I go to Lifestyles Family Fitness. I like it very much- great variety of classes, machines, and equipment.

Yeah, I belong to the Washington Sports Club and it's great. Tons of equipment, nice staff, good classes and trainers, and it's a block from my apartment.

I go to LA Fitness. It's not great but it's not bad. It's not as big as Bally's but it's usually not terribly crowded. It's cheaper than Bally's and it's pretty close to work. The apartment where I used to live was close to a nicer LA Fitness (larger facility, nicer locker rooms, newer equipment).

The company where I work has fitness facilities in some of the buildings (including mine) but they're really tiny and it would have only been a little cheaper than my LA Fitness membership.

I have a lifetime membership to Fitness USA. I liked that one because a) It was female only on some days of the week b) there was another one nearby that was female only on the opposite days of the week and c) they had a great pool. When I first started, the "trainer" that I worked with was actually studying exercise physiology and knew what she was talking about. We discussed my goals and she encouraged me and showed me some new things. As an Occupational Therapist, I have a pretty good understanding of physiology, exercise and how to meet goals and we got along well. Sadly, she graduated and got a "real" job. All the other "trainers" there were doing what their manager wanted them to do.. trying to get ME to get other people to join so they could get a commission. They didn't understand my goals, thought if I tried to build muscle that I would gain weight (wrong!), didn't understand how to build long lean muscle and spent ALL their time trying to give me free passes to give my friends so they could give them their sales pitch. That turned me off so badly that I haven't been there since I got pregnant with my daughter. I miss the pool and the hot tub though. It was a great place to swim laps at one time, but then they started scheduling water aerobics during every hour after work so I could never get a lane to swim laps. Very frustrating. I've considered checking it out again and seeing how it is now, since the lifetime membership is paid for, but I really dread dealing with the stupid sales pitches every time I walk in the door. Oh yeah, I also don't want you measuring me and stuff. I can do that myself at home.

I HATE gyms, I only use them in the winter.

Spring/Summer/Fall-I walk, run, and/or ride my bike on trails.

Winter-I just use my school's facilities. My school allows students, staff, and alums to work out there for a very small fee.

i am SO jealous! you wouldnt believe what i am paying... my mom's friend has been a member since like the 70s and her membership is like $10/month. she NEVER goes - i wish i could use her membership, i mean it's going to waste and all.

Mine is going down to that when I have been a member for 3 years.

A new one just opened up around this time last year near my job. They are expensive:eek: but nice facilities and super clean.

I hate gyms period because they feel fake but since I'm not the superstar athlete I once was and am not working out 6 days a week, I signed up with Crunch Fitnesshttp://www.crunch.com/crunch/. I actually like them. Lots of energy not too fake and clean. my membership ends this year and I will be glad to go. Just not the gym type. I’d rather go for a walk on the beach (great for the calves) or go ice skate or just do activities I like without thinking.

so you would recommend it otherwise? cause right now, im favoring Crunch over the other chains (though im sure Equinox is sweet, but that's $$ and i feel weird just walking past it!)

Soror,
If you dont like peppy people, skip it but I like them for the non-traditional type of activity classes they offer. Also, I see all types of people re shapes colors etc...It's coolio for me. Check out their website http://www.crunch.com/crunch/ and take a tour of your local facility but dont get pushed into signing a contract if you're not comfortable with it.

ETA: Yes I would recommend it.

ETA: After reading that Consumerist post below, maybe not.

I have heard bad things about Crunch - apparently their staff is always trying to sell you on something and they're kind of sketchy about pricing. I know I read something on Consumerist about them, and I think there was another link...I'll try to find them.

Edit: Here's the Consumerist post

Ouch. Thanks for posting this. Hopefully I wont have any problems after this June when my membership ends.

I was a Crunch member for 6 years prior to equinox. I really liked it.

I didn't hear great things about the Boston location; people seemed to like BSC or FitCorp more than Crunch.

i did go to my local facility and was really digging it - nice machines, LOTS of space (esp for NYC), nice locker room, friendly class instructors. but then dude broke out numbers on me and i was like :eek: i mean, they have the most impressive class schedule ive seen out of a gym so far (ie classes that you wouldnt necessarily think of as excersize) and i dont even mind the peppy people cause my iPod is golden.

and i hear you on not getting pushed into something. thats essentially what happened with Bally's. i dont blame them - gym employees are straight hustlas - they really dont give a damn how it gets sold.