24 Hour Fitness Trial!

My health insurance has a Healthy Benefits perk for discounts on a select 10,000 gyms around the country, so I visited the gym listed closest to my apartment, which was a 24 Hour Fitness. If you have Cigna you might check this benefit out. There was a free 7 day pass that I signed up for online with no strings attached written next to it. My favorite show is The Biggest Loser and they do a lot of advertisement for this gym, so I thought I'd check out the hype. When I pulled up the parking lot was as packed as a Target parking lot. Good sign, many people must like this gym! I went in, got my free 7 day trial pass set up, and began working out. There were several treadmills. I usually find myself waiting to use a treadmill, but there were probably 15-20. They were almost all loaded, but usually 1-2 open. On the upper level I was pleased to find a Stair Master with actual stairs. I absolutely hate Stair Masters with the little pedals that pump up and down, these were actual stairs. The locker room had a sauna and a steam room. There was also a large jacuzzi that can hold up to 20 people. I've never seen a larger hot tub in my life! The temperature was just right, not too hot or too cold!

Now to my dissatisfaction rating. Turns out that there were strings attached. I had to be a California resident. This gym is covered by my insurance, and since I have a traveling job I am only living here for 3 months. Being a local resident was a requirement for the 7 day free trial pass. Since my ID is from out of state they told me to bring in some mail with my address on it next time. I just wanted to try out the gym to see if I'd like it before committing to buying the 12 month discounted offer, offered through my health insurance. I wanted to try out the gym to see if it was something I would want to purchase, but I was put through the wringer on what company this was through, their promotion code, etc. Still I wasn't buying yet, I just wanted to try out the gym. If you want business wouldn't you offer at least a one day trial. If you are a national gym wouldn't you offer the free trial to vacationers, so that if they love your gym, maybe they'll want to join it in a town near them. They act like you want a year free, when you just want a day.

So once I passed inspection I was on my own! Once again I'll go back to my point if they want my business wouldn't they show me around the gym, and let me know all it has to offer. It was a large gym. I had to walk around to find the locker room. I walked down the wrong hall towards an emergency exit door to find it! I could see the Stair Masters on the upper level, but I had to do some looking around to find the stairs to get to that level. What if I knew nothing about gyms and decided to join a gym for the first time? Shouldn't they atleast hook me up with someone to offer to explain to me how to use the machines?

The eliptical machines on the upper level were all right up next to the wall facing it, so on those machines you either stare at the wall right in front of your face or read. The televisions in front of the treadmills are mounted extremely high and it's too uncomfortable to cock your head to watch the tv and run at the same time. I usually listen to music on my Blackberry while running loud enough to drown out all other noise. I had my volume on the highest level, yet I could barely hear my music. The gym had a lot of noise, it was very loud!!!! When I went to lift weights, several of the dumbbells were missing. So instead of using two bells I alternated with one. The room to lift weights was very piled up. Occasionally I had to stop to let someone walk by so they wouldn't get hit by me.

Now to my locker room experience. There were no towels in sight. It looked like several of the members brought their own towels. It's required to shower before using the hot tub. The showers had doors, and the doors wouldn't stay closed in all of the shower rooms I went. I love sitting in steam rooms so I headed there next. I sat there for awhile, and as women came and went it began to get cool and the heater system on it wasn't kicking in. I felt a hair on my face, and when I went to remove it, it was a pubic hair. Gross! There should be rules for women sitting in there with bathing suits or clothes on. Finally I dried off in the sauna of which I have no complaints.

Things to consider next time you are looking for or searching for a gym!