Summer Focus- NYC Gyms

The one thing I love about NY is the freedom to have no shame. New Yorkers have the ability to do whatever they want with the only excuse being, "only in NY." At this current moment, having just arrived back in the city and wanting to be a penny pincher, I'm going to freeload as much fitness as I can. The best part is that this is actually possible. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present... Free Gym Trials.

Now, when I first researched gym trials I thought it would be impossible to find more than 1 gym that was willing to let me workout without having to pay a fee. Luckily, the goal is to get the customer in the establishment and have them make their own decision. You would think it's easy to simply try as many gyms as possible without joining any of them, but it's not. So far, most of the gyms I went to, I ended up being overflowed with those happy endorphin's exercising allows your body to release, and thus wanted to "sign at the dotted line" almost immediately. Oh how the mind works.

Here are the gyms I've been to so far.

Gold's Gym- I've passed this gym several times and thought it was going to be filled with the Jersey Shore, beefy, super tanned guys but it wasn't. I easily signed up for a 7 day pass online and went in the following day to check it out. I laughed when they told me the lockers were on the 3rd floor and I almost asked for an elevator. I had the "ah hah!" moment of realizing that I was in a gym and would be walking everywhere. The gym turned out to be great. It's 3 different levels of equipment. Many of the machines have a tv which is sadly my biggest focus. I cannot workout without being entertained or having something to focus on. I went to the gym midday so it was a little crowded around lunch time but would clear or relatively fast. It left me with the liberty to explore and try whichever machine I wanted. Another big plus was that I was able to workout without feeling the eyes of creepy guys lurking from around the corner. Everyone's doing their own thing and focusing on themselves. The best surprise of all was that they had FREE WIFI! I find this to be a major asset if I want to check my email, fb or watch videos while working out. The locker room was fine, spacious and the staff was pretty nice. I liked that I was able to come in, do my own thing, and leave. No one pressured me to join or kept tabs on me while I was working out. Their offers to me, now that I've completed the trial, are: $9.95 for the 1st month, free personal training, and 2 free 7 day passes for a friend. Pretty good.

Bally's- I signed up for a Bally pass online but went in to check the ambiance first. I'm glad I did this, by the way. Maybe it was because they are located right by Penn Station on not so bright street but I was turned off even before walking in. The staff was nice but I just couldn't get past the environment. Skeevy guys everywhere constantly staring at me. Actually the majority of the people working out were guys...nary a female in sight. I get why. They have a pool, which was a plus but I wouldn't want to swim there..it looked dirty. The gym itself is very dark and old looking. Nothing seemed state-of-the art from it's appearance. I got an overall sense of dirtiness so I high-tailed it out of there. Sorry, Bally's is a definite NO GO!

Crunch- Yesterday I tried Crunch gym after signing up online for a trial the night before. I was kind of sad that it was only a 1 day guest pass but it was free so o well. It first I was constantly comparing it to Gold's Gym but I decided to just try and think of it's own pro's and con's without pre-judgement. They have many machines, about 2 floors worth and several of them have TVs connected to them. I liked their upper body workout machines. The showers and locker room area were really spacious. No free wifi which is sad but not surprising, that's definitely a special perk in some places. I did get a few stares from other guys working out but it wasn't as bad as Bally's. I went around 2pm so it was pretty quiet which was nice. I would definitely consider membership here because of all the classes they offer and the different. locations.

Today, I will try a 7 day pass for Complete Body and Spa.I signed up online and immediately got a pass offer. There are a few more places, maybe 4, that have week pass offers or 3-day passes so I'll be excited to test them out. In the end this is my free way of getting back in shape! It's a win-win situation :)