[move] Work Out at a Wichita Gym
During this time every year, gym parking lots seem to be noticeably fuller. You can’t walk right on to the elliptical and you have to squeeze into your normally not-so-crowded Pilates class. Gym rats everywhere know exactly what I’m talking about; January, February, and March are the highest traffic times for commercial gyms. Fresh off the New Year’s Resolution train, people of all ages are hitting the gym in their quest to “exercise more.”
So if you haven’t already bailed on this resolution or are stepping up your fitness game, consider these local favorites.
The major players:
- YMCA. This is undoubtedly the most popular choice. The YMCA is a household name and it seems like everybody has Y membership. With a variety of membership options and class programs for youth, adults, seniors and families, the YMCA is truly a family oriented establishment. There are also various financial assistance options available as well, so getting in shape doesn’t have to cost you a fortune.
- Genesis Health Club. I’ll be honest; I think this place is a bit snooty. Or maybe I think that because I’m the least hardcore person I see when I go there. I’m a member here because my employer offers a huge discount (I pay about $20 a month for premium membership.) If I didn’t get this discount, I would not go here. However, they have nice equipment, the class selection is diverse, and the facilities are clean. Genesis has four Wichita locations and and facilities in Salina and Hutchinson.
What about those 24 hour places? Good question. If you get the urge to pump some iron at 2 am, these may be a good fit for you.
- Anytime Fitness has east, west, and Augusta locations. It has all the major amenities from weights to personal training to tanning available 24 hours a day, but condensed to a smaller square foot area.
- Fitness 2000 Health Club has a co-ed and a women’s club in town. This center offers more major activity options than Anytime Fitness, including a pool, hot tub, sauna, and steam room, but is still the same basic concept. Fitness 2000 also has a restaurant and free nursery services.
- Shocker Fitness is all the rage with the verb [ICT] team. Carly’s “Running Just as Fast as I Can” column inspired other staff writers to go back to school with Coach Bolt too. You probably won’t be seeing me at Shocker Fitness anytime soon; it’s just not my thing. I left group workouts behind when I retired from organized sports in high school. However, they are having a blast and are still alive too.
- Another great option is taking a course at Wichita State University. The Human Performance Studies program has everything from Horsemanship to Jiu Jitsu (I had to Google that to find out what it was too). Being a student at WSU always gives you free access to the Heskett Center gym which has a pool, weight and circuit rooms and dance studios.
If none of these are your style, there’s always a good old fashion run around down the street. I personally enjoy the security of not being a moving target while working out, but that’s just me!
Where do you like to work out? Sound off in the comments.
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I do love the YMCA. They have awesome classes, especially for kids. We love the Swim program there. We go to the West Y, (Central & Ridge) and the aquatic director there is awesome.
I’ve had a membership for three years and I go in spurts of exercising. I need to dust it off and head over there.
Another great place to work out at is Health Strategies. (http://www.healthstrategiesinfo.com/)
It’s medically based, has lots of cool classes, and almost everyone there is there to be healthy and physically fit, rather than having a rockin’ bod. :) They have tv’s in front of all of the cardio machines too. (Helloooo HGTV!)
It also has financial assistance and a massage parlor.
Heskett has cheap massages, a great indoor track (much nicer than those found at the Y), as well as swim classes for kids and a climbing wall upstairs. Also a circuit training room in a private area, which for some of us is kinda nice if we are going to sweat bullets. Most other gyms don’t have racquetball rooms either. I love Heskett, but I need a work out partner to stick with it!
The park board has all kind of fitness classes, for all levels. It’s very inexpensive. Here in Cheney, for ten weeks, two nights a week, it’s $20. That’s a dollar a session for low-impact aerobics. I can’t imagine a less-expensive class, unless I stay home and try to motivate myself to do a video. I know Wichita has similiar classes, I used to do them at Evergreen. Evergreen used to offer bellydancing as well, and it was fun. Some of the park board classes are even pay as you go, or they used to be. There are locations all over town, so there is bound to be one not too far from you.
Oh! And FYI there’s a group of speed skaters (and cyclists/triathletes too, now) who meet at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday nights for circuit training. If you don’t know what circuit training is, this workout would probably be too much for you. It’s all about performance for that crowd. But if you’re looking for some sport specific training, that workout is Wednesdays, 5-6:30 p.m. at the skating place on south Meridian, just a litle ways north of the 235 exit.
One of the places mentioned I don’t want to go back to. Had a bad experience with one of the managers and it seemed all of the guy workers had more a eye for the female attractive ladies or were talking to them. vs doing any type of work.
I bought a home gym for around $150 that can cover most body areas I want to focus on. There are a lot of exercises that can be done at home as well without equipment. Take advantage of the pathways around town. The river or the sedg co park. Great for biking and running.
But if it’s hard to motivate yourself at home then get a trainer if you can afford to. If you are really wanting to get fit then you will find a way. And with my own equipment I know my sweat from all places is mine and not from that muscly dude in the corner… Not saying places don’t clean the equipment, but you can’t clean a few hundred machines every ten minutes.
I just want to echo Jamie’s comments on Genesis. I work out there and have for 7 years I think… Have also tried the Y, but came back to Genesis because I don’t want to be around all the kids when I’m exercising. (And I love kids, but they don’t enforce their own rules on kids using the equipment.) Each location has its own personality and the two on the West side are, by far, my favorites, just because of the more laid back crowd. Even though I’ve been working out awhile, I’m not hard core either.
If you’ve only been to the Rock Rd location I can see how you would think it’s snooty, but you can’t really judge it on the one location.
I’m a member at Just Ladies Fitness at Central and Rock and give it two thumbs up. In high school and college, I worked out at a women-only gym and loved it. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t mind dudes and wouldn’t mind working out with my boyfriend, but there’s just something about a women- only fitness environment that I enjoy even more. Less crowded, less intimidating, etc. Just Ladies is cheaper than the Y, has a large facility that is (so far) never crowded – no waiting on machines, has great cardio and weight machines (in great condition and obviously well-maintained), free weights and a decent class schedule. It’s not as full-service as the Y or Genesis (and again, it’s free of dudes), but for the price, it can’t be beat.
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