So what if your gym membership is on auto draft? If you haven’t actually gone to the gym in months—or if you just hated your last 23 visits there—it’s time to move on. Here are 10 signs you need to cut ties with your gym. Trust us, there’s something better out there.
You Always Have to Wait for the Squat Rack… and the Bench Press… and the Treadmill
“When you pay for a gym membership, you’re renting an area and the equipment in it,” explains says Nick Tumminello, C.P.T., owner of Performance University in Fort Lauderdale and author of Strength Training for Fat Loss. So if you have a hard time actually using said equipment—having to wait for machines to open up or completely forgoing certain exercises—you aren’t getting what you’ve paid for. And you’re wasting your time, he says.
You Don’t Fit In
People like gyms where they fit in—whether that’s at a boutique fitness studio, a bodybuilding Mecca, or a gym with a “lunk alarm.” On the flip side, if you feel like people look at you sideways every time you downdog or deadlift serious weight, you probably don’t have a great time at the gym, he says. You may even cut your workouts short.
It’s Dirty
We’re not suggesting you should eat food off of the floor of any gym, but if, at your gym, members don’t wipe down their equipment after they’re done with it, they leave sweat marks on benches, and you’ve never actually seen proof that the gym has a cleaning staff, you need to hightail it out of there, says personal trainer Mike Donavanik, C.S.C.S. Especially this season. One study from the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine found the common cold on two-thirds of all gym equipment.
Something is Always Broken
“Look, equipment is going to need repairs, but most gyms should get it taken care of within three days,” Donavanik says. “If equipment stays broken for longer or is constantly breaking, clearly the gym isn’t maintaining the equipment properly.” That both wastes your money and—if the rowing machine you like to use has been broken for a month—wrecks your workout.
It Doesn’t Have the Equipment You Like
Your gym needs to have your preferred equipment—whether that’s TRX cables, dumbbells, barbells, or medicine balls—if you have any chance of performing workouts you actually like on the regular, Tumminello says. And what about space?
A lot of gyms have a variety of equipment, but not much free floor space, which is vital if you’re a fan of walking lunges, farmer’s walks, or basically anything with “walk” in the title.
No One’s Actually There to Get a Good Workout
“I used to go to a really ‘in’ gym when I first moved to LA. But I came to learn it was just a scene. Everyone and their mom was taking selfies, talking, flirting, showing off. It was a meat market, and there was very little working out,” Donavanik says. “Once I actually saw a couple sitting at the cable station eating Chinese takeout.”
You Always Leave with a Stuffy Nose
You really could be allergic to your gym. 2014 research published in Building and Environmentfound that many gyms have levels of airborne dust, carbon dioxide, and formaldehyde that exceed indoor air quality standards—and can contribute to allergies, asthma, and fatigue. “I used to go to one when where every time I would do a chest press or an exercise lying down, I’d see the dust accumulating around the vents,” Donavanik says. “It was just a disgusting look, and it made me wonder what I was actually breathing.
It’s Far from Work and Home
“If it takes you more than 15 minutes to get to your gym, you are probably using it as an excuse for why you don’t make it there as often as you’d like,” Donavanik says. If working out isn’t convenient, it’s just not going to happen.
Stuff is Everywhere
Where are the 25-pound dumbbells? Well, there’s one by the drinking fountain… If you can never find the equipment you need, you need to find a new gym, he says. “If members don’t re-rack their weights or if staff doesn’t organize everything once in a while, it causes a disruption of flow in the gym. It becomes part of the culture. No one picks up after himself because the person before them didn’t.” And your workout suffers for it.
The Trainers Are Tools
Gym employees can make you feel like you belong, encourage you to hit your fitness goals, and, if you want it, even lend some advice. Or they can make you want to put in noise-canceling headphones and crank up the volume, Donavanik says. “If the staff act like you should feel privileged to just be at ‘their’ gym, leave and never look back.” They aren’t going to help anyone become any healthier. They are just there to stoke their own egos.