dO I NEED A GYM? aND HOW TO CHOOSE ONE

Do I even need a gym?

Well, it depends on what you want to do. For woodwork, I’d recommend a workshop. But for health, fitness, body composition, and, you know, exercise, yeah, a gym will come in very handy.

“But can’t I just go running or do press ups outside?”

Right, let me crack my knuckles and get typing this answer for you.

I really like cooking food over an open fire. I love it. Starting a fire is a skill I learned in childhood (outdoor little campfires with my brother, not as an act of arson or vandalism). We’d happily be burning away, our grandfather would walk past on his way to his workshop (probably for woodwork, not to workout) shout at us to put it out, it's dangerous – for the record he wasn’t harsh or strict with us, he was and still is great. We’d put it out, he’d walk on, and we’d light it up again. I’m going on a bit now. But yes, as time went on, I’ve always enjoyed starting the fire, the smell of smoke, and cooking food over it, like our ancestors did. It’s peaceful, it feels natural and elemental. I’m getting in touch with and connecting with the outside world.

But it isn’t how I cook most of my meals. It wouldn’t be practical. If it's raining or snowing, it’ll be harder, although I do find something fun about that too, to be honest. But I’m very limited in how and what I can cook. It’s just not practical to cook all of my meals that way. So for most of my nutritional needs, I use a kitchen.

See, my kitchen is full of tools and utensils, pots, pans, plates, and stuff all perfectly designed to efficiently prepare food. I have a cooker with Induction Power+ (which, to be honest, I don’t love, switch off when I TELL YOU TOO god damn it), an oven with a bunch of settings, and a sink in which I can clean everything right away. It is incredibly convenient. Maybe you’re seeing the parallel here already.

I really enjoy working out outside too. It’s invigorating. It feels primal and elemental. I hear bird song, I feel the grass or rock or sand under my bare feet. I love doing it in the rain as well. When I’m home in Scotland and it’s stormy, there is nothing that makes me feel so full of life as exercising on a mountain or by the sea in the wind and rain, being sprayed by the crashing waves. I love it.

But, stormy weather or not, it isn’t particularly practical. I'm very limited to just myself and gravity, or maybe a couple of kettlebells I take. How do I compound my movements? “Well, you could find a log or rock?” Yeah, sure, I could. What if I don’t? Or what if it’s totally off balance, unwieldy, or too light? No, for most of my workouts that I do, I’m going to use a facility that is fully equipped with kit that is specifically designed for exercise. It’s not a mountain, nor my grandfather's workshop. It’s a gym.

And for other reasons too. I meet friends there. It usually has a sauna. It has plenty of weight there and tools for me to work all of my muscles at the rep ranges needed for what I’m trying to achieve. Any goal you have, one of these facilities can facilitate it. “What if I don’t want to lift weights?”

For one, “Why not?” and two – What are your goals? If your goal is to be a runner, then yeah, go running. If you have any other goal, then resistance training in one format or another is key, especially body composition, i.e., getting your body in strong, sexy shape. Even if your goals aren’t aesthetic, maybe they’re performance-based, postural, or just how you feel – trust me, resistance training is the answer. I don’t say this is true because it’s my preferred method. It’s my preferred method because it’s true. All roads may lead to Rome, but not all forms of exercise lead to the results you’re looking for. We don’t get to choose which ones do what.

But I digress.

For a pretty small sum, you get access to literally thousands of (Insert your local currency here) worth of equipment. Realistically, the monthly fee is less than a round of drinks. In the United Kingdom, you can join a PureGym, JD, or TheGym for £20, and they do the job really well.

In Finland, you’ll be paying more, sure, but incomes here are higher. Between 25e-60e for a good gym. (Although there are certain gym chains that I wouldn’t use even if they were free).

Now, if you’re reading this and you feel uncomfortable or apprehensive about going into a gym, I totally get it. Gym shyness is real, and EVERYONE gets it. You’re worried that everyone is looking at you, judging you, amused that you’re doing it all wrong and making a silly spectacle of yourself. Fear not! If people even notice you or care what you’re doing, they’ll probably just think “Good for them.”

If it is something you’re struggling with, go ahead and read the blog ‘How to overcome gym shyness’.

So why do some people insist on not going or doing bodyweight?

Well, the first answer is the longer one. Some people don’t want to go because, despite wanting the goals, they feel detached from the environment they think exists there. That may not be their fault. Maybe at uni or in work they knew someone who liked exercising, and that person was in good shape. This makes our individual project a feeling of inadequacy. “This person has qualities I wish I possessed, I dislike them for that and so I dislike the environment that stemmed from.” Cutting off one's nose to spite their face. Because fitness really is for everyone. Not just those who are already into it. We’ve all encountered such people.

