[quote]Gregus wrote:
I would disagree with you about that last part. Fitness comes in all types. Not everyone into fitness wants to be a hardcore lifter. Some very serious people get in great shape without “ghasp” deadlifts. [/quote]
But just imagine how much better they could become if they added any kind of deadlifts, not just ghasp deadlifts (I don’t know what variation of deadlifts they are, but they must be good if they make you ghasp).
[quote]SWR-1240 wrote:
I now found a GREAT powerlifting gym where I can pay less than $12/MONTH if I join for a year!
It’s in Albany, NY and it’s called Albany Strength. I’m joining as soon as I move to Albany.
Better equipment, loud music, powerlifters, AND it’s cheaper![/quote]
I’m near Albany NY – can you PM me the details?
The gym I belong to now was a 150 enrollment, first month free (so like 100 dollar enrollment), and then fifty dollars per month after. I can dig it.
[quote]Gregus wrote:
BTW: if rusty freeweights are your thing, more power to ya. [/quote]
Strangely enough, that is usualy the way it works.
Here’s the way I look at them-
“health and fitness club” : Lots of racket and hand ball courts, people that hand out towels, and a universal gympack from 1964 in a dusty closet.
What are you going to get from that, besides a bill and the ability to say “I belong to a fitness club.”.
Chain Gyms- Very shiney. People like shiney. They don’t do much with it, but it is shiney. Most of the members are shiney too. And very tan.
Chalky Dungeon- No frills, just lots of iron and strength.
Maybe I’m just biased toward getting the most bang for your buck, but I wouldn’t waste the money on the top two.
Besides, me and a couple of friends have a chalky dungeon of our own. No membership fees.
[quote]SWR-1240 wrote:
But just imagine how much better they could become if they added any kind of deadlifts, not just ghasp deadlifts (I don’t know what variation of deadlifts they are, but they must be good if they make you ghasp).[/quote]
Legend has it that they were discovered in the Kyber pass near the Kashmir region in the late 1400’s. They can only be learned by listening to the whispers of the wind. Shurpa use them for walking up mountains. Chek has them in a package deal.
my gym is free!!
military dependants can go to the gyms on base for free if their spouse is deployed… i think they do this so these spouses will get in shape, and the soldiers will have something to look forward to…
i have seen an increase of big women coming in lately…soldiers are beginning to return next month… i often wonder where they were for the majority of the year…too little, too late… sorry, off subject, i know…
anyway, when the soldier is not deployed, its still only about $16 a month…
I think the manager in question was told by his owner or superior not to waive enrollment fees. Im sure he would have rather waived it, but if his hands were tied, he still needed a job…
Secondly, TDog is spot on here. A gym is not an easy business to run, especially if its an independent one. I work for a family owned gym. Now they have three in the greater DC area. Each one cost over a million dollars to open up. For a corporation like golds, hey a million isn’t much. For a husband and wife, a million is a lot of money. On top of the initial million, they need upkeep, staff, marketing, maintenance, and all the other things any functioning business needs. However, a gym needs this before the money is even coming in.
There is a supreme amount of overhead costs before even getting the gym up and running. The dues and the enrollment fees have to repay the initial investment, maintain the club, pay the staff and their health benefits, re-invest into the club to keep it moving, and then put some money into the owners pockets. Thats a tall order for yout 149 down and 35 a month.
[quote]TrainerinDC wrote:
I think the manager in question was told by his owner or superior not to waive enrollment fees. Im sure he would have rather waived it, but if his hands were tied, he still needed a job…
Secondly, TDog is spot on here. A gym is not an easy business to run, especially if its an independent one. I work for a family owned gym. Now they have three in the greater DC area. Each one cost over a million dollars to open up. For a corporation like golds, hey a million isn’t much. For a husband and wife, a million is a lot of money. On top of the initial million, they need upkeep, staff, marketing, maintenance, and all the other things any functioning business needs. However, a gym needs this before the money is even coming in.
There is a supreme amount of overhead costs before even getting the gym up and running. The dues and the enrollment fees have to repay the initial investment, maintain the club, pay the staff and their health benefits, re-invest into the club to keep it moving, and then put some money into the owners pockets. Thats a tall order for yout 149 down and 35 a month.
[/quote]
As an owner, i agree.
[quote]TrainerinDC wrote:
Each one cost over a million dollars to open up.
[/quote]
the owner of the gym I go to told me he rented a business site out for five grand a month, bought fifty grand worth of equipment, higher a contractor to build shower/changing areas for twenty grand, then did the rest of the work himself…over the years he’s built on from there…
is the gym you work at one of those that has a flat paneled TV screen installed on every treadmill, a rock climbing wall, and a variety of other slick looking shit that impresses the hell out of the new years resolution crowd? that would explain the rediculous million dollar opening cost…
Lol. In my area five grand a month wouldn’t even get you enough space for a news stand or a subway.
All our equipment was bought brand new, enough to fill a 25,000 square foot place. Not to mention the extreme costs and taxes of liscencing and insurance in the DC area suburbs. Add into that 30 treadmills, 30 ellipticals, stairclimbers (not stair masters, real stair climbers) olympic bars and all the other requirements, you have a pretty penny. But after this pretty penny, the owner hasn’t made a dollar yet.
Haven’t you wondered why power friendly gyms always seem to go under? The owners can’t make enough money to cover their overhead, much less repay the initial investment or make a profit.
Sometimes they just won’t waive the enrollment fees, even if you walk out. I have two gym memberships, one at a powerlifting place with somewhat limited hours and the other at a Golds (I go to the Golds to swim, and occasionally lift with my girlfriend). No enrollment fee to join the powerlifting gym, $40/month if you pay three months at a time.
When I first went to join the Golds, I talked with the owner and explained that I already had another membership and that I was joining as a second gym. After quite a bit of haggling, I got him down to $39/month with a $150 enrollment fee. He wouldn’t budge on the enrollment fee, even when I walked away. Three months later, I came back and joined with another sales guy and got the same deal. Sometimes they just won’t budge on the enrollment fee. If it’s that big of a deal to you, just find another place to lift.
[quote]TrainerinDC wrote:
Haven’t you wondered why power friendly gyms always seem to go under? The owners can’t make enough money to cover their overhead, much less repay the initial investment or make a profit. [/quote]
the gym I go to has been open for five years and is doing great financially…
the initial investment has been completely paid off and the owner just bought himself a brand new truck paid for with cash…
maybe the owners of your gym need to redo their business model if they are not making any money…
for goodness sake, move to sweden! i pay, at my lokal gym, 100 dollars for a year. snd they are almost open ?round the clock. alot of powerlifters go there, so no one bitches about not training heavy to spare the equipment. Id say its the other way around. alot of people there regualrly try to get the newbies to do o-lifts and stuff. Id say its a really good gym! your all wealcome to sweden 
Military members get free access to the gyms on post. Sign a contact with Uncle Sam and say good bye to gym enrollment fees.
I read in another post that some places charge a fee for family members unless their spouse is deployed. Every post I have been to in the last 14 years hasn’t charged family members, so I guees I have been lucky. But even if they did charge it wouldn’t be that much.
Damn… i pay like 15K plus a year for my gym,. But i do some learning on the side.