Travel time

[Judochris]

So how far would you travel to a real gym. My recent gym told me that the use of chalk is prohibited, and that's fine I get it your a fitness center no problem. I will just run the course of the last month I paid for and that would be it......gonna miss the eye candy though, lol. So I found this gym about 45 min away with 5 dedicated platforms, bumper plates...and supplied chalk....so a pretty serious joint....for crazy cheap. I also found another gym that has a "functional strength" area. But saw some dudes taped up for snatches two racks of bumper plates, decent bars. As far as training goes they will both get the job done, one will obviously but a better environment but the other is so dam close, I could just join both for fifty a month and go to the far one when time permits and the close one when life goes your on my time sucka. Not sure if this is the right area to post this but facilities are the step in training so it kinda makes sense.

[Tom Narvaez]

45m is a long drive both ways... I would definitely try to work something out where you fan visit that gym without getting a full membership, time permitting.

there are exceptions, but all the people I know who train at real gyms make better, more consistent progress than those who do not. It makes a huge difference. Unspeakable, really.

[BareSteel]

24 hours in a day.
This is just a rough outline. Feel free to plug in your own data below.

12 hours from wake-up to showering/dressing, to work to finishing dinner.
8 hours of sleep.
3 hours from start of workout to end of shower.

That's 23 hours, so that leaves 1 hour to travel round trip. Half an hour each way.

Now, we can figure that you may be able to keep workouts shorter with more efficient programming (or by dividing it up into 4 slightly shorter workouts), or maybe you're not the kind of person taht requries 8 hours of sleep.

In your place, I'd test run the close place and see what you think, but I don't blame you for wanting to travel if the other place is an ideal gym.

[Judochris]

The thing is the far one they have like day passes for 8 so once a week is already more the a yearly over the course of time, the close one has no platforms. Well there could be monsters in the close gym and it did not have that sterile LA Fitness, mirror gun show, 1/4 squat, what your gonna hurt your back dead lifting, color coordinated headband wearing metro feel to it that I have been around. I think I was the only person who wore sweatpants and spent more time lifting then talking.

[Mugaaz]

Personally, I would be more willing to spend a bunch more money than drive further. The gym being far away just leads to all kinds of excuses. Mine is directly inbetween where I work and live, so there is just never an excuse not to go. In the early stgaes I think finding the easiest wya to turn it into a habit trumps virtually everything. When the habit has been established I would be more willing to trade convenience for better atmosphere.

[Les Hahn]

If I was in your position, I would do my upper body work at a closer gym. Then you could just dedicate 1x per week for heavy deads where you go to the gym that is 45m away. 1.5hrs travel time every day you workout is probably too much. You want to make sure you stay consistant with your lifting. But I think 1x per week would be manageable. Just pick a solid routine that is flexible enough to accomodate this.

[Kregna]

How is 45 minutes a long journey?

[crc]

I'd go with the closer gym and use the stealth option of a rosin bag or liquid chalk.

[Bryan Dobson]

Time mgt. vs atmosphere. I like to make training as convenient as possible. I quit 24 hour fitness and built a garage gym and have made steady gains without the eye candy or bro distractions. Would it be awesome to train in a gym with like minded people? Yes, even if it was just once a week the atmosphere is encouraging. If you work full time, or and go to school and have family obligations that 90 minutes of travel time may be too much to handle.

[Nate]

Why don't you explain your situation to the owner of the 45 minutes away gym and ask if a once-per-week type of membership is a possibility? Edit: Or perhaps ask if they offer 10 visit cards?