Simple gym

=adrian=

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I've been a lazy sod for the last few years but thinking about re-joining a gym. However, I cannot seem to find a simple free weight gym. All I see is those colossal "clubs" with colossal joining fees and £50 per month memberships. I don't need a sauna, or pool or treadmills or indoor cycling or personal trainers or football facilities, or hundreds of cycling machines, or swipe cards, or contracts, etc etc.

All I need is a lot of free weights and few basic lifting machines.

Does gyms like that still exist? Or they have been all swallowed by those massive multi-million "sport" corporations?
 
I've been a lazy sod for the last few years but thinking about re-joining a gym. However, I cannot seem to find a simple free weight gym. All I see is those colossal "clubs" with colossal joining fees and £50 per month memberships. I don't need a sauna, or pool or treadmills or indoor cycling or personal trainers or football facilities, or hundreds of cycling machines, or swipe cards, or contracts, etc etc.

All I need is a lot of free weights and few basic lifting machines.

Does gyms like that still exist? Or they have been all swallowed by those massive multi-million "sport" corporations?
What are you after? Bulk or Cardio?
If its bulk them buy yourself a bench and some weights.
If you give up, flog them.
 
What are you after? Bulk or Cardio?
If its bulk them buy yourself a bench and some weights.
If you give up, flog them.
Bulk with a bit of cardio. I don't need to lose weight.

I have some weights and dumbells but with a toddler at home I had to move them over to the shed. Also no space at all to even think about a gym at home. Also I would never get enough peace to finish my training properly at home.
 
put a heater in your shed ;)
I have 3 kids and manage to do it.
 
What area do you live in mate?
 
put a heater in your shed ;)
I have 3 kids and manage to do it.

Somehow I don't think so ;)

j6HGh62.jpg


What about a boxing gym (boxersise). My local gym is £2 per session and lasts an hour.

If I can get access to their weights without having to pay for boxing classes then it sounds good. I don't really want to start boxing. I've done Muay Thai when I was younger but now looking for just a relaxing weight sessions when it suits me.

With busy work (often 12 hours per day and sometimes weekends too) and family life I don't really want any contracts as well. I'm still unsure how will I find time for that, but I won't know until I try.
 
Those guys seem to be offering what I'm after and there is one opeining in my area soon.

www.puregym.com

24/ day, no contract... It's still a big place and probably the gym itself is aimed at cardio (they all are these days), but it is worth a look once it's open.

Anybody used them?
 
If I can get access to their weights without having to pay for boxing classes then it sounds good. I don't really want to start boxing. I've done Muay Thai when I was younger but now looking for just a relaxing weight sessions when it suits me.

With busy work (often 12 hours per day and sometimes weekends too) and family life I don't really want any contracts as well. I'm still unsure how will I find time for that, but I won't know until I try.

Just had a quick look and there are boxing clubs in Bathgate, Broxburn and Livingston. Might be worth calling in.
At our local gym the adult classes are twice a week with no contract or expectation to fight/spar (£2/night). They are held on Tuesday's and Thursdays, the boxers go Mon, Wed and Fri. I've yet to take the plunge myself, though my son boxes for the club.
 
Just had a quick look and there are boxing clubs in Bathgate, Broxburn and Livingston. Might be worth calling in.
At our local gym the adult classes are twice a week with no contract or expectation to fight/spar (£2/night). They are held on Tuesday's and Thursdays, the boxers go Mon, Wed and Fri. I've yet to take the plunge myself, though my son boxes for the club.
Thanks, I'll have a look. I'd prefer to be able to go anytime I want, but £2 is not bad. Cheers Dony
 
Those guys seem to be offering what I'm after and there is one opeining in my area soon.

www.puregym.com

24/ day, no contract... It's still a big place and probably the gym itself is aimed at cardio (they all are these days), but it is worth a look once it's open.

Anybody used them?

I used one called "the gym" which I think is the same as pure gym.
Lost of free weights which weren't used that much, most of the people were on treadmills.
And it was open 24/7 which meant I could go on the way to work!
 
Is xcite not the best value around these parts?

Think they were about 25+ last time I checked a month?
 
I used one called "the gym" which I think is the same as pure gym.
Lost of free weights which weren't used that much, most of the people were on treadmills.
And it was open 24/7 which meant I could go on the way to work!
I'll give Pure Gym a call later. Their pricing is a bit consfusing if I'm honest.
 
Is xcite not the best value around these parts?

Think they were about 25+ last time I checked a month?
One of the most expensive I think. Last time I checked it was £40 something per month in my local one plus £50 joining fee per person. IIRC it was close to a £100 per month for me and my wife. Granted they give access to more than just a gym - pool, sauna, football facilities, fitness classes, etc - but I don't need that. All I need is a gym.

Also ideally I want a gym that me and my wife could go to on the same account. We would be going different days anyway as we don't have anybody we could leave our son with.
 
The Pure Gym website has a 360 tour of the inside of my local(ish) one so you can see exactly what it's like.

I wouldn't knock the cardio machines. I don't use them other than the odd 5mins but there's always something worth working on them whilst hitting the weights ;) Without them I'd be just watching the overly muscly chicks
 
One of the most expensive I think. Last time I checked it was £40 something per month in my local one plus £50 joining fee per person. IIRC it was close to a £100 per month for me and my wife. Granted they give access to more than just a gym - pool, sauna, football facilities, fitness classes, etc - but I don't need that. All I need is a gym.

