different varients of the push-up and sit-up is best. after doing this for a few months then start hitting the gym after your muscles get broken down. you must get fully broken down before you can get built up. also on the run days, one day go for distance(minimum of 3 miles) one day do sprints, then go for 2 miles at a fast pace. you will ot see results overnight but give it about 6 months and you will maybe notice a difference in appearance, but you should feel better and at least have more stamina. hope this helps.

Ben