I've been a member at the same gym in Katy for 5 years or so. It started as a 24 Hour Fitness, then it was bought by Texans Fit after the pandemic shutdown.

I liked Texans Fit. They upgraded equipment and added more racks and such. It was about $50/month.

Then they were bought by EoS Fitness. Now there are 3 membership levels, $10, $20-ish, and $34.

Apparently the higher prices were keeping people at home. It's been more crowded than ever, especially over the summer when school was out. Place was inundated with college and high school kids, which is fine, but they tend to stand around and talk in the racks and take up time.

The last time I was there was the week between Christmas and New Year. All the barbell benches and inclines were taken. I got the last small bench on the end and was doing dumbbell presses. There was a couple next to me using the little incline bench. The girl (wearing Aggie gear) bent over to grab something and that action placed her glutes directly over the path of my right hand 65-er. I got her pretty good. Her male companion was laughing hard at her and I was apologizing profusely.

Fast forward to Jan 2, I left work early to get a session in. I couldn't find a parking spot so I went home.

I am going to try again next week. I can't stand paying for a gym that I can't use due to overcrowding.

Old man rant over...

We had the same problem with HS and college kids over the summer. However they just made it crowded at random times in the early afternoon. It was the old men on the benches and machines on the phone not working out and not giving people turns who were waiting that made it awful.

This was one of the reasons I really liked LifeTime and found the premium cost worth it.

We've since canceled and I stick to running, a pool we're members of, and peloton classes & workouts. But, if and when we decide to go back to a gym, premium priced ones will probably be all we look at to help with the overcrowding.

I would change gyms but this is the only one close to the house. Seriously considering just outfitting the garage with a power rack and an adjustable bench

Not sure exactly your location, but when we lived in Katy I spent some time at BONA Fitness, which was a smaller/old school kind of gym. It may have similar crowding issues at peak times, but may be worth checking out if it isn't too far out of the way.

dahouse said:

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I've been a member at the same gym in Katy for 5 years or so. It started as a 24 Hour Fitness, then it was bought by Texans Fit after the pandemic shutdown.

I liked Texans Fit. They upgraded equipment and added more racks and such. It was about $50/month.

Then they were bought by EoS Fitness. Now there are 3 membership levels, $10, $20-ish, and $34.

Apparently the higher prices were keeping people at home. It's been more crowded than ever, especially over the summer when school was out. Place was inundated with college and high school kids, which is fine, but they tend to stand around and talk in the racks and take up time.

The last time I was there was the week between Christmas and New Year. All the barbell benches and inclines were taken. I got the last small bench on the end and was doing dumbbell presses. There was a couple next to me using the little incline bench. The girl (wearing Aggie gear) bent over to grab something and that action placed her glutes directly over the path of my right hand 65-er. I got her pretty good. Her male companion was laughing hard at her and I was apologizing profusely.

Fast forward to Jan 2, I left work early to get a session in. I couldn't find a parking spot so I went home.

I am going to try again next week. I can't stand paying for a gym that I can't use due to overcrowding.

Old man rant over...

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Class of '04 is old?

I am in West Atlanta. We had a good couple of medium sized Gold's gyms. I never waited for equipment very long that I can recall. I first went to that gym in 1998 with the ex-wife (ha).

First came LA Fitness, then One Life Fitness came and bought the two Golds. Shut both of them down and built a mega gym where a Toys-R-Us used to be. One huge giant box, no character whatsoever.

I hate it. It's almost all open air, so you are constantly being distracted by other people if they are doing something weird or the girls with next to nothing on or their yoga pants up their crack. There are some people (usually a younger girl) now that are filming their workouts. Annoying AF. Last time I went there for lunch all of the benches in front of the dumbbells where taken. They can't keep their soap dispensers full in the showers. Way too overcrowded.

