So Monday PM I was scouting around town for a new gym. I had my eye on 4. The Y, Gold's again, L.A. Fitness and Colony Square Athletic Center. Each had there own perks & pitfalls
The Y
Perks: Opens early, on the way coming and going, the closest of all, nice way of tracking progress with a swipe card, free coaching for 6 months.
Pitfalls: very very expensive, small facility, 2-3 cardio machines of each kind, felt claustrophobic, did I mention how expensive it was?
Gold's
Perks: simple transfer of membership, I already know the facility.
Pitfalls: located downtown, no off-street parking. Very much out of my way.
Colony Square
Perk: paid indoor parking, $10 cheaper than Gold's
Pitfall: still out of my way.
L.A. Fitness
Perk, in a shopping center, plentiful parking, open @ 5 am
Pitfall: initiation fee.
I set out to destroy that last Pitfall.
I walk into L.A. Fitness and am a bit let down w/the overall layout. Far fewer machines than Gold's and the entire design looked a bit rushed. I had a seat and a sales guy comes over. Now, knowing all that I know about health and fitness, after 5 years of blogging I may not know it all but I know a lot, I have to try hard not to get annoyed when they ask dumb questions or make false statement, "You really don't need to lose 50lbs since muscles weigh more than fat"
Nooooooooooooooo it DOESN'T!!!!
Makes my head explode. No wonder the general public is so confused.
Anyhoo, after telling him I'm looking for a new gym and have been going to Gold's, he proceeds to show me around.
Now, I accept they are competitors, but he started making comments to slam Gold's and pretty much didn't know what the hell he was talking about. Me, too much of a diplomat to cause a full fledged gym war, just kept my mouth shut. Besides, my goal was to not pay that stupid fee, so I let him run his mouth while I kept my eyes on the main prize.
Another thing I hate, when I'm dealing w/a salesperson and answer a question. A few minutes down the road, they ask the same stupid question a diff't way. That tells me they weren't listening to me. When I first sat down, he asked if I had kids, to upsell me on the kids korner, I said no. As we walked the floor, he started to point out a feature for the kids I just told this joker I did not have.
We start the tour. He shows me the cardio stuff first, I liked that they had 4 diff't kinds of elliptical machines, even the oft talked about precor, I've never seen. Then he showed me the steps of death, which I told him I had my own experience almost passing out on them. The next row were the treadmills, each had built in fans. Nice touch, but all of Gold's has ceiling fans.
Keep that tidbit to yourself Renee.
In front were the bikes and another batch of steppers. Then he let me go into the locker room and said meet him in the back. There he showed me the pool. Nice. And the sauna or hot tub, can't remember, was beyond.
Back on the floor we look @ the weights. Gold's has more variety, 3 levels of machines (pure weights, hyprid weights & free weights & another version I can't recall), but L.A. had 4 brands (Cybex, Hammer Strength, Nautilus and another) plus all the machines for each brand. He showed me the spinning room, the free weights and finally the aerobics room. Gold's also had B-Ball court, they don't 
All in all it was cool. Machines were a bit more beat up than Gold's, but whatever right? So long as they work. We head back to his desk to start talking price.
And talk we did, $149 down/$34.99 a month.
I balk. B/c of my POE, they had a special deal for $89 down. That expired in May though. Shucks. But what he could do is give it to me for $99 down. I hemmed and hawwed.
"I dunno Mr. that is a lot of $."
He tells me what the money pays for, it's me investing in me and he's pretty sure Gold's w/their no money down had all sorts of questionable folks in there. I resented that remark.
Then another guy comes over and is apparently the boss of the joint and basically tells me, not only can't he waive the fee, if he does, the sales guy will get fired and he'll get fired.
I see.
I'm like, "Welp, I best be on my way fellas." I get up to leave.
A 3rd guy comes over, a 4th is lingering in the background and a 5th guy is peeking from the desk next door.
