The 10 Best National Gym Chains to Join in 2022
Looking for a new spot to get fit? Check out one of these gyms.
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A bad training environment can quickly ruin a good workout, matter how committed you are to your training routine. Goals are great—we all want gains and the positives that come along with them—but making sure that the gym you frequent is up to par is just as important as choosing your plan.
It doesn’t take much to make a bad gym, or for a good place to morph into a bad one—a new owner, neglected maintenance, disgruntled or poorly trained employees. Next thing you know, you’re fighting to cancel your membership. My last bad gym, no kidding, made me write a formal letter of resignation, and then forced me to schedule an “exit interview,” all to chisel me out of an extra month’s dues.
But getting out of a bad gym membership is only half the battle. Next you have to search for a good one.
We can help you with that. We looked into the national gym chains, soliciting opinions from readers and knowledgeable friends while visiting local branches when we could.
Most gyms these days, big and small, are filled with similar cardio and weight machines. Bigger ones just have more of them. But we don’t care about any of that.
For the most part, we focused on the free weights they tuck into the far corners of the workout floor, and the space they allocate for the kind of training you see in Men’s Health: heavy lifts with barbells and dumbbells, challenging exercises with kettlebells and suspension systems, and multi-directional bodyweight exercises for mobility, core strength, and metabolic fitness.
So a chain like Planet Fitness, which discourages heavy lifting and in most locations doesn’t allow barbell squats or deadlifts, is out. (Although you can still get a decent workout at a gym like that. Here’s how).
We did sprinkle in some variety though, including one recommendation that might get you out of your comfort zone—if you're bold enough to try something new.
These are the best places to snag a membership in 2019.
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