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About this blog: I developed a special interest in helping seniors with their challenges and transitions when my dad had a stroke and I helped him through all the various stages of downsizing, packing, moving and finding an assisted living communi...  (More)

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Interesting Concept: Gym membership that lets you visit numerous facilities with one payment

Uploaded: Dec 4, 2014
"Why belong to one gym when you can belong to all of them?" This was the subject line of an email I received inviting me to learn more about this concept of gym membership. It sounds like a great idea, as long as the gyms (YMCA and Palo Alto JCC) are both included. I assume "all" gyms won't be part of the all-in-one membership. Probably not the ones that already are part of a large chain with numerous locations. But it sounds like a good way to help smaller, independent gyms that specialize or feature certain activities (ie. crossfit, boxing for example, kettlebells) gain some traction in the market and not be driven out of business by the larger operations before they can build a large enough following.
What I would suggest to the folks trying to kick-start this all-inclusive concept is that they look for gyms that also emphasize diet and nutrition and provide resources or information for folks with "food issues" ie compulsive eating disorders which I believe are probably at the heart of the obesity epidemic. I've used this platform before to try to get this point across and feel that dealing with our relatioinship with food is as important, or more important, than exercise alone.
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Comments

 +  Like this comment
Posted by Steven, a resident of Midtown,
on Dec 4, 2014 at 6:10 pm

Anything that helps people exercise more is good. Of course, going to the park is open to everyone.

I'm actually wary of gym nutrition counseling, I've seen too much paleo promotion there. Trainers aren't necessarily the best psychologists either. It is true that diet is at least or more important to health than exercise alone.


 +  Like this comment
Posted by Max Greenberg, a resident of Midtown,
on Dec 4, 2014 at 11:33 pm

Steven - thanks for your comment. You are right to caution skepticism about gyms providing reliable nutrition counseling. I think I was a little too optimistic there. I'm sure there are qualified trainers at some of the gyms whose knowledge of nutrition goes beyond advocating supplements and commercial protein powders. I think that gyms that can offer basic nutrition advice and give an overview of various types of food plans (ie vegan, vegetarian, paleo, no-sugar etc) will distinguish themselves.


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