Or maybe this person had a gym-using acquaintance who was a prick. I knew someone like that once, and I didn’t want to be like them. Only I did. I did want to get into good shape, but I didn’t want to follow in the path of this insufferable acquaintance of mine. But I soon realized that they were in the minority, and most people in the gym were pretty damn cool. Because fitness is for everyone.

Then there are always going to be those people obsessed with being ‘right’. Within the fitness industry and any community, I’m quite sure there exist those people who will always try to discredit the commonly accepted practices of being wrong, and their own methods are actually right. Because if everyone else does it and they do it too, how can they be special and more in the know, right?

Now sure, there are a lot of things done by the masses that are a bit off. And the mainstream isn’t always right. But those “Hey man, you only need bodyweight, no weight lifting” people are just restricting themselves and others. I know this because I used to be one. Because bodyweight training is resistance training. Just with inhibited range of motion, no way to progress load (only volume), and no way of targeting certain areas. The principles are the same: Joint action and muscle flexion under tension. They’re just giving themselves an inhibited scope. And what works for some can’t work for others. You try telling a seriously overweight individual to do five press-ups. In truth, this ‘I have to be right just by going against what is commonly accepted as correct’ is just attention-seeking narcissism. It’s okay to not always know better. Understanding this has accelerated my progress. Plus, if it were more effective to get results outside of the gym, I’d f**cking do it. When I was a PT in Cardiff, I was paying £500 per month gym rent to train my clients. If I could have got them results outside, I’d bloody well have done it. I’m Scottish, remember, the cliché of us being tight-fisted is true. But I’m also a professional; I’m going to do what’s best for my clients.

Growing up, I was given a steady diet of calisthenic exercises when I was doing fighting sports and later in the military. But that’s when you’re working with dozens of people at a time; you’ve got to go with what’s practical and accessible. No military is well-funded enough that they can give one-to-one coaching to every recruit in training. Look at the elite warfighters like the Royal Marines. Those guys set the standard, and every one of them I’ve met uses all kinds of resistance training for their strength and conditioning.

Now, here are more reasons of why it's nice to go to the f**king gym, as Papa Swolio says (as quoted on a vest I like to wear).

It makes a ritual of it: You get up off your bottom and go to the gym. When there, you’ll do your workout. It’s contained within the task. You may need to travel there, maybe it’s nearby. My older brother, who was a client of mine, lives a stone's throw from his gym (Extreme gym in Glasgow, it’s a superb gym and I loved it when he took me there). He’s in really impressive shape. My own gym is a journey away, but that’s alright. I like going. Now, this is the tricky thing with a home gym. It doesn’t make matters easier. Because for one, the cost of even some of the kit will be more than a year's gym membership. And buying it is one thing, what's most important is using it. When it's always there, you can always "do it in a bit" or "do it later". When you get up and go to the gym, you go and do it.

Credit where credit is due, several of my clients use home equipment, and they stick at it, get their workouts done, and get results. Because they have the plan, the coach, the kit, and they use it.

It’s social. Even in Finland. I’ll be honest, from using and working in gyms, I’ve found them to be the most welcoming and friendly environments. It’s a really nice way to make and hang out with friends. It's far cheaper and healthier than going to the pub. Many of my closest friends I’ve met in the gym.

Right, I’ve talked a lot about why you should go to the gym. Now let's look at which ones to choose.

• If you’re in Tampere, I’ll have a separate blog about the best gyms to go to.

Cost is a factor. Don’t want to spend too much? That’s fair, they can be expensive. If you’re really new to it, go to a cheaper gym so you can get a hang of it. As long as it has benches, plenty of dumbbells, squat racks, cables, kettlebells, then you’re good. In the UK, any PureGym, TheGym, or JDgyms are good for the price.

In Finland, most GOGO or Forever gyms will do the trick. Certain other large commercial chains aren’t even worth taking a piss in.

Distance: Like I said before, if it being close to home or work encourages you to go, choose a close one; it's probably worth a higher cost of membership. My brother Connor has the bonus of a really excellent gym being right on his doorstep. Proximity eliminates excuses. Likewise, if your block of flats or workplace has a gym, then you’re sorted – although they tend to be under-equipped for the pure reason that property developers, building owners, and office block designers don’t always know too much about designing gyms (not their fault, it’s not exactly their field, credit to them for adding them). But the important thing is using it, so if it makes it easier to use, use it.

Friends: A gym your friends go to? Then that’s a good reason to join too. Especially if you’re newer to the environment, then it’s much more comfortable to go with friends.

Opening times: 24/h gyms are great (except for one chain I can think of). When I was in my early twenties and working as a restaurant manager, I’d go to the gym after closing, which was usually close to midnight. There was only me and someone's one or two others there at that time. Pretty peaceful. Although one time, unaware that it's this late at night that they do their deep clean of the showers (which is very reasonable), I was happily showering away and emerged to a horrified Not my proudest moment. I think we both felt the need to apologize, but hey, she was doing her job, and I should have known better. As usual, I digress. These days, I'm fast asleep at that time, but a gym with a very early opening time is good for those of us who like to work out first thing.

