A chain gym membership is cheaper per month than coached training, and for some people it is the right call. This is the comparison, including where the big gym wins.
Section
Where the chain gym wins
- Price per month. Nothing coached will match £20 to £30 a month.
- Opening hours. Many are 24 hours. Sanctuary Fitness runs to a timetable.
- Kit variety. Rows of machines, a pool at some. The gym has racks, barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, rowers, bikes and floor space, and that is deliberate.
- Anonymity. If you want to put headphones in and be left alone, a big gym is built for that.
Where coached training wins
- Somebody knows your name and your numbers. Week 1 measurements, week 8 measurements, and a coach watching every session in between.
- You do not have to write the programme. The commonest reason big-gym memberships go unused is not laziness. It is not knowing what to do when you get there.
- Technique is taught, not assumed. Barbell squats, deadlifts and presses coached from an empty bar. Nobody learns that from a poster on the wall.
- Nutrition is included. The 8-Week Package comes with a nutrition plan. A membership comes with a turnstile.
- The gym. Small classes, all levels, people who turn up for each other on a wet Tuesday.
What it costs, side by side
The 8-Week Package is £205 for eight weeks: every class on the timetable, small-group Personal Training slots, a nutrition plan, and measurements at both ends. That is about £25 a week. A chain gym is cheaper on paper, but the comparison that matters is cost per session you attend, and the people who finish eight coached weeks attend a lot.
Who should pick which
- Already know exactly what you are doing, want 24-hour access, happy on your own: chain gym.
- Have joined a gym before and stopped going: coached.
- Want a specific result in a specific time, measured: coached.
- Not sure: the free consult answers it faster than any article.