Fitness Clubs

¶ … fitness facilities in New York City. One of these will be a Bally's and the other a YMCA. The two clubs and their programs will be subject to comparison. One of the signature elements of Bally's is that it has a customized fitness plan option, something that is common throughout all Bally's in the chain. This plan takes information about you and your fitness goals, and then seeks to determine an optimal plan for you.

The plan can encompass a wide range of programs -- it essentially serves as the basis for a new customer to have a formal structure to their workouts. In this, Bally's seeks to gain some measure of competitive advantage by taking an active role in working with the customer to ensure that the customer is able to meet their fitness goals. Bally's offers the standard amenities of a modern fitness club, including a large room of cardio equipment, free weights, and space for classes.

The fitness trainers are accessible in particular when you work with Ballys on a fitness plan. The personal trainers are trained in motivation as well as fitness, and they come with added cost. The facility offers a number of different classes, intended to provide a high level of diversification in exercise forms. Pilates, yoga, kickboxing and more are offered in order to give a wide range of choices, to suit all different fitness tastes and objectives.

Membership is available at Ballys in a number of forms, so that people can try before they buy, or can come to Ballys even as a temporary visitor to New York. But overall, the facility was sort of small and stuffy -- not that important from an exercise standpoint but maybe from an aesthetic point-of-view. The personal trainers seemed competent and willing to work within the framework of your fitness plan, but you did not need to have a trainer in order to join or to work out there.

The other gym I tested out was the YMCA. The YMCA has a wide range of community programs, not just exercise, so in that it is more like a community center than just happens to have fitness facilities. I am not sure if this is bad for the vibe in there, since there seemed to be some segregation between people who were there for the workouts and those who were there for other purposes. The YMCA again has the fairly standard fitness facilities, in seeming abundance.

It also offers personal trainers to help you with your fitness goals, but does not have a formalized plan like Bally's has. There are a number of programs available at the facility as well. These include pilates courses and yoga, but there are also some differentiated offerings as well. The YMCA Westside offers personal training at the group level, for example small groups, because they say that people like working out with others as a means of providing motivation. Thus, group personal training can be done at a small scale.

I personally wonder at the level of attention that can be provided, if that is any different than a large group, and how it would be quite a bit lower than the level provided with a one-on-one trainer, but regardless it was indicated that a lot of people like this option. Groups of friends will sign up for example and create a fun, supportive atmosphere for each other to help them achieve their fitness goals. There are other courses as well, fairly specialized.

There are different running courses, and now that it is spring there are outdoor running courses. These include drills to help with running, so more serious than just casually jogging around Central Park. The YMCA also has an MMA conditioning course, which is somewhat unique for a facility that does not otherwise specialize in MMA. Conditioning of course is a critical success factor for MMA fighters, and this is basically an MMA fitness course that non-MMA fighters can take to get themselves to a higher level.

The YMCA, despite its name, also has specific courses for women, including a course to introduce women to weight training, in particular free weights. I was interested in this course because free weights are a valuable exercise tool that is often overlooked by women. Many women seem to lack the confidence to work with free weights, and this.