Equipment: This, for me, is the most important factor. I like a gym full of kit with lots of squat racks, benches, plates, barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, and plate-loaded machines. Cable apparatus and rigs (these are a few of my favorite things) - a rig is the big contraption of bars, suspension straps, T-bar attachments, ropes, and stuff.

Plenty of mirrors is a plus, not because I like looking at myself (well, I do like that, and you should like looking at yourself too), but to observe your form and so on. Sleds are a real perk, especially if they have the proper turf to go over (it should be like the soft side of Velcro, NOT like a tennis court). Lifting platforms, lots of kettlebells, and an assisted pull-up apparatus are game-changing features. I take my own resistance bands, but it's nice if a gym has them too. The only cardio machines I care for are rowers, but others are good too. The gym I use now even has a bunch of tires and hammers.

How shiny and new the kit is doesn't really matter. 20kg weights are 20kg no matter how polished they are.

I don't give a f*ck if the gym has its own little clothes shop, but that's cool if they do. A gym I used to go to (GoGo park on Hammeenpuisto, Tampere) had a coffee dispenser and in the mornings porridge you could help yourself to. In the drinks fridges, you could buy beer and prosecco (Finns are crazy). These are nice features but also little extras that don't impact my training.

If a gym has a sauna, BIG PLUS, especially if you don't live in Finland where saunas are abundant.

Cleanliness, Yeah, I like a tidy gym. That's down to the members respecting the place, and the staff enforcing that culture. But it really sucks to sift through plates and dumbbells looking for what you need. A tidy gym is a good vibe.

Independent gyms. These ones have the best culture and usually those running them have the best intentions. If they've been started from scratch by a coach with a vision, then they are a credit to the industry and community and deserve your money. In this case, they will have really thought about how people can get the best workouts in the facility and the best fitness experience. They are often hampered by limited funding and the weight of government regulation, fees, and taxes.

Commercial gyms: Some gym chains became chains by the owners doing something right, attracting members, and expanding on merit. That’s good. If their personal trainers are freelance, then that’s a big credit to the gym. If they are employed by the gym, that’s a red flag. Although it is arguable that it isn’t really personal training if the coach isn’t working for themselves or with any autonomy. That’s a talk for another blog, but the gist of it is: If a coach is answering to some gym manager, why isn’t that gym manager out there being a coach themselves? Is a coach going to be doing a good job if most of the money they make from it is going to the gym or if they’re being allocated clients? It takes the personal out of personal training and becomes just gym instructing. To be a personal trainer, you need autonomy and versatility. Anyway, back to commercial gyms. The good kind I mentioned just there, and then there are the others…

I’m not going to name any company's names here, but there is a big bad slug sliming around in the fitness community. These gyms are purely commercial, their only purpose is to generate revenue. But don’t all gyms aim to make money? Yes, but by providing a good service and contributing to the community. Their goal is to give people a good fitness experience to those going so everyone can be happy, healthy, and wholesome. Other commercial gym enterprises have the sole aim of generating revenue, not by providing the service, but by taking payments. Let me explain: Rent out large, very viable city center venues so all who walk within a vicinity see it. Advertise on low price: Splash the price of membership of the building. By selling on low price their only way to make money is to sell volume. So, chuck some basic, low-cost equipment in the gym, and have people join based on low cost. When people consider joining a gym, they pick this one because it's stuck in their heads. Ever noticed walking through a city how much the McDonald's ‘M’ sticks out? Same idea.

Now, here’s the thing. They rely on ‘Sleeping members’. That being people who pay membership but never use it. Realistically these gyms could never host all of their members. But it was never about people using it. It was about a low cost of membership going out of members' accounts each day so that it's small enough to forget about. Usually, members get taken in with something like a “5 euro first month,” so it's easy to think, hey why not. If you do get round to canceling it, you’ll find that customer service is VERY difficult to get hold of, and there are rarely people at the help desk. So it’s easy to think “Ah F**k it I’ll do it later”. And so they got you. And that is the big, bad slug in the fitness industry. Now I’m all for people having access and space to exercise. And I’m sure there are people who benefit from the low cost and simple facility. That’s cool. But I’m also for good practice and good training. And from such places, that won’t happen. Just so you know, Puregym is NOT included in this category.

So, the answer is yes, you do need a gym. It’s a much smarter choice. To those still insisting on not, don’t use one then. I shall part with one useful tip when joining a gym:

The only reason gyms have a joining fee is to remove it to persuade you to join. You are welcome.

If you’re starting out at the gym, or are thinking of it, then its good to know what you’re doing. Go to the services page to get detail on how I can help you and fill out the consultation form.

Or do the free analysis and first five steps for a free analysis and first five steps.