What I Look For When Referring Gyms (that I don’t personally know) To Others

•  Website
  • Up-to-date and smooth interface. A poor website doesn’t necessarily mean a bad gym, but I’ve never seen a bad gym with an impressive website
  • Did they take time to write their own content or did they just link an old “What is Fitness” video?
  • What do their coaches look like?
  • Does the gym have a introduction/foundations/0n-ramp classes?  If not, there’s no way the gym as a whole moves with quality.
• Social Media
  • I usually check Facebook and Instagram
  • Social media is great to get a feel of the community.  Are there pictures of social events?  Does it seem fun?
  • How frequent are the posts? Again, lack of social media doesn’t necessarily mean a bad gym, but I’ve never seen a bad gym with consistent social media posts.
• Pricing
  • Unless the gym is new, I steer people away from gyms that charge on the lower end of market price.
  • Lower price usually mean higher turnover and also a gym that is using price to try to drive up volume.
  • If a gym is charging more and still able to stay in business, they are doing something to add enough value to get business.
• Reviews
  • Once you look through a few reviews, you start getting an idea of what the gym is all about.  The overall ratings matter, but if a gym has been around long enough, they are always going to get a few bad reviews from some dummies.
  • Pros/Cons to look for: Coaching, cleanliness, equipment, atmosphere, customer service
  • I usually check google+, Facebook and Yelp

Bottom Line: If you’ve never been a member at a Fitness gym, try at least two to get a comparison.  Never let the price or location be the main determining factor for signing up at a gym when another gym feels like a better fit.  You won’t enjoy your experience, and you won’t get the value you were looking for anyways.