Area gym recommendation thread

[Smash]

I am moving to Charlotte NC soon and need to know the best gym in my area for weight lifting.

I figure I would start a thread where you can ask or recommend an area gym for a specific type of workout.

This could be a good resource for those that travel often.

Gym info:

Gym Name

Town/area of town for big cities.

Type of workout: bodybuilding, powerlifting, crossfitters, (NO PLANET FITNESS)

Fees per day or per month

Lacks anything/ has something phenomenal.

[WillBrink]

Me, I generally just look for the nearest Gold's Gym to where I am, be it living of traveling. They are always adequately to really well stocked with all that I may want or need, and usually well priced ($40 per month where i am, ranging depending on local). As a rule, they are the DD of Gyms chains and all guess work removed.

[Awesome1228]

Me, I generally just look for the nearest Gold's Gym to where I am, be it living of traveling. They are always adequately to really well stocked with all that I may want or need, and usually well priced ($40 per month where i am, ranging depending on local). As a rule, they are the DD of Gyms chains and all guess work removed.

Golds-blah. They are usually well stocked with a good selection of the usual equipment. They are also overly stocked with meatheads and bimbos who seem to just be there for a hook-up, too many people and trashy locker facilities. Maybe it's just my area, but I got really tired of walking around the posers and MMA douchebags to get to the squat racks and deadlift stations.

For me, I have found that 24 Hour Fitness is more useful. The gym itself seems to cater more to the fitness rather than bodybuilder type, so they do seem to have a little less old school weight lifting equipment. But they also have less people wanting to use that type of equipment. They are also a little more expensive. I think that's a good thing. It weeds out the chumps and clowns who go to the gym to be seen, and get in the way of people who really want to lift.

My personal recommendation is to go to the local gyms and get a week pass. Go in at various times of the day, every day of the week. Check out the equipment and facilities in a useful way rather than just a walk through. You will find out pretty quickly if they have the right equipment for you and enough of it at peak times. You will also find out pretty quickly the annoyance level you will have to put up with. There will always be the gym idiots, but for me, keeping that to a minimum is a priority.

[CoryCop25]

I have memberships at both Gold's and Planet Fitness. Both plans are $10.00 a month and a $70.00 and $110.00 per year renewal respectively.
Meatheads or not, there is a lot more knowledge at Gold's Gym than Planet Fitness.
I go to Gold's when I am working specific muscle groups (about 2-3x a week) Planet Fitness for cardio and machines.
There is a hell of a lot more to look at at Planet Fitness though.......

[WillBrink]

Golds-blah. They are usually well stocked with a good selection of the usual equipment. They are also overly stocked with meatheads and bimbos who seem to just be there for a hook-up, too many people and trashy locker facilities. Maybe it's just my area, but I got really tired of walking around the posers and MMA douchebags to get to the squat racks and deadlift stations.

For me, I have found that 24 Hour Fitness is more useful. The gym itself seems to cater more to the fitness rather than bodybuilder type, so they do seem to have a little less old school weight lifting equipment. But they also have less people wanting to use that type of equipment. They are also a little more expensive. I think that's a good thing. It weeds out the chumps and clowns who go to the gym to be seen, and get in the way of people who really want to lift.

My personal recommendation is to go to the local gyms and get a week pass. Go in at various times of the day, every day of the week. Check out the equipment and facilities in a useful way rather than just a walk through. You will find out pretty quickly if they have the right equipment for you and enough of it at peak times. You will also find out pretty quickly the annoyance level you will have to put up with. There will always be the gym idiots, but for me, keeping that to a minimum is a priority.

Don't care about the meatheads. They do their thing, I do mine, or they know me/recognize me from X magazine or web site, and biggest problem I have is they wanna talk/ask Qs. I tend to go slowest time, around 2-3pm. More "bimbos" to look at the better as far as I'm concerned and I wish there were more when I went. Raises my T levels...

Me, I'm there for the equipment, and as a rule, Gold's will have the stuff I want, vs miles of useless treadmills for cardio bunnies and worthless machines at places like 24 our fatness.

But, that's how i do it. Look for a Gold's start there. It's the Colt 6920 of the Gym world. Reliable, well built, a tad more $$ then crap brands, but you know what you're getting. 24 Hour fitness is the DPMS. You can save a $$, you can make it work for you, but...

If 24 Fitness works for you, drive on. If it were located where I wanted, had the stuff in it I wanted, and priced right, I'd consider too.

[Smash]

I've been a member of 2 Golds and been very happy with both. But even though there are 8 in Charlotte none are near where ill be. There's a Snap fitness an Anytime fitness and a Sports and Fitness Ballantyne. I don't have experience with those brands. Ill definitely be doing a tour of all prior to any agreements.

[Awesome1228]

Don't care about the meatheads. They do their thing, I do mine, or they know me/recognize me from X magazine or web site, and biggest problem I have is they wanna talk/ask Qs. I tend to go slowest time, around 2-3pm. More "bimbos" to look at the better as far as I'm concerned and I wish there were more when I went. Raises my T levels...

Me, I'm there for the equipment, and as a rule, Gold's will have the stuff I want, vs miles of useless treadmills for cardio bunnies and worthless machines at places like 24 our fatness.

But, that's how i do it. Look for a Gold's start there. It's the Colt 6920 of the Gym world. Reliable, well built, a tad more $$ then crap brands, but you know what you're getting. 24 Hour fitness is the DPMS. You can save a $$, you can make it work for you, but...

If 24 Fitness works for you, drive on. If it were located where I wanted, had the stuff in it I wanted, and priced right, I'd consider too.

The downfalls of fame. How it must suck.

I have to admit, that you do know what you are getting with Gold's. They have the franchise business model down pat. Just like Subway, it's the same no matter where you go.

24 Hour Fatness...that just made me laugh. I must be out of the loop, I've never heard that one before. But maybe I should clarify. I personally don't dig the vibe in Gold's. I powered through it for a while, in fact I was a member at Gold's for over 7 years. There just came a point for me that the benefits were overshadowed by the drawbacks. We actually have the same point here, I think. If a gym has the right equipment, is in a convenient location, was competitively priced then the rest is just preference, or in this case, eye candy. For you, and I'm sure for lots of others, Gold's fits the bill. For some, myself included, there are better overall choices.

[WillBrink]

The downfalls of fame. How it must suck.

Man has to do what a man has to do.

I have to admit, that you do know what you are getting with Gold's. They have the franchise business model down pat. Just like Subway, it's the same no matter where you go.

24 Hour Fatness...that just made me laugh. I must be out of the loop, I've never heard that one before. But maybe I should clarify. I personally don't dig the vibe in Gold's. I powered through it for a while, in fact I was a member at Gold's for over 7 years. There just came a point for me that the benefits were overshadowed by the drawbacks. We actually have the same point here, I think. If a gym has the right equipment, is in a convenient location, was competitively priced then the rest is just preference, or in this case, eye candy. For you, and I'm sure for lots of others, Gold's fits the bill. For some, myself included, there are better overall choices.

And of course different Gold's have different vibes, but it's my default choice as a starting point, with no reservations at checking other places out in an area.

[Jaysop]

Hey smash, what gym did you end up signing up at?
You mentioned Ballytyne area so I assume your looking in the south Charlotte area. I currently have a membership at "the farm" as I call Planet fitness. I find myself avoiding it all together do to the atmosphere.
Have you found anything worth a look?
I'm also technically new the the area.