Choosing the best gym near you

Looking for the best or cheapest gym near you? Not sure about what gym facilities, gym memberships and additional or hidden memberships charges there are when you sign up for a gym membership? Whether you’re someone who is familiar with working out in commercial gyms or a beginner looking to take the first step towards improving your fitness, make sure you read these important tips on how to choose the best gym near you.

 

Find a gym near you

The best gym for you is the gym that is close to you! You’re more likely to stick with a gym routine if your gym is nearby. Look for a fitness centre or gym close to work and home – memberships that include access to multiple gym locations can also be extremely beneficial to ensure you hit your gym goals. If you travel interstate or internationally regularly, a gym with a national/global network of accessible locations should be high on your consideration list. Fitness First, Anytime Fitness, Snap Fitness, Plus Fitness, Jetts Fitness, F45 Training, BodyFit Training and EFM Health Clubs have club locations in most, if not all, Australian states. When you have a great gym near you, you’re more likely to attend frequently, keep up your routine and see results. And remember, if your gym is close by and you plan to drive, plenty of on-site gym parking is very important.  You don’t want to have to workout always keeping an eye on time, or even worse, cop a parking fine that negates the cheap gym membership deal you got!

 

Gym Access and Inclusions

Everyone has a different interpretation of what the best gym for them is depending on how they like to exercise and what their fitness goals are. So after looking for the gyms you would realistically go to in your area, look for a gym that has the right facilities and membership options for your budget, routine, interests and goals. If you’re into weights/resistance training only you may want to find a gym where you can pay less for basic gym floor access only. Clubs like Anytime Fitness, Snap Fitness and Plus Fitness even though they are small, are good choices as they don’t usually offer classes and don’t have a studio dedicated to group fitness classes.

If your fitness interests lie in a specific area such as functional training, powerlifting, Crossfit, Olympic lifting, yoga, pilates, spin, boxing, MMA or martial arts, a small box or boutique studio specialising in these may be a better option for you. Clubs like F45 Training, UBX (formerly 12RND Training), BodyFit Training, REVL, Tribe41, Orangetheory, Barry’s Bootcamp, Infinite Cycle, Zadi, Power Living and Hustle Boxing and are some studios that have multiple gym locations that specialise in one type of training.

If you like the best of both worlds and want weights and classes, look for a big box gym with dedicated gym floor space and resistance equipment and a group fitness studio or group training area. Check their class timetables before you go to see what’s on offer each week. Access to some classes may depend on your membership level, so make sure the classes you’re interested in are included. The gyms near you that have all these facilities are usually the larger gyms such as Fitness First, Goodlife, World Gym, Crunch Fitness, Golds Gym, Club Lime, Planet Fitness, Derrimut, Fitness Playgroud and Virgin Active.

Lastly, if you’re interested in Personal Training and want to train with a Personal Trainer only, then studios such as Vision Personal Training are a great option as they are built and operate around one on one personal training sessions.

And remember, depending on the style and size of a gym, some things you might assume are standard may, in fact, not be. Some smaller studio and boutique gyms don’t offer shower, locker or change room facilities – most F45 studios being an example. On the other hand, some larger or specialty gyms near you may offer extras such as on-site massage and physiotherapy (Fitness First), swimming pool (Next Gen Health Club), rock climbing walls (Virgin Active), massage chairs and beds (Planet Fitness), tanning (Crunch Fitness), crèche or child minding facilities (Derrimut 24:7) and more. The ability to bring a friend for free (Crunch Fitness and Planet Fitness) is also something some gym memberships offer.

 

Gym Size, Equipment and Facilities

Size can matter when choosing the best gym near you. Some gyms can have over 10,000 active members at any time in their database, so its size can impact on your workout greatly. If you are into weights/resistance training, a gym with a large floor area will be less crowded during peak hours and be able to accommodate more pieces/types of equipment.  Added extras that you may not initially think you would use might actually be a great inclusion as well – some gyms such as Crunch Fitness Springvale has multiple astro-turf training areas, Fitness First St Leonards and Virgin Active Norwest have pools and Derrimut 24:7 Coolaroo even has a basketball court! A gym with more than 500 square metres of floor space is a good starting point if you’re looking for comprehensive facilities and some these inclusions may convince you to look for a gym that isn’t nearest you but the gym that’s best for you.

If gym classes are your thing, nothing is worse than a crowded group fitness studio, or being unable to access classes at all, so you may want to find out if your gym limits the number of attendees. The size of their studio(s) is relevant to how many people they permit per class.

What boutique clubs lack in size and equipment they may often make up for with highly-experienced specialist instructors and equipment.  They may also have specialised equipment like Viveactive that has machines for reformer pilates, Orangetheory that has heart rate monitoring equipment, Combine Air which can simulate high altitude training and UBX and Hustle Boxing which are dedicated boxing studios. These boutique gyms/studios range from 50-500 square metres.

 

24 hour gyms

Many people initially start their search with “24 hour gym near me”.  If you do shift work or like to avoid peak-hour crowds, 24-hour gyms near you should definitely be at the top of your gym shortlist. 24-hour facilities have the benefit of allowing you to work out around your schedule and you may even be able to exercise on public holidays when other gyms are closed. Anytime Fitness, Snap Fitness, Plus Fitness, Jetts, most Fitness First gyms, Goodlife gyms and smaller chains such as World Gym and Derrimut are all 24/7 access. However, statistics show that realistically over 90% of people exercise within normal opening hours of non 24/7 gyms.

 

Gym Membership Flexibility

The best gym membership for you isn’t always the cheapest gym membership. Often cheap gym memberships are cheap because they require you to lock in to a contract for 6, 12,18 or 24 months and pay the entirety upfront.  But remember, if you decide to cancel your gym membership you most likely won’t be refunded the balance and/or there may be a penalty fee. If you aren’t comfortable locking into a long-term contract for gym membership, look for month-to-month or pay-as-you-go membership option. With month to month gym membership options, you’ll pay upfront for the month instead and will usually need to give 7,14 or 30 days notice to cancel. While not the cheapest gym membership option usually, these month to month memberships are great if you’re not sure if the gym is best for you, or if you’re just starting your gym routine.

Another thing that is important when looking the best gym membership to suit you is the ability to put your membership on hold if you’re not going to be using your gym membership for a while.  Not all gyms and memberships have this feature, and a small fee may still be charged weekly or month for this freeze/pause.

 

Hidden Gym Fees and charges

Always read the contract carefully before committing to a gym near you! Quite often, there are minimum notice periods and penalties for membership termination. It is also common for some gyms to charge additional fees for monthly memberships paid with credit card, fees for no lock-in contracts and also annual fees. Many of these charges are separate to advertised weekly, monthly or fortnightly fees, so make sure you find out before committing to a membership.

 

Free Gym Trial Passes

So you’ve found a gym near you but not sure if it ticks all the boxes and is the best gym for you? Try it first! Most gyms will offer a free gym trial, or gym pass where you can see if the gym is a right fit for you. Fitness First, Goodlife, Crunch Fitness, Anytime Fitness, Snap Fitness, Plus Fitness and World Gym for example all have free gym passes that typically range from one visit to 14 days. Be careful, though; sometimes by accepting a free gym pass or gym visit, you may be obligated to sign up for a gym membership. Most smaller boutique studios will also offer you a free trial so make sure you take advantage of this to find the best gym for you.