09 Jul Alternatives to Club Fitness

Alternatives to Club Fitness

So you are tired of the way you look and feel. Maybe it was the pictures from last weekend, or the fact that you are so tired every morning, you can’t get out of bed. Where should you go to unleash all of this new found motivation? For public gyms in St. Louis, my personal vote is Club Fitness. They have nice equipment, many are 24 hours and are a great value at $10-20 a month.

There are other chains like Planet Fitness, Golds Gyms, Lifetime and more and each have their pros and cons.

Planet Fitness – To me, this place is a joke. If you put forth quality effort you may make noises sometimes. If you do it there, you get banned for life. They have no squat racks or equipment that can get you can get you any results. I can say with confidence that anyone who works out here just doesn’t get it. But save our number, because you’ll realize that your body isn’t changing and you’re wasting your time.

Golds Gym – Golds Gym’s are generally solid places to workout, but tend to draw a wide range of clientele. The body builders turn off some of the casual fitness clients, but they inspire the aspiring men who want to learn to lift. Their rates are higher (range from $30-40 a month I believe) and they have a certain mentality for people who workout there that is generally considered to be a plus.

Lifetime Fitness – Lifetime Fitness is the mack daddy of gym’s in the St. Louis area. They are more expensive, but the amenities they have are insane. Hell, if Albert Pujols, Issac Bruce and plenty of other A-Listers are (or were) members that gives you an idea of how nice it is. This is only in West County so it is too long of a drive for most people.

There are other options in St. Louis such as Xist (South County), CIHP (Kirkwood), Nutriformance (Frontenac), Powerhouse (Shrewsbury), The Lab (CWE), The Workout Co (Oakville), Fitness Factory (Downtown), Main Street Gym (St. Charles), Wellbridge (Clayton), All in One (Crestwood), and many more.

When you are selecting a gym, what factors should you consider?

1) Time to get there. At Faster Fitness, we have people drive as far as 1 hour away, but most people are only willing to travel about 15 minutes, and the less the better. You have to look at your schedule and create a structured plan to be there, otherwise you will be consistently inconsistent and get correlating results. Winner: Club Fitness. Club Fitness has 22 gyms around the St. Louis region so everyone is within 15 minutes of one.

2) Equipment. Not only do you need to look at the equipment that they have but the access to the amount of equipment that you need. For example, if you get a program written by us that requires Squats, Leg Curls and DB Bench Press to be super-set at specific intervals, then you either need to find a time that isn’t so busy or a adjust your workout to be less equipment intensive. Winner: TBD. Every gym is different. The time of year determines quantity (ex: January is crazy compared to December) and while it absolutely can be done, it will always be a challenge to get a scripted workout in the same way without interruption. You just have to find a gym and time that fits your needs.

3) Availability. You must look at your schedule and make sure that your availability and the gyms availability line up. If the only time you can make the gym is 6 pm, and your weights are always taken, or your 50 minute workout becomes 90 min, then maybe its not meant to be. If you have crazy work schedules then utilizing the 24 hours is smart or going early in the morning before it gets too crazy. Winner: You have to try each gym out to see if it is a fit for you.

4) Price. Of course price is important, and you won’t find a better value than Club Fitness, Xist or other $10 a month gyms. Lower price does mean higher clientele and more limited access to equipment. Winner: Club Fitness because the number of locations for the money.

Overall, of all the the public gyms we think that Club Fitness is still the best based on the above 4 factors. It can get pretty busy, but the pros far out weigh the cons if you find times that work with your schedule.

But what if there was a better way to get the body you want in less time?

The fastest way is to get a personal trainer, but at gyms they have the same restrictions as the gym members. Most trainers don’t have their clients on scheduled programs or if they do they have to use inferior exercises because of equipment restrictions. This leads to a glorified cardio session with burpees and jumping jacks. Can you say, Crossfit?

At Faster Fitness, we’ve built a group personal training program that puts you in position to always have the right equipment at all times, the perfect program to get you lean and strong and assessments/corrective exercises to make sure your body is balanced and functioning properly. This ensures you have a pain free body that utilizes the most muscle at all times. Translation: We create the optimal fat burning effect for not only during your session, but 24/7, or when you are not at the gym.

You can get in, out and on with life in 50 min, 2-4 times per week and it would be more effective than 6 times a week for 2 hours each time!

I don’t know about you, but I value my time, because every minute I save doing inefficient things, I can be with family, friends, read or do something else with my life.

In short, our program gives you the Minimum Effective Dose (MED) to training, nutrition and lifestyle modifications to give you the body that you want. This means we give you the simplest, most practical and efficient strategies to look and feel exactly how you want.

So if you are interested in saving time and money (our program is about 1/4th the cost of decent Personal Trainers), then contact us today for more details.

Marshall Ray – CSCS, CES, FMS, Biosignature