The Pros and Cons of Commercial Gyms

The Fresh Spring passes by. The Hot Summer will come soon. Summer's coming means girls can wear pretty skirts, mini skirts, and hot pants to showing off their figures, and boys can wear a T-shirt to show their muscles. 

Last Time, we have discussed the pros and cons of garage gyms. This time I will analyze the merits and demerits. 

The Pros

Ample amenities and services. Depending on the type of gym you join, they often have a variety of amenities available, from towels to personal trainers to smoothie bars. There’s also someone else cleaning and repairing the equipment, so you don’t have to worry about tidying the place up yourself or hiring someone to fix your treadmill. (This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do your part to practice good gym etiquette though, especially in putting weights away and wiping your sweat from the machines!)

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• Variety of equipment. Even if your workouts consist largely of barbell training, it can be nice to mix up your cardio by using different machines (elliptical, treadmill, rower, etc.). So too, you’ll definitely appreciate the variety if you become injured, can’t do your normal workout, but still, want to exercise your body somehow. Your garage gym may have no equipment that’s viable for your gimp-legged self to use, while the commercial gym has an arm “bike” and a pool to paddle around in.

• Climate control. In the heat of summer and iciness of winter, it’s always a nice, consistent temp.
  
  Social interaction. Commercial gyms can be a source of new friends, especially smaller establishments like powerlifting gyms where you see the same people consistently and there’s a good amount of camaraderie. For someone who works at home as I do, even making a little small talk with folks at my larger gym was a nice way to reconnect with humanity!

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• Focus/mindset. In some ways, having to get dressed and go drive somewhere to exercise is annoying, but such a ritual can also be psychologically useful — transitioning you away from the cares of home and job, and into workout mode. Once you cross through the gym’s doors, you know it’s time to get to work.

The Cons

Crowds occupying the equipment. It’s pretty dang annoying when you want to use a certain piece of equipment and someone is squatting (literally or figuratively) on it.

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• Commute time. You might be sinking up to 30 minutes of your life each day into driving to and from your gym. If you work out 5X a week for 30 years, that’s 162 full days of your life sunk into a gym commute.
  
  Gym patron interruptions. Sure, you might be interrupted by your family when you work out in a garage gym, but you can also be interrupted by your fellow gym patrons at the commercial variety. There was a lady at my gym who frequently wanted to talk to me for 10 minutes at a time, which introduced a significant and unplanned break into my routine, and sometimes prevented me from getting in my full workout before I needed to go home.

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• Set open/close hours. Some gyms are open 24/7, but others have hours that might not work with your own schedule. They may also close on holidays, or due to inclement weather when you’re still itching to lift.

If you are interested in the pros and cons of garage gyms, click here to know more. The next time we will introduce What equipment does a garage gym need. Welcome to subscribe ProCircle!

Reference:

https://..........com/articles/garage-vs-commercial-gyms/