I love these two articles...I wish I had more time to write my own . There is much more to add but these two coaches  do a good job on getting the point across. I love the swat at the P90x and Spinning ...another "just add water"  approach to wellness..remember the Minardism.. "Thou shall not bear false fitness"  

 To Join or Not to Join a Gym? Many are Decided Against. Here's Why!

by Bill Katovsky

Gyms are a funny place. Depending on time of day and year, health clubs are either percolating with souped-up testosterone or quieter than a Christian Science reading room. Because of the “New Year, New You” mantra annually drummed into our post-holiday egg-nogged noggin' , most gyms depend on January as their membership dues-paying cash cow. Owners know from years of experience that most new members will soon regularly stop coming in for workouts, so they try to lock in as many early memberships possible,

To keep that revenue pipeline healthy, health clubs typically offer three membership options: 1.) initiation fee, monthly contract and a monthly fee that's automatically debited to your credit card or bank account; 2.) initiation fee and annual contract paid in full or spread out over time; and 3.) pay-per-visit, often in the form of a multi-visit pass.

But here's the financial kicker: even if you've stopped going to the gym though you signed up month-to-month or annually, your membership dues will most likely continue to appear on your monthly credit card statement.

Lesson number one: ask questions and read the fine print of any health club membership agreement so you fully understand the contractual obligations. Even that “free” monthly or weekly trial can be misleading if you are required to hand over your credit card or bank information. You might still get billed when the trial period is over. Canceling can turn into a time-consuming headache.

Many clubs heavily rely on high-pressure sales tactics. In exchange for what appears like a great deal, that fit-looking sales consultant will often pressure you to sign up right there on the spot. By all means, don't bite. Take the contract home. Scrutinize it carefully. Try checking out the competition. Visiting a new club for the first time is not unlike stepping onto an used-car lot. Try to avoid feeling intimidated if you are a newbie. Feel free to negotiate membership terms; you might be able to receive tremendous savings.

Yet the best health-club membership option for many is pay-per-visit. That's the conclusion drawn from a three-year study of fitness clubs conducted by University of California at Berkeley's economics professor Stefano Della Vigna. After carefully reviewing the records of nearly 8,000 gym memberships in the Boston area, the academic data cruncher discovered that “gym users on monthly plans pay 70 percent more than those pay-as-you-go plans based on usage.”

Vigna published his findings in The American Economic Review (June, 2006) --hardly the kind of sweat-stained periodical you find stashed in the reading bin by the stationary bikes. Since consumer behavior is not always based on rational decision-making, new gym members often fail to take into account declining interest in working out. “Gym members who choose a contract with a flat monthly fee of over $70 attend on average 4.3 times per month,” explained Vigna. “They pay a price per expected visit of more than $17, even though they could pay $10 per visit using a 10-visit pass. On average, these users forgo savings of $600 during their membership.”

The study produced another interesting set of results reflecting consumer habits. “Members who choose a monthly contract are 17 percent more likely to stay enrolled beyond one year than users committing for a year. This is surprising because monthly members pay higher fees for the option to cancel each month.”

Seeking to explain this statistical anomaly, Vigna theorized that “overconfidence about future self-control” is the reason. In other words, those signing up for an annual membership might have set unrealistic fitness goals for themselves, and when they fail to reach these benchmarks, they become less motivated and more likely to quit than month-to-month users. 

Vigna found that monthly users are reluctant to quit even if they stop working out. On average, just over two entire months elapse between the last club visit and contract termination for monthly members. Which means a monthly user can be expected to lose two hundred dollars or more before finally deciding to throwing in the membership towel.

Meanwhile, despite the recession and cutbacks in corporate-funded memberships for employees, the health club industry is going strong. About 17,000 clubs are now operating in the U.S., with memberships topping 32 million, nearly double the number from 20 years ago. But that mega-membership number is misleading. Mark Lipanski, a personal trainer in Menlo Park, California, told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2009 that “about 12 percent to 15 percent of Americans own gym memberships, and of those, 40 percent actually use them. Within that group, less than half work out regularly and vigorously.”

Okay, but all this discussion begs the larger question: are gyms, in fact, the best place to get back in shape? On Christmas Day, 2009, New York Times Health blog addressed this very topic. Here's a brief sampling of readers' comment taken from the lively online forum. Surprisingly, the ayes were greatly outnumbered by the nays. Perhaps anti-gym advocates are simply more vocal.

--“I have two awesome trainers. They are canine, and, doggone, they are very motivational. Our gym is the neighborhood.” 

--“I'm one of those people who have joined gyms, gone a few times, and then dropped out. Even a discounted membership is not a good deal if you don't use it.”

--“Best deal on the best gym in New York. No scams. Open all hours. Myriad places to work out. Clear air.. Fascinating clientele. Pets welcome! Year-round program. And here's the amazing part: It's free. We know it as Central Park.”

--“If you are just getting back into working out regularly, try to get a short term membership like 3-months, a punch card or make sure that you can cancel a membership when you want. I've walked away from gyms without those conditions”.

-- “During the first few months you can understand a lot more about the gym than you can during the free 1-2 week trial period. Do you like the instructors? Are they helpful to newcomers? Do you feel comfortable in the classes or in the weights and cardio area? If you don't feel at home in a gym it will be harder to go.”
.
--“If you are making a New Year's resolution and you have never set foot in a gym, invest some money into paying for a trainer who can show you what to do and who can make sure that you don't look stupid or ignorant about what to do in the gym and how to do it the right way (without hurting yourself). Showing up in a gym without a clue about what to do next and how to do it is a pretty effective way to get yourself demotivated from ever showing up in a gym again.”

-- “Invest your money in equipment for your home, if you don't have space, run outside or do video tapes. You waste a tremendous amount of time packing a bag, then getting to the gym, and then back home. Plus it's really expensive. You can get into great shape exercising 45 minutes a day at home.”

--“At varying times over the last 20 years I've had a membership.7 different gyms in 3 different states. Every time I cancelled my contract within the agreements they would still continue to send me bills/direct deposit. Buy a book, a bench and a couple of dumbbells because today's “membership sale” will just be a cancellation nightmare in the future.”

--“Music killed the gym for me. The place was near, affordable and I liked it until the high volume pounding beat drove me out. One day I was doing bench presses and looked up to see MORE speakers. Not even ear plugs or an iPod could stop the torture. There are wonderful non-commercial resources on the web for doing things at home without expensive equipment. I'll never go back…”

--“A motivated individual can avoid the gym scam and keep healthy at home without needing weights and equipment. and save some cash for proper nutrition. A beginner workout can include 10 calf raises. 10 squats, 10 lunges, 10 situps, 10 pushups. Each workout level increase by 10 each. All must be done within an hour; you can pick your own rest/rep/sets. When you can do 50x of each within an hour you can label yourself as fit. 100x and well, you'll look good naked.”

--“All of my life I've received negative comments about my abdominal muscles. I'm not much of a gym person, but after my 3rd child was born, I decided to do something about it, and started going to the gym three times a week. I rode an exercise bike for 20 minutes, then used the abdominal weight machine. I started at the 40-pound setting. 3 years later, I am now at the 130-pound setting. My advice - look for a gym with a wide range of members. At my gym (the local Y), the members come in all sizes, shapes, and ages, from off-duty firefighters lifting hundreds of pounds, to obese elderly ladies taking a water aerobics class. The broader the membership, the less out-of-place you'll feel.”

Ironically, the most damning indictment against health clubs on the Times' blog came from Brooklyn personal trainer Tomas Anthony, founder of Everyday Athlete, and whose clients include business executives, professional writers, artists, musicians, celebrity, and even school kids. “I don't like gyms. It's funny because I train people for a living but I left the mainstream fitness/gym industry years ago because of the cynical and in my opinion, dishonest way they are run. From the most expensive membership driven gyms to the cheapest franchises, the biggest myths in fitness are sold to you the second you walk in their doors.”

The first myth, according to Anthony, who has a degree in English from Oberlin College, is that technology and fitness are synonymous . “Listen, I am a real geek but technology is not the answer to most people's health and fitness goals. The idea that you need the latest equipment (treadmills, steppers, etc.) is part of the slick marketing plan that the clubs and the mainstream fitness industry has developed to make you believe this: You need a gym membership and access to the latest equipment to get fit. The fact is you don't.”

Anthony believes that gyms and health clubs have little interest in getting people fit in a lasting way since it would essentially put them out of business. “The fact is that most clubs' goal is to oversell their membership by 1000 percent. This simply means that don't want their members to show up regularly because if just 10 percent of their membership ever showed up at the same time they would be in violation of their capacity restrictions as regulated by the fire department and others and would have to close their doors.”

Another myth in the fitness playbook that he thinks need puncturing is that “you need something outside of what you already have to become fit: a diet, a product, a method.” He cites infomercial fitness king Tony Horton, founder and direct-marketing hawker of P90X. “His genius is not his product but rather the fact that he's managed to take every current theme in fitness --circuit training, yoga, boxing, martial arts, core training--and sell it back to you in a sexy, 'reality TV' style product. But that's where its virtues end. The essential problem with P90X is this: Becoming fit is not a 90-day process. Most people will simply end up hurting themselves. Truly becoming fit takes years. Yup. I said it. Years.”

There's a great deal of truth in what this outspoken New York-based trainer is saying. Getting in great shape is not something you can hope to achieve overnight. It takes a steady, long-term, and balanced approach that should incorporates all facets of one's lifestyle, including diet, work, relationships, stress management, and regular exercise. Yet we live in a consumerist-oriented society in which we're constantly being bombarded by sales pitches promising instant weight-loss results with this new low-calorie food or that special diet, or a lean, muscular physique is no more difficult to acquire and bring home than going to the store and purchasing a flat-screen high-definition television.

Bottom line for those pointing their bodies and wallet to the club's front door : a gym membership won't make you fit within 30 or 60 days of joining. So adjust your expectations accordingly. If you are the type of person who likes following a routine in a social setting, then the gym might offer you the ideal motivating environment. Just make sure to avoid the muffins and bottled fruit juice that are usually for sale by the front desk.

As for me, I am perfectly content working out at home and useng the outdoors for my cycling and biking. It's a club of one. Just me. No membership dues required. No cancellation fee either.

Bill Katovsky is a two-time Hawaii Ironman finisher and founder of Tri-Athlete magzine. An author of several books on fitness as well as poliitcs. Katovsky's latest title is one he co-authored with endurance athlete Brian Boyle who suffered a horrible car accident; he lost 60 percent of his blood, and was placed in a medically induced coma for two months. When he woke up, Brian couldn't talk or walk. Everyone thought he'd be a vegetable and permanently confined to a wheelcahir for the rest of his life. But they underestimated the fierce will to live of this former All-Maryland high school swimmer and weight-lifter. "Iron Heart: The True Story of How I Came Back from the Dead " is a newly published memoir of the several-year ordeal that took Brian from Intensive Care to the Hawaii Ironman where he finished under 15

 hours.http://www.amazon.com/Iron-Heart-True-Story-Came/dp/1602397716/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0 

What follows is an excerpt from a 2004 Oxygen Magazine interview with coach Poliquin and how he trains his female athletes and fitness models. REMEMBER THESE ARE COACH POLIQUIN’S VIEWS, NOT MINE BUT I DO AGREE WITH HIM 100% FOR ALL THE REASONS I JUST LISTED ABOVE:

YOU MAY WANT A TRANQUILLIZER OR SEDATIVE BEFORE CONTINUING…  A PAPER BAG IN CASE OF HYPER-VENTILATION MY BE A GOOD IDEA AS WELL!

Coach Poliquin’s interview:

[Oxygen Magazine]  “What is your take on spinning?

A complete waste of time. Counter productive at best. Want fat legs keep spinning.

When fitness model Chrissy May hired me to get ready for her Oxygen magazine photo shoots, I first asked what her current exercise was. She told me that spinning was part of training program and yet complained that getting lean legs was her biggest challenge. I told her to drop the spinning immediately, and that she would see results in a matter of a few days. She was quite reluctant, claiming that spinning “made her legs feel tighter”. In my usual diplomatic style, somewhat to the right of the Attilla the Hun, I countered that insanity is defined as doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results.

Yes spinning is very tiring, is it productive? NO. I live in Scottsdale AZ where spinning is more popular than tanning for skin cancer. It is attended by women who are as fat in the lower extremities as when I saw them exit their class two years ago when I moved here.

Why is spinning so useless if I am getting a great workout from it? Because the high velocities fatigue a particular point in the neuro-muscular junction which is responsible for the rapid firing rate of the motor units, you perceive great fatigue even though little work has been done. When you think about it, you could reproduced the same type of fatigue in your triceps if I asked you to hold a pair of fly swatters and swat an imaginary 100 flys in 30 seconds. Would you triceps get tired, sure. Would they improve significantly in terms of conditioning. NO. Why? Because the resistance is not high enough to elicit the hormonal response needed to create adaptive response that would bring about positive body composition changes.

In spinning exercise, the body adapts by storing both intra-muscular and subcutaneous fat in the thigh and hip areas to provide a more readily available source of fuel for the aerobic recovery periods. The body figures out, if I store fat there it reduces the time to get to the muscles to provide the energy source. Result: Kobe beef thighs and butt, all plump and marbled with fat inside.

 

Spinning for fat loss results...

 

Going back to Chrissy May, she dropped from 15% body fat to 9% in three weeks after she switched from the useless spinning to high resistance interval training. Point in case.”

–Charles Poliquin

What I do want to stress that this interview was about Spinning for FAT LOSS; Spinning can be good cardiovascular exercise, a source of endurance or interval training, and provide some variety in your exercise program (If the class is conducted safely- more on this in a minute). It is a tool like any piece of exercise equipment and you need “the right tool for the job”. Spinning based on coach Poliquin’s research and empirical results is the WRONG TOOL FOR FAT LOSS, ESPECIALLY IN THE LOWER BODY FOR WOMEN!

Still not convinced:

This is from the Figure Athlete website - a very popular website & forum for female athletes & figure competitors:

Figure Athlete, provided some excellent reasons why spinning classes are counter productive for a Figure competitor.

• In my experience, they exacerbate any lower body issues a woman may have. If she stores fat in her lower body, spinning makes this worse. Charles Poliquin also supports this. (Gee, what a shock!)

• If she has a difficult time building muscle in her lower body, spinning makes it even harder.

A common postural syndrome in Spinners

• Spinning promotes extremely tight hip flexors, leading to non-firing gluteus. It also creates a rounded back and tight pectorals from the riding position. These are prevalent obstacles that the majority of women already have to overcome, but are ten times worse in females who take spinning classes. [Gordon's note: non-firing glutes means you lose all the muscle in your butt due to disuse caused by the tight hip flexors resulting in a BIG, SOFT, FLABBY BUTT (hence the need for the oversized gel seat!)- want more info and ways to correct it, attend my FREE women's training workshop on May 11th]

• In every spinning class I’ve observed and from the four or five spinning instructors whose brains I’ve picked, although the class does “intervals,” it seems the entire class is performed at an extremely high percentage of the max heart rate, or rate of perceived exertion, the entire time. So, basically, when you’re in a recovery phase of the interval, you’re still at a very high heart rate or RPE.

Back to the FITMONTCLAIR blog:

If you would like more in depth information on the intra-muscular fat and subcutaneous fat storage mechanisms coach Poliquin mentioned, I recommend the following books (**These are graduate level text books and you should have a thorough knowledge of anatomy, exercise physiology, and biochemistry to help absorb the material**)

Since we are on the subject of coach Poliquin’s training tips for fat loss,he recently had a blog post covering “Top 10 Reasons how women get fatter despite good intent”

WARNING! If you have NO sense of humor, cannot accept criticism or new ideas, believe the commercial fitness & nutrition industry tells the truth and cares about you, don’t like a little cynicism or sarcasm, and you do NOT  want to learn the truth from a foremost expert – YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO HANDLE COACH POLIQUIN’S BLOG POST!!!!