Hi guys, Kris from Custom Fitness here, your personal trainer in Amarillo. Do you think commercial gyms are actually worth it? Sometimes I go around town trying out what different gyms are offering to stay up to date on what is marketed as the latest and greatest. Obviously if you’ve been to our studio, you know we approach the idea of a “gym” differently, but I still like to keep tabs on what’s going on in the industry. If you have a question about today’s blog or would like to come see what an outside-the-box kind of studio looks like, give us a call: 806-322-3188.
When I walk into the big box gyms, I remember being that person who was brand new to the fitness world.. Growing up I had never stepped foot into a gym. It wasn’t until I went to college that I entered my first fitness center. I remember feeling overwhelmed by all the machines. Who could possibly know what all those were for? I tried my best to follow the illustration guide stickered on each one. I hoped I was doing my body some good and it made me feel strong. I eventually became the person who never saw any results from my imitation workout routine. Boredom ensued.
I enrolled in Kinesiology classes and began learning about the efficiency and effective models. Once I realized there was a rhyme behind the reason when creating programs, things just took off for me. However, I still wasn’t a fan of the machines and here’s why.
Machines were designed by bodybuilders. Long ago when bodybuilders were using extra sources for weight lifting and bulking purposes, they designed these machines where they could do all the lifts they needed in one place. Eventually their friends and family began asking if they could join them. Then the bodybuilders realized people would be willing pay to come use these specially designed equipment pieces. That’s how we began renting machines.
If you know what to do with a machine, but you’re not willing to purchase one outright, renting a machine is a great deal. For example, if you need to rototill your yard and you know how to do it, renting a rototiller is an awesome option for saving money, it gives you results, and it just makes sense.
Now consider the health centers you see around town. The aisles are always lined with the high tech pieces of equipment in addition to the staples like the leg press, arm curl, and shoulder press. Walking a little further, you enter the Unknown Zone. Where there are tons of machines and you don’t have a clue how to use any of them. Especially now with Sports Centers popping up everywhere that house lots of suspension training equipment and monkey bar gyms for CrossFit. It looks really intimidating.
Seeing these environments makes me wonder, “is all this really worth people’s money?” Where the only thing you feel comfortable doing is the elliptical, treadmill, or the bike. Your same ole, same ole’ that have not given you the results you wanted. I’m not saying these are bad machines if your goal is cardiovascular strength. Cardio is something you should be getting in 4-5 times a week for 30 minutes. But if you’re wanting internal health, muscle tone, muscle gain, body shape change, etc. You really aren’t going to get the results you want from the 3% of equipment you feel comfortable and know how to use. Then you may get brave and head over to the free weights. That’s a recipe for self-consciousness. You go to the open floor and everyone seems to (but aren’t really) staring at you. You don’t feel comfortable lifting weights in front of other people and you don’t yet know what to do. So your workout becomes either ineffective or, God forbid, injurious.
So. Is it worth your time or your money? That’s up to you. It depends on how effective you can be when you enter into a fitness facility.. I personally wouldn’t try to take over my dentist’s job and try to extract my own teeth. I wouldn’t dare take over a teacher’s job in the school system; they can do a much better job teaching children than I can. Yet, many people try to work their bodies out with no guidance.
My team and I have been well educated in this field to become fitness professionals and personal trainers in Amarillo. We have spent years studying the ins and outs of the body. We have analyzed the foundations of movements. We stay ontop of research in order to stay uptodate with emerging knowledge. We want to be able to guide people with that. That is the piece of the puzzle that is often missing when people sign up for gym memberships.
Perhaps a person signed up for a high-dollar membership (or two or three), but they won’t pay for the instruction that they need. Often, gyms will lure prospective clients into signing up for membership by offering “2 weeks free with a personal trainer”. You wouldn’t believe how many people this draws in. The new member meets with the trainer who then gives them a cookie cutter program and a quick walk through of the basic machines. The trainer may meet with the member once or twice during that two week period, but then they vanish. Hard to progress towards your fitness goals if your body of knowledge is nowhere to be found. If you hire the personal trainer after the introductory offer, then you are paying for their time PLUS the membership dues. That can get pricey really quickly.
This is similar to yesterday’s blog about what to look for in an authentic solution to your fitness goals. That solution needs to include instruction. You want guidance on nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle modification. That instruction can be just as, fi not more, important that the facility where you work out. A lot of our clients come to us because they don’t want to be ogled at, they don’t want to feel intimidated by the hundreds of people coming through the doors, and they don’t want to feel like they are just a membership number. They want to know that they are cared for and their goals are attainable. We know all of our clients names and their objectives. We care if they show up.
If this personalized experience sounds like something you too would be interested in, rather than the unremarkablel commercial gym experience, give us a call at 806-322-3188 or e-mail us at info@customfitness.biz. Step into a brand new approach to personal training. At Custom Fitness, we are YOUR personal trainers in Amarillo, Texas. Have a great day.