How to pick a gym?

[Voyager]

Complete neophite here. Are there any particular guidelines to chosing a gym? I wanted to try the NRoL, and I've never delt with a gym before. Is it just find one with a good company discount, or is there more to it than that?

I'm currently living in LA, a little north of Culver City.

Harry Voyager

[missjane]

My criteria were:

-- proximity to my home
-- convenience of hours
-- cost
-- equipment -- do they have everything I will need for my workouts?
-- comfort level -- do I feel comfortable there..do I like the atmosphere?

[Spartan300Man]

If you are committed to the NROL (which is a good thing in my opinion) you need a gym with a good old fashioned dumbbell selection and a set of actual barbells. Also, a Squat rack is a must. Many of the clubs these days have a ton of range-limiting machines, and they forget about the tried-and-true dumbbells and barbells. I spend about half my time at the squat rack, with exercises like the Squat, deadlift, cleans, barbell press, lunges. The other 30% of the time I am at the dumbbell rack. There is about 10% at the cable pulleys doing various rows and lat pulldowns, and finally I spend time doing pullups, chinups, and dips. A decent treadmill is good for doing HIT interval runs. Forget the room with all the 'inner-thigh" squeezers, and "oblique twister" machines that the dolts are lining up to use. A good clean shower area is also good to check out before committing to a membership!