This page is general information, not medical advice. Nothing here is a diagnosis, a treatment plan or a substitute for your own physician, physical therapist or registered dietitian. If you have a cardiac condition, uncontrolled blood pressure, a recent surgery, a current injury, an eating disorder or a pregnancy, speak to your provider before starting or changing a training or nutrition programme — and tell us what they say, because we build around written clearance rather than around what somebody remembers being told. Pain at rest, pain that wakes you at night, worsening symptoms or any neurological symptom need proper clinical assessment first, and we will say so rather than train through them.
Step by step
Seven things to do first
In this order. The first two are the ones people skip, and they are the two that decide whether any of the rest of it survives to March.
Book the assessment before you book anything else
It is ninety minutes, it is free, and there is nothing to sign at the end. Everything else — the programme, the class bookings, which membership actually suits you — depends on what comes out of it. People who join first and get assessed later almost always end up on the wrong tier.
Decide how many days a week you can genuinely commit to
Not the number you would like to be true. Look at an ordinary week in your actual life, including the bad ones, and take the honest figure. A three-day programme you complete beats a five-day programme you abandon in week four, and we will build whichever number you tell us.
Bring anything a doctor or therapist has written
Discharge summaries, surgical notes, imaging reports, a list of medications that affect heart rate or blood pressure. We are not diagnosing anything — we are making sure the programme respects what somebody qualified has already told you.
Wear shoes you can actually stand in
Flat, firm soles for lifting; running shoes for the treadmill. A thick, soft, unstable heel is the wrong tool for a squat. You do not need to buy anything — most people already own something suitable and are wearing the wrong pair out of habit.
Eat something, and bring water
Training on an empty stomach at six in the morning is a choice some people make well and most people make badly. Something small an hour or two beforehand is enough. There is a filling station on every floor and the water is free.
Come at the hour you will actually keep coming at
Try your intended time slot during the trial week, not a convenient one-off. A 6:00 pm class and a 6:00 am class are completely different experiences of the same building, and the honest test is whether you will still be doing it in March.
Ask the awkward questions on day one
What does this cost in total. What happens if I cancel. Who is on the floor at the hour I come. Is this coach certified and by whom. Is anyone here paid to sell me something. Any gym that dislikes these questions is telling you something useful.
The one nobody wants to hear
Subtract one day from the number you were about to commit to
Whatever frequency you have in mind, take one day off it and treat that as the plan. Almost every new member overestimates, and the overestimate is not optimism — it is the reason the whole thing collapses in week five.
Three sessions a week completed beats five sessions a week abandoned by an enormous margin, and it is not close. Two sessions a week, done for a year, will make you stronger than four sessions a week done for two months and then never again. The gym that tells you otherwise is selling you the version of yourself you would like to be rather than the one who has to get up on Tuesday.
- Pick the honest number of days, including your bad weeks.
- Pick the hour you will still be attending in March, and test it during the trial week.
- Have the two-day fallback version written before you need it, not on the day you do.
- Decide in advance what counts as a session — turning up and doing half of it still counts.
- Assume roughly one week in six will go wrong. Plan for it and it stops being a crisis.
Comparing gyms
Five questions to ask any gym, including us
Ask all five of every place you are considering and write the answers down. It takes about four minutes and it separates the gyms that want a member from the gyms that want a signature.
What does this cost in total, in a year?
Not the monthly figure. The monthly figure plus the initiation fee, plus the annual maintenance charge, plus classes if they are extra. That is the number to compare, and a surprising number of front desks cannot produce it quickly.
What notice do I have to give to leave?
Thirty days is common, ninety is not unheard of, and a minimum term on top of it is normal. Ask what the process is, in writing. A gym that makes leaving difficult has told you what it thinks of its own product.
Who is on the floor at the hour I would come?
Turn up at your intended time and look. A coach on the floor at seven in the evening is a different business from a desk with a turnstile. Ask whether that person is a coach or a salesperson, because they are often not the same.
Is anyone here paid commission to sign me up?
If the answer is yes, everything you are told during the tour is a sales conversation, including the parts that sound like advice. That does not make it dishonest; it makes it advice with an interest attached, and you should discount it accordingly.
What am I certified by, and can I see it?
Ask of any coach you might work with. A nationally accredited certification, current CPR and AED, and ideally a specific credential for whatever you need — a licensed physical therapist for post-rehab, a registered dietitian for nutrition. Hesitation here is informative.
Warning signs
The things that should give you pause
A tour that is a sales appointment
You should be able to see a gym without being closed. If there is a desk, a form, a same-day discount and a manager brought over to 'see what he can do', that is a sales floor with equipment on it.
A price that expires today
A discount with a deadline is a technique rather than a price. Any gym worth joining will be exactly as pleased to have you next Tuesday.
A programme written before you were assessed
If somebody produces your plan without watching you move, it is a template with your name at the top. It might not hurt you and it will not be built for you.
Supplements sold at the front desk
A gym with a supplement shelf has a financial interest in you believing you need supplements, and that interest sits between you and honest advice. It is not disqualifying. It is worth noticing.
Nobody asks about your health history
A gym that does not ask about surgeries, medication, blood pressure or pregnancy before loading you is not being relaxed. It is not paying attention, and the first person that matters for is you.
Before-and-after photographs everywhere
Sometimes fine. Often a sign of a business built around six-week transformations rather than around people who are still training in year four — and a culture that can be genuinely harmful to somebody with a difficult relationship with food.
No charge, no obligation
Start with an assessment and an honest conversation
Bring any medical notes, a realistic picture of your week, and the questions above. We will tell you at the first meeting whether what you want and what you can commit to are in the same place — and occasionally that you need a physical therapist rather than a gym.