I blink my eyes and next thing I know, the 3rd guy sitting down running his mouth. I'm like, "What the? Who are you?" He laughs and blushes a bit. He introduces himself and says he's the assistant manager.
Surrounded by 5 guys, though I was a bit turned off by the Boss and his, I'm-not-going-to-do-it attitude, it's all comical to me. As much as the gym had great perks, there were others to check out.
The assistant manager is like, "I'll give you 4 personal training sessions if you join up." Tempting right?
So I, who can be a bit of a dim bulb @ times, thought on my feet and innocently asked, "How much is 1 session?" $60-$80. I had him.
I said, "So let me get this straight. You are willing to give me $240 in services, but can't take $99 off?"
Zing!
He slumped back in his seat and sheepishly said how he can't and whatnot and if he could, he would. And while they can drop the price from $149 to $99, he just can't take it all off. Then he disappeared.
Back to the sales guy. I kept telling him I didn't need to pay money to prove the gym to myself, I was already going @ Gold's diligently all summer and didn't pay a dime, so let me think it over check out 2 other gyms and be back Wednesday. By this point I really get up to leave, it's been over an hour.
The Assistant comes back over and says, "Okay, I'll take it off."
*squeals*
I'm playing it cool, but am jumping for joy inside. I ask, "But why? Is the sales guy going to get fired, b/c the big ole mean Boss said he would." The Assistant said no. He, pointing to himself, will get yelled @.
"But...but...the Boss said he'd get fired too,"…fake sugary concern dripping from my voice. No he won't. Uh huh, I knew it.
And just like that, they put in a code that they must use for the students @ Emory U and I got the entire $149 waived.
Now, a few notes, they had a point, I was paying more @ Gold's $39.99/mo so in a few months the $99 would've been a wash, but it was the principle. They started to go down the, you-can-pay-it-over-time road, which an hour in & mentally exhausted, I almost agreed to but no.
What the hell is this initiation fee? Shit, paddle my ass if you want me to prove myself. Make me do a boot camp, but paying $100-$150 on top of a monthly fee is crazy.
All in all here are my perks.
L.A. Fitness: Can go to any gym in Georgia
Gold's: can only go to 5 locally owned area gyms
L: $34.99/mo
G $39.99/mo
L: open @ 5
G: open @ 5:30
L: open @ 8 Sat and Sun, close @ 8
G: open @ 8:30 Sat and 9 Sun, close @ 7 and 5
L: 4 elliptical machines
G: 1 elliptical machine
L: Pool
G: no pool
L: While it is further from my new place than Gold's was from my aunt, it's on my way in plus opens earlier so I can easily do my 90 mins in the AM and still reach on time
G: It may be closer, but opens later and w/an hour + commute ahead of me, during the week I ended up going in the PM.
So that's my tale of how I beat Goliath. The fact that they got 3 dudes, 2 lurking in the background, to "convince" me of a fee they damn well knew could be waived and as pudgy and soft and pushover-ish as I look, I wasn't backing down is victory enough for me.
Plus seeing how the sales guy, wasn't quite on top of his game, I had to correct him on some fitness stuff, he asked me questions I already answered and took 3 phone calls during our time together, meant even if the $99-$149 was a commission or bonus for him, he didn't earn it.
As he keyed in my membership, he kept saying, "Wow, they must really like you."
No fool, they like my $.
Score 1 for the pudgy girls.
I forgot the biggest perk of all, no more humongous ill shaped fob, L.A. plays nicely w/the other fobs.
So long Gold's, I'm an L.A. girl now 
Comments: 14
09.22.06 | TC commented: That is so awesome! i am so impressed that you did that. I have so much problems being brave like that but I am getting better!
09.22.06 | mary commented: Renne,
Good for you! That is the main reason I will never join a gym. I refuse to pay some stupid initiation fee. It applys to other things too. I wanted my daughter to join the winter swim team and had no problem with $90 per month, but they added 3 different fees on top of that for an extra $150! No thank you. No winter swim team ever. AND why is the Y more expensive than anywhere else. Shouldn't it be cheaper? I don't get that.
09.22.06 | Renee commented: heh TC, the entire time, I'm quivering like a jelly fish inside, I really didn't want to walk away, but I couldn't let them see it. When the Boss gave me that brush off, I was like, wow, I have to be willing to walk out of here. I think once I tried to show I could take or leave the gym, the more deperate they got to keep me. In the first 1/2 of the hour, I was too interested in joining. I can't WAIT to get 
09.22.06 | Renee commented: Mary, I don't get that either about the Y. They do offer financial aid if you made below a certain income, but I'm thinking you really are paying for the entire facility is why the price is so high. All the programs that have nothing to do w/fitness and services they offer. I guess it's a good community type thing, if I wanted to get that involved w/them, but I just want a gym w/machines.
09.22.06 | Daisy commented: Congrats on getting a new gym!
btw, I don't believe that the L.A. Fitness guy's statement was false about muscle weighing more than fat. A chunk of muscle does weigh more than an equal size chunk of fat because muscle is denser than fat. Therefore someone who has a lower bf% doesn't need to lose as much as someone who loses weight simply by dieting because there body will be smaller even though they may weigh more .
09.22.06 | Michelle commented: I wish I could keep my cool like you did! I'm such a pushover sometimes. I just rejoined the Y - well, I actually won a 3-month membership, and will qualify for a $36/month family membership once my free three months run out. I'm pretty happy there, I can go to any Y, and there's one right downtown where I work too, so I can go at lunch if I wanted. Keep up the great work - I love your blog!
09.22.06 | Renee commented: Thanx y'all, I'll be thinking of you fondly when I hit the precor 
Point taken Daisy 
I guess what fumes me, is that in most peeps it takes a while to build muscle. When weight loss stalls or rises, that is a phrase that is bandied about, when other factors may be @ play, giving people a false sense that 1, 2, 3 muscle weighs more than fat so I must be gaining muscle, when it's not even close.
I would think for the average overweight person trying to shed a few lbs, the statement may be more false than say a bodybuilder or olympiad or sports figure. I can definetely see a well toned solid person weighing more than me, due to musclar density vs. that phrase applying to me as I appear today.
As w/all things, YMMV
09.22.06 | womens health commented: Gym membership salespersons are sharks...so congrats on beating those pesty sales people!
Lilly
09.22.06 | rachel commented: RESULT! nice going, R!
I worked @ a gym for a while and there I found out that there is NO join-up fee at all, in reality ... but the membership consultants are told to get as much as they can. SCAM! SCAM!
09.23.06 | Joe commented: Gyms aren't necessary. You can get in just as good of a workout at home, and you eliminate ignorant salespeople, driving out of your way, fees, and crappy music ! The only reason to join a gym might be for the motivation: Once you're there, you may as well work out. 
09.24.06 | MickMick commented: Hey lady! I love your blog. I am in the process of looking for a new gym. I am going to stand my ground! Thanks for inspiring me!
RE: The muscle vs. fat...A pound is a pound is a pound. A pound of muscle weighs the EXACT amount as a pound of fat. The only difference is that muscle doesn't take as much space as fat.
Another misconception is that fat is converted to muscle. NO. Wrong! The fat isn't converted to muscle it is excreted through your bodily functions. You build muscle.
09.25.06 | Marla commented: Wow, you're a real wheeler-dealer! It sounds like trying to buy a car. (which I want you to come with me next time I do that!) I think I would opt for LA just because of the later Sunday closing.
I love the whole fat/muscle discussion, it comes up all the time. I came up with an illustrated post on the subject - maybe not the best explanation out there, but it does feature drawings of my @ss!
http://somedayisnow.blogspot.com/2006/04/muscle-vs-fat-illustrated-example.html
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Woot!!!! I work for Emory but I got duped into joining Bally's which I don't even go to because I now have two jobs and I am a single parent so Billy Blanks and Tony Horton are my personal trainers at the moment. Glad you stuck to your guns and it paid off.