In November, my GF and I started renovating a good sized room in my basement. It's all done now, I'm just waiting on my Rogue Squat cage and a new bench. (GF just sent me a text - just got to my house now) Got my Sonos speakers set up in there with my (or GF) playlist depending on who's doing what. Trex, Peloton Treadmill, body punching bag, set of dumbbells, and a dip/pull-up bar. I may get rid of the dip/pull up bar depending on the Rogue functionality. I may put in an infrared sauna and maybe an outdoor hot tub just outside down the road. We also have a full assortment of resistance bands and some other equipment. We also got a Peloton bike, but that's in the sitting room off the bedroom. That way we can alternate who's on the treadmill or bike. We've been getting up early (4:30 this morning - planned for 5:45, but I just woke up.) I like getting up, getting it done and getting on with my day.

Once all is in place, I plan to cancel the gym membership. I know it's way more money, but I really hate that f'ing gym.

GeorgiAg said:

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I may get rid of the dip/pull up bar depending on the Rogue functionality.

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Not sure which Rogue rack you got, but my dip attachment is sturdy AF on mine and you can adjust the height, which is nice. The pullup bar works great too.

GeorgiAg said:

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Class of '04 is old?

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Yes, it is.

CC09LawAg said:

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GeorgiAg said:

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I may get rid of the dip/pull up bar depending on the Rogue functionality.

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Not sure which Rogue rack you got, but my dip attachment is sturdy AF on mine and you can adjust the height, which is nice. The pullup bar works great too.

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Good to know! I got a Rogue RML- 490C Power Rack 3.0. I probably need help with what accessories to get.

dahouse said:

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I would change gyms but this is the only one close to the house. Seriously considering just outfitting the garage with a power rack and an adjustable bench

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do it

I joined this gym in the Westlake area recently and it so nice because it is not crowded at all when i go. And they have cold plunge, sauna, and cryo as well. They just opened and are capping membership at 150. Keeps "that" gym crowd away.

'92

aggiederelict said:

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I joined this gym in the Westlake area recently and it so nice because it is not crowded at all when i go. And they have cold plunge, sauna, and cryo as well. They just opened and are capping membership at 150. Keeps "that" gym crowd away.

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Now that's definitely worth a price increase. I have no such option.

Hey, look on the bright side. You'll be able to take advantage of that senior discount pretty soon.

In all seriousness, keep us updated on the basement gym! Rule #1 applies!

dahouse said:

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I would change gyms but this is the only one close to the house. Seriously considering just outfitting the garage with a power rack and an adjustable bench

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There's an Anytime Fitness on Pin Oak by Katy Mills, if you could live with an extra couple mile drive. It might be worth a visit or guest pass for a day or two.

10andBOUNCE said:

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Hey, look on the bright side. You'll be able to take advantage of that senior discount pretty soon.

In all seriousness, keep us updated on the basement gym! Rule #1 applies!

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Ha! I'm feeling old.

Ouch. I put the seat together. The Rogue rack may be a bridge too far tonight. I have the bars and posts but I don't have any parts or directions or bar holders etc.

GeorgiAg said:

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10andBOUNCE said:

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Hey, look on the bright side. You'll be able to take advantage of that senior discount pretty soon.

In all seriousness, keep us updated on the basement gym! Rule #1 applies!

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Ha! I'm feeling old.

Ouch. I put the seat together. The Rogue rack may be a bridge too far tonight. I have the bars and posts but I don't have any parts or directions or bar holders etc.

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I don't think my rack came directions, I think I assembled mine based on website photos which wasn't difficult. Two pieces of advice I'll give before you start:

-Know exactly where you want it to be when it's assembled and put it together right there. Mine with no weights on it was over 300 lbs, it won't move easily.
-Gradually tighten each bolt and rotate as you go. If you over-tighten any area at the beginning it can prevent the rack from standing level. I had to loosen every bolt and basically start over because when I did it the first time I over-tightened some bolts and the rack was basically twisted and wasn't flat.

Best accessories:
-Rack-mounted plate holders: my rack isn't bolted down, in addition to the weight of the rack itself the plates make it even heavier, never had any stability issues. Also saves space.
-Safety arms: I work out alone so there's no spotter. I don't try to get heavy anymore but one of the times I was working out at home the bar slipped out of my left hand when I was doing bench press. The safety arm saved me from serious injury. The padding on the arm still has the dent from where the barbell hit it. Even though I don't try to lift heavy I always use them. They are useful for other reasons too but they're a must if you are lifting solo.
-Multi-grip pullup bar: Chinups and pullups can put some significant stress on your wrists, being able to vary your grips is great.
-Band pegs: using bands is a great way to mix things up and make lifting tougher at the top when it's normally easier, useful on heavy or light lifting.

Do you have a barbell? There's tons of different options from many different manufacturers. I bought my barbell from Fringe because it was cost effective and well made with good reviews. If you don't have one yet the first thing you need to decide is whether you want a bearing bar or a bushing bar. For most people a bushing bar is the way to go because the sleeves don't roll as freely as a bearing bar. A bearing bar is mostly beneficial for people who do olympic lifts like snatch or clean and jerk, the sleeves move much easier because of the explosive nature of those lifts.

10andBOUNCE said:

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Hey, look on the bright side. You'll be able to take advantage of that senior discount pretty soon.

In all seriousness, keep us updated on the basement gym! Rule #1 applies!

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Ok still a bit of stuff to do but the home gym is rounding out nicely. Rogue says for the final stages of putting the cage together you need two people. They ain't lying. I tried it myself and had to yell upstairs while trying to keep it fro crashing into my mirror.

Rogue cage, Trex, punching bag and Peloton treadmill in place.

Rule #1

Double post

Max Power said:

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GeorgiAg said:

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10andBOUNCE said:

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Hey, look on the bright side. You'll be able to take advantage of that senior discount pretty soon.

In all seriousness, keep us updated on the basement gym! Rule #1 applies!

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Ha! I'm feeling old.

Ouch. I put the seat together. The Rogue rack may be a bridge too far tonight. I have the bars and posts but I don't have any parts or directions or bar holders etc.

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I don't think my rack came directions, I think I assembled mine based on website photos which wasn't difficult. Two pieces of advice I'll give before you start:

-Know exactly where you want it to be when it's assembled and put it together right there. Mine with no weights on it was over 300 lbs, it won't move easily.
-Gradually tighten each bolt and rotate as you go. If you over-tighten any area at the beginning it can prevent the rack from standing level. I had to loosen every bolt and basically start over because when I did it the first time I over-tightened some bolts and the rack was basically twisted and wasn't flat.

Best accessories:
-Rack-mounted plate holders: my rack isn't bolted down, in addition to the weight of the rack itself the plates make it even heavier, never had any stability issues. Also saves space.
-Safety arms: I work out alone so there's no spotter. I don't try to get heavy anymore but one of the times I was working out at home the bar slipped out of my left hand when I was doing bench press. The safety arm saved me from serious injury. The padding on the arm still has the dent from where the barbell hit it. Even though I don't try to lift heavy I always use them. They are useful for other reasons too but they're a must if you are lifting solo.
-Multi-grip pullup bar: Chinups and pullups can put some significant stress on your wrists, being able to vary your grips is great.
-Band pegs: using bands is a great way to mix things up and make lifting tougher at the top when it's normally easier, useful on heavy or light lifting.

Do you have a barbell? There's tons of different options from many different manufacturers. I bought my barbell from Fringe because it was cost effective and well made with good reviews. If you don't have one yet the first thing you need to decide is whether you want a bearing bar or a bushing bar. For most people a bushing bar is the way to go because the sleeves don't roll as freely as a bearing bar. A bearing bar is mostly beneficial for people who do olympic lifts like snatch or clean and jerk, the sleeves move much easier because of the explosive nature of those lifts.

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Dang, I could have used this last night!!!! My dumb arse did this by tightening everything as i went. I learned not to tighten about 1/2way thru it. Then had the posts turned wrong and had to undo everything and do it again.

Quote:

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-Gradually tighten each bolt and rotate as you go. If