banky's Journal: Lazyweb: Gym Fees

When we move, I need to join an actual gym (our apt complex has a nice, albeit small, "fitness center" which I have used extensively, as well as a pool).

The pool part is covered by HOA fees for our local development (well, technically not, but ... oh nevermind, suffice it to say the pool angle is covered). What I need to do now is find a place to work out.

Ashburn Village (one development over) has some sort of gym thing, for the paltry sum of $70/month for non-residents (only $120/month for a non-resident couple). Why my development (Ashburn Farms) has no gym-thing is beyond me.

There is a Golds about 6 miles from my house, so that's an option. However like all gyms, they zealously guard their fees from prying eyes. (You have to call or go there, and I don't want to put up with a sales pitch, upsells, etc)

Anyone able to ballpark what Golds charges for its membership? All I really care about is individual and couple. I don't know yet that I'd pay for "roaming" (most places restrict you to a single club unless you pay extra).

Likewise there is a Lifetime Fitness along my commute route (I prefer to work out after work), but it seems unless their prices are REALLY competitive, there's no need, since I can just go swimming in the summer or pay a 1-time fee at the PW County indoor pool. But if you know their rates, please, enlighten.

There is no other big-name gym anywhere near me, so I don't care about Ballys or other gyms.

TIA

YMCA?

[MacBrave]

How about the YMCA? Our local 'Y' has nice facilities (pool, free weights, racquetball, gym w/ walking/running track, treadmills, etc.) and a family membership is about $40 a month.

Re:

[FortKnox]

Surprisingly, the Y in our area is more expensive than most gyms in the area...
Golds charges around $40 a month per person. To have access to other Gold's besides the one you join is like an additional $10.
Usually, private gyms are cheaper if there is one in your area (in Ohio, there is Fitworks, which I'm a member of. Victory Fitness centers, which are few and far between, are REALLY inexpensive, if you sign a 3 year, its like $10 a month). For the record, I pay $20 a month, but I paid 2 years up fron

Re:

[banky]

I tend to refuse to give anyone a phone number at all, and hardly ever answer the phone anyway.

The problem with living in Ashburn is it's only been open to development fro 15 years (give or take); believe it or not, it lacks rather a lot of things the rest of NoVA residents take for granted (I think it just got an Outback not too long ago!). So there's almost nothing in the local gym vein, other than the one in the next development over.

Even the Golds is at the extreme edge of what's technically Ashburn.

Average Joe's

[Blackneto]

I hear Average Joe's is pretty cheap, hell they hardly ever collect dues.

But you might be roped into an insane Dodgeball competition.

Why Ashburn Farms has no gym-thingy...

[TechnoLust]

because people that live on farms get plenty of exercise milking cows and herding goats and shit.

What's the gym for?

[Captain Splendid]

A vote here for DIY fitness: A regular routine of pushups, crunches, etc. along with some cardio (swimming, in your case) is all you need. Unless you're looking to get all bulgy?

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[banky]

I have .... problem areas that I like to target in addition to simple cardio.

Broadly speaking I agree - strongly - that everything man needs to be fit exists in 1)the body itself and 2)the application of space over time (walking, running, etc). "Fitness" is often merely "to get one's heart rate above its resting state for such time as to burn sufficient calories to convince the body to not store so much as fat". The Greeks had no recumbent bikes with variable resistance, the Romans had no Nautilus machine.

I

Most gyms will be $40-50

[Some Woman]

That's for an individual membership. I think Some Guy pays $45 for his individual Gold's membership. I have no idea about couples/family memberships.

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[Some Woman]

Also, Lifetime Fitness...I am not a member, but I know people who are. One has a lifetime membership, though, so that's not helpful to you. He paid something like $1500 up front for his family to be members for life. I think the other guy that I know who has a Lifetime membership pays on the order of $50/month. They tend to be a little more expensive, but also have nicer facilities.

I'm a cheapass who pays $17/month at Bally, which is another thing to consider. Not Bally's, because I know that's not an

Re:

[banky]

I used to belong to bally's a LONG time ago*. I suppose it was OK. There are none outside the Greater Fairfax Area; I don't even think there's on in Manassas, and there's definitely not one in all of Loudon County (or for that matter, anywhere else in Virginia).

The nice thing about golds was that it was at least ubiqutous, in that if I opted for the anywhere plan, it's really "anywhere". There's 2 I know of along my commute route, there's the one in AShburn, there's one here in Manassas somewhere, there's o