Are you getting the most out of your apartment gym?
Residential apartment developments are increasingly spending more on the fit-out of their gyms and making them so much more appealing than in years gone by. Not only by way of the quality equipment and more spacious layout of the gym but even looking at improved ways of swaying potential apartment buyers with add-ons such as one residential apartment complex that I know of that has their gym manned for 35 hours a week and that includes fitness assessments, program designs and daily exercise classes for all gym inducted residents. So as you can see, there is becoming an increasingly reduced need for residents of apartment complexes to leave the confines of their own building. Gym inductions are also moving away from the once per-week Personal Trainer that comes in and delivers a group gym induction to the ahead-of-its-time 24/7 accessible video gym, pool and facility inductions (to learn more – click here).
There are many choices to join local gyms such as your bigger commercial chains (Fitness First, Re-creation, Goodlife) and then there are the 24 hour gyms (SNAP Fitness, Anytime Fitness, ZAP Fitness) but unless you have a specific need or desire for a certain piece of equipment and/or want a little music and an upbeat vibe, I would have to say “why would you?”. To join any of these gyms will be an extra expense and the cheapest gym membership you will find these days sits at around $9.95 a month (just over $500 a year) but can extend out to as much as $1000 a year (don’t forget the extra expense of joining and exit fees – seriously why are you being charged for their admin time and/or banking fees? It should be included for gaining your custom!).
Whilst body corporate fees cover your “FREE” gym membership, it is fair to say that the saved $500-$1000 a year could be used to hire the services of a Personal Trainer that comes to you and for as little as $100, design you a personal program to make the very most of your apartment gym. The trainer can take into account your posture, your health, pre-existing injuries or conditions and tailor a program that is right for you. The sad reality in this day and age is that any gym you go to these days, instead of advice, guidance and program design forming part of your gym membership, you actually have to hire the services of a Personal Trainer for this which I think is wrong (but that’s another story for another day!). As a result of this it is fair to say that the techniques and correct application of exercises continues to get worse! As an established mobile Personal Trainer in Melbourne that frequents many residential apartment complexes, myself and my team see some seriously bad and increasingly regular, dangerous exercise movements. There is no guidance for the general gym user in an apartment gym and in commercial gyms the service from my experience and helping people is close to non-existent!
Everything has become about a financial transaction before advice, guidance or help is offered. This is the complete opposite from myself and my team of 5 trainers and if we see anyone doing any exercise less than ideal, we will politely offer our help to improve the movement and minimise their risk of injury. Why can’t everyone else? My view is that if anyone then sees value in what we have helped them with and knowing we have offered the advice from the right place, we more often than not gain a new client as a consequence…
Back to the point of this article and that is to advise you to please take the time to have a fully qualified and experienced Personal Trainer come to you and your apartment gym and help not only show you through a personally designed program but also educate you as to why you should be doing the devised exercises and ensure that you can do them well on your own.
Injury is an all too-common occurrence from following a ‘one-size fits all’ generic program that you can pick up off the internet or by following some amazing hot looking male or female Instagram trainer! Avoid injury, minimise poor posture and poor exercise technique and get a safe, specific and relevant exercise program for you and then make the most of what your apartment gym has to offer!
For a FREE 12 point checklist to help select the right Personal Trainer for you, click here.
I hope this has been helpful and I urge you to make the most of your apartment gym!
Justin Moran
Personal Trainer/Managing Director
Just In Time Personal Training
0411 798 934
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