Choosing a gym
My 'Virgin Active' Experience
1: 
Choosing a gym
2: First impressions of Virgin Active
3: Guided tour of Virgin Active
4: Joining Virgin Active
This week I decided to join a gym.
The choice of gyms can be bewildering! Each gym has a different character and targets a particular niche of the market.
Also, the costs of gym membership vary tremendously. Most private gyms are run on a flat monthly membership basis - you pay a fixed monthly membership fee and can go whenever you want.
Council-run gyms however, usually operate on a pay-per-visit basis.
As I am an NHS employee, some gyms offered their discounted "corporate" rate.
The options
I did some research on the internet and found the following choice of gyms in my city:
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Local gyms | 3 - 4 gyms |
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(We do not have any of the following national gym chains: Holmes Place, LA Fitness, Bannatyne's, Cannons, LivingWell etc.)
I spent a few days browsing websites and reading the various sports forums. Ultimately the decision boiled down to this:
Only 2 gyms - Virgin Active and Esporta - had creche facilities.
As I have 3 young kids this was a big consideration: I wanted to go to the gym with my wife and would need somewhere to leave the kids.
Virgin Active was the cheaper of the two and also the nearest, so I decided to give it a try.
Virgin Active have a monthly contract, so if it did not work out I could leave without being tied to an annual membership contract.