Also ideally I want a gym that me and my wife could go to on the same account. We would be going different days anyway as we don't have anybody we could leave our son with.
Pay Monthly | Join

Single £34 Couple £58 p/m for 'gold' (everything except classes access anytime)
Single £39 Couple £67 p/m for 'premier' (access to everything including classes)

Pretty sure these memberships cover whole of West Lothian and have a £30 joining fee each for gold or premier, just a rolling cost too so no 12 month tie in.

You can sign up to 12 months and get 12 for the price of ten reducing your costs a bit more if need be.

In fact if you join at Linlithgow (you can use membership at all sites) you can join for £10 until end of november - Special Offers | Homepage
 
The Pure Gym website has a 360 tour of the inside of my local(ish) one so you can see exactly what it's like.

I wouldn't knock the cardio machines. I don't use them other than the odd 5mins but there's always something worth working on them whilst hitting the weights ;) Without them I'd be just watching the overly muscly chicks
Cheers. If you are a member there can you share your thoughts about those? The offer they have for the one getting built in Livingston is tempting - £11 per month for first 12 months, no contracts.
 
Pay Monthly | Join

Single £34 Couple £58 p/m for 'gold' (everything except classes access anytime)
Single £39 Couple £67 p/m for 'premier' (access to everything including classes)

Pretty sure these memberships cover whole of West Lothian and have a £30 joining fee each for gold or premier, just a rolling cost too so no 12 month tie in.

You can sign up to 12 months and get 12 for the price of ten reducing your costs a bit more if need be.

In fact if you join at Linlithgow (you can use membership at all sites) you can join for £10 until end of november - Special Offers | Homepage
I'll have a look again when I'm back. Their pricing seems to be changing a lot. They have promotions to tempt new people to join but then they raise prices after a while, etc. Also my local Xcite is so busy. They have a big car park but you can hardly find a parking space there. A bit too busy for my liking. A quiet place would be so much better. But I'll have a look. A big plus is that I have one in my town about 5 min drive.
 
The Pure Gym website has a 360 tour of the inside of my local(ish) one so you can see exactly what it's like.

I wouldn't knock the cardio machines. I don't use them other than the odd 5mins but there's always something worth watching on them whilst hitting the weights ;) Without them I'd be just watching the overly muscly chicks

Cheers. If you are a member there can you share your thoughts about those? The offer they have for the one getting built in Livingston is tempting - £11 per month for first 12 months, no contracts.

Just spotted a very important typo on my original post!

I'm not a member of Pure (I give David Lloyd about a grand a week instead), I just happened to look Pure up after they were mentioned on here and saw the website allows you to have a proper look around rather than the usual few deceptive photos
 
Pure, Energy, and Lifestyle gyms (which are Nationwide afaiaa) all do £15-20pm subscriptions near me. Not sure about Scotland so you'd need to check. My missus goes to a Lifestyle and says it's great for both free weights and cardio.

You could also check Fitness First, Total Fitness (which I use) or a local leisure centre/hotel. I'd check the payment terms with the local leisure centre though as most generally only allow payment on the door rather than monthly subs, and this can work out very expensive if you start using it regularly.
 
The 'budget' gyms seem to be 'in fashion' just now. We've had 3 open within a few miles of Hamilton, all in the past year and all under £20 p/m. Facilities are good, good equipment etc just no frills.

I've joined 'The Gym' in Hamilton, £12.99 p/m, 24 hour access etc, exactly what I need. I'd bet if there isn't one opened already near you then it won't be far away.
 
The 'budget' gyms seem to be 'in fashion' just now. We've had 3 open within a few miles of Hamilton, all in the past year and all under £20 p/m. Facilities are good, good equipment etc just no frills.

I've joined 'The Gym' in Hamilton, £12.99 p/m, 24 hour access etc, exactly what I need. I'd bet if there isn't one opened already near you then it won't be far away.
The nearest one is to me is Hamilton and Edinburgh, but both are almost 20 miles away. Too far.

Was trying to find a phone number to Pure Gym to give them a call, but no phone number in sight. Not great I thought, their costumer service might be bad. So looked for reviews and it doesn't look good:

Pure Gym www.puregym.com

People mostly complain about their staff and CS. Hmmm not sure if worth the hassle


EDIT: found the number elsewhere. Explained the pricing for me. However they don't know the opening date yet. They're "hoping" for last week of November. £11 per month for first 12 months, then £18 / month.
 
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The 'budget' gyms seem to be 'in fashion' just now. We've had 3 open within a few miles of Hamilton, all in the past year and all under £20 p/m. Facilities are good, good equipment etc just no frills.

I've joined 'The Gym' in Hamilton, £12.99 p/m, 24 hour access etc, exactly what I need. I'd bet if there isn't one opened already near you then it won't be far away.

thats the one i was a member of
you from the hamilton area?
 
thats the one i was a member of
you from the hamilton area?
Yeah, Silvertonhill area, yourself?

I used to work for a health club chain that would charge £50 p/m for pretty poor facilities but they had a market and made a good bit of money from it. There are too many people now that just want to use a running machine and a few weights a couple of times a week, hard to justify the money for that. @=adrian= have you looked at Fit Inc Studio Gym? Not as cheap as some but cheaper than a lot.
 

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