With such a wide variety of gyms to choose from, we're all running out of excuses not to keep fit. Patricia Weston reports
With summer well on its way, thoughts turn to shedding the winter layers and exposing body parts to the warm glow of sunshine. It often coincides with people being less than impressed with their body shape.
So if you're thinking of joining a gym to get fit and toned, and to shed the extra flab, it's important to realise gyms and health clubs vary significantly in their facilities, classes, staffing, costs and atmosphere.
Staffing remains a problem in many gyms and health clubs. With membership costs ranging from €200 to €1,200 a year, members should always be entitled to advice and guidance from qualified employees on how to exercise safely and effectively.
Research for this article and visits to other facilities over the past six years suggests the bigger the gym, the fewer the staff present. Broadly speaking, staff often fail to interact with members to any significant degree.
Also, on my recent visits, I saw some exercisers performing unsafe exercises unsupervised and using weight machines incorrectly without staff around to correct their technique. Members were left to their own devices in some cases. On occasion, employees appeared bored and disinterested.
According to fitness instructor Shane Nicoletti, who has worked in the industry for several years, "instructors have a lot to put up with. The job is badly paid and they are required to clean the gym at the end of their shift. But they should be out there selling themselves and approaching members. I'd say it's down to the managers and how they manage their staff."
Smaller gyms can generate a friendlier and more intimate atmosphere. Staff are more likely to be helpful as they have the opportunity to get to know their fewer members.
The atmosphere in the three gyms I visited for this article was dreary and lacklustre. This reinforces the perception that gyms and health clubs are artificially constructed enclosed areas where people almost always feel uncomfortable.
Televisions were present in two of the gyms so exercisers could hypnotically watch screens while they run, cycle or row. The radio was playing in the background in all three gyms visited but this, it has to be said, didn't raise the atmosphere.
Overall, however, these gyms were well equipped with sufficient cardio-vascular and resistance training equipment for most fitness levels.
There were also a variety of classes with air-conditioned studios in all gyms to keep members motivated and interested as they follow their fitness programme.
Patricia Weston is a National Certificate in Exercise and Health Studies fitness instructor, a personal instructor and a teacher of Pilates.