Houston is the fourth largest city in America with over 4 million people, it has it’s own unique culture, one of which is it’s gym culture. Houston has a faster pace lifestyle where you drive everywhere and there are not many biking lanes or sidewalks, so people do not have active lifestyles. In the city, there is a big restaurant and party culture, when you combine these factors, Houston residents gain a lot of weight. This the reason, there is a big gym culture, people are forced to find a way to be active. There are gyms on every block, so it is difficult to find a gym that is right for your weight loss and toning goals. This is a list some of the best gyms in Houston and we go through a checklist of things to look for to help you find the best gym for your weight loss goals.
The Best Personal Training Gyms in Houston
Creative Workouts Gym is a personal training, strength training gym that offers one on one classes and group classes. The gym has a lot of machines, free weights, and cardio equipment. Creative Workouts gym focuses on weight loss and toning up your muscles. It has a circuit training style exercise program, which will ensure the development of all your major muscles. The gym has a variety of group classes such as has a full body strength and cardio class, booty and belly class and kickboxing class. The variety of exercises prevents you from being bored, maximizes your muscle growth, and supercharges the calories you burn. Creative Workouts gym offers a beginner’s class for those that are not very comfortable with weights. They give nutritional plans, which also comes with food accountability. The gym has a positive, and encouraging community, where you will meet good friends. The staff at the gym is always professional, knowledgeable and friendly. All questions will be answered to make sure you are on the correct path to reach your weight loss and fitness goals.
Kinitro Fitness is a personal training gym, that offers group classes. They focus on athletic training and they have a big space gym. They have a friendly, professional staff, that will accommodate your needs. They do give nutrition guidance, and they offer different styles of workout classes.
Orange Theory Fitness is a small group style training gym. They offer a high pace group class training style, which they use weights and your body weights. It is a professional gym with a friendly staff. The gym is good for people looking to lose weight, and get better cardio.
BodyByOsby Boxing Fitness is a personal training gym that focuses on boxing. They do offer strength training and conditioning. They offer one on one training for those that need individual help. Their gym is good for those looking to lose weight and at the same time learn the art of defense.
The Best Big Gyms in Houston
Planet fitness is good gym for beginners that just want to use machines or just want to do cardio. Planet fitness does have lots of equipment, and it is cheap. It target are audience are for people that may not feel comfortable in the gym, as it stops grunting in the gym, and it stops people from wearing clothes that are too revealing. If you already have a fitness routine, then planet fitness is a good place to be.
LA Fitness is good because it has a lot of equipment, free weights, machines, etc so it is good if you want to build strength, it also has plenty of cardio equipment. It has diversity of exercises because they have a basketball court, raquet ball court and they have a pool area. They do have some basic group classes.
EOS Fitness has a lot of equipment, and is a new gym in the Houston area. They have free weights, machines, cardio equipment. They also have a variety of activities such as basketball, pool, sauna, etc. This gym covers all the basics, and is a very popular gym.
Lifetime fitness is more along the line of a luxury gym, it has multiple pools, a state of the art basketball court, a very big exercise floor, they have programs for your kids, in some locations a climbing wall, a café, etc. This gym is for the people that can pay a lot more money to avoid the crowds, and enjoy all the extra amenities that the gym has to offer.
What You Should Look for in a Gym
Strength Program
Does the gym have a good strength program? Building muscle allows you to raise your metabolism. Raising your metabolism results in your body burning more calories, resulting in weight loss. It doesn’t take a lot of fancy equipment to have an effective strength program. The majority of big gyms have lots of gym equipment, while most smaller gyms have less equipment, but more instructions i.e personal training. If you know how to build strength without the need of assistance, then big gyms have plenty of equipment for you to put together a great strength program for yourself. If you need assistance you will need to go to a personal training gym that has good equipment and comes with a personal trainer who will put together a good fitness program for you.
Nutritional Plan
In order to really lose weight, you need to have a solid nutritional plan, that will help you to consistently eat healthy. Most of the big gyms do not give meal plans, but some of the smaller personal training gyms do give you meal plans. A step above giving a meal plan is a gym that will hold you accountable with what you are eating, and will also help you find solutions to your eating problems. You will need to find the right personal training gym, to solve these problems.
Accountability
One of the major reasons you are having a problem with weight loss, is because you are not consistent in the gym, and the major reasons is a lack of accountability. It is important to have some type of accountability so that you can develop discipline. Many big gyms only care if you sign up, but after that you are on your own. In the smaller personal training gyms, some have a strong accountability system while some do not have any accountability system. So you need to ask the gym of their good accountability system.
Variety of Exercises
Having a variety of exercises is important because you do not want to get bored and you want to challenge your muscle. You will not get toned muscles, if you don’t challenge them. If you are always doing the same exercises, and not challenging your muscles with new exercises, your muscle growth will plateau. When you are consistently getting stronger, you will lose more weight because your metabolism will rise. Big gyms do not have exercise programs they put together for you, some of the big gyms do have small group classes, which has limited exercise variety. Many personal training gyms offer group classes which do have variety of exercises, but that is something you need to ask the individual gyms.
Social Gym Culture
The social culture of a gym is important, some gyms are highly encouraging, some gyms are hype, some gyms ignore you, some gyms operate in cliques. Most big gyms operate in cliques, or they ignore you, because everybody is on their own program and it’s up to you to create your own social circle. In the smaller, personal training gyms, it is more expected that people are more personable and more encouraging. You are more likely to make a friend, or make a cool associate. In a good personal training gym you will find motivation in other people because most of the people are fighting to reach the same goal of weight loss, and/or have reached their goal of weight loss.
Prices
In the big gyms the prices are cheap, $10 to $30 per month. They have a lot of equipment and it’s up to you to create your own weight loss program. If you decide to get a personal trainer in the big gyms, then the prices rise up considerably, in the range of $700 to $1000 a month. For the smaller, personal training gyms, prices are usually in the range of $60/month to $150/month. In the personal training gym, you get a structured exercise routine, with modifications to fit your fitness level. If you want to get additional 1 on 1 personal training at these gyms they are usually in the price range of $200 to $500.
The final conclusion is you need to have a open mind when it comes to finding the right gym for you. You need to ask the right questions so that you will not waste your time and money, because you missed obvious things that the gym was missing.