What makes a good gym all comes down to preference along with affordability, cleanness, atmosphere, how busy it is, the access to different amenities, having a variety of machines to train different muscles, locations, and the regular hours of the certain gym. All of these factors will help someone narrow down what gym accommodates them the best and give them the best experience for getting in shape and enjoying their gym experience!
Planet Fitness
Planet Fitness is seen as a beginner gym and its whole demographic is people starting at the gym and being cheap. They have a clean environment and strict rules on what you can wear like flip-flops and tanks. Planet has a “No Judgment Zone” motto to showcase this and make sure that everyone feels welcome. Their machines are smooth and they have a good variety for each muscle group. The downside of Planet Fitness to more advanced lifters is the free weight section only going up to 75lbs and all of their racks being smith machines. Most Planet Fitnesses are open from 12 am-10 pm and some locations are open 24hrs, so it’s convenient. Planet’s pricing is one of the cheapest you can find coming in at $10 a month with no annual fee. Their other packages go up to $30 a month, but this gives you access to guest passes, access to any Planet Fitness, their cryotherapy, massage beds, and tanning beds. They have 3 locations downriver in Woodhaven, Southgate, and Taylor. Overall, Planet is a really good starter gym to get a good workout and mostly fits newer people being in the gym and keeping them comfortable in their “No Judgement Zone”.
LA Fitness
LA Fitness is more of an expensive gym downriver located in Woodhaven and Allen Park. Their gym is more of an advanced gym with smooth machines for a variety of muscle groups with a lot of plate-loaded machines. There are not a lot of squat racks here, and there are a lot of free-weight benches. The thing that differentiates LA from other gyms is their access to free weights and dumbbells up to 100lbs along with a smoothie bar that will get you the nutrients you need post or pre-workout. LA offers a basketball court, swimming pool, sauna, and hot tub too. This gym is not as clean as other gyms and tends to be packed most of the time. LA encourages personal training and has one of the best recruiting teams. Their base membership starts at $30 a month and for access to all of the amenities you can expect to pay up to $50 a month with annual and start-up fees. Most LA Fitnesses are open from 5 am to 10 pm and have shorter hours on Saturday and Sunday. Overall, LA Fitness is more of an advanced gym for people who like to use free weights and have a higher standard for their workouts, expect to be paying a lot more here than any other gym downriver, but a good gym to get a good workout in.
Raise The Bar
Raise the Bar is located in Lincoln Park and has more of a hardstyle vibe to the gym. Some may call it old school, with their metal plates compared to the newer rubber plates at Crunch, LA, and Planet. This gym has everything for a super advanced lifter, from dumbbells up to 220lbs, free-weight benches, squat racks, plate-loaded machines, and cable machines that are very smooth and effective. The atmosphere here is going to make a lifter work hard and push themselves to be the best because this gym is filled with a lot of advanced lifters and even professionals. Expect to be around very focused individuals who take training very seriously and people who want to see you get better in the gym. Their memberships here average around $40 a month but for this level of training and the access to machines not seen elsewhere, it is worth it! Raise the Bar or RTB, is open from 4:30 am-11 pm on the weekdays and reduced hours on the weekend. Overall, this gym has a great competitive atmosphere where an old-school vibe of lifting is achieved with top-of-the-line machines and people who want to better themselves.
Crunch Fitness
Crunch Fitness is very similar to Planet and LA, with a newer gym but it is the halfway point between the two. This gym offers a cheap membership with a lot of smooth equipment, free weights up to 120 lbs, benches, squat racks, recovery areas, boxing, tanning, and a sauna. Their memberships start at $10 a month and go up to $30-$40 a month with an average of $15 depending on the amenities that you want to have access to. The bad thing about this gym is that it is super tight with all of the machines right next to each other and the amount of people is insane at peak hours. Crunch Fitness is located in Southgate and Taylor, with the Southgate location being newer. Crunch has access to personal training, and their social media team makes sure to show workouts and things to do in the gym that make everyone comfortable. To reiterate, this is the perfect mix between Planet and LA due to the access to free weights, a clean environment, and a relatively cheap price point. Overall, this is a good gym for anyone looking to get a good workout that wants access to a lot of variety, with a good atmosphere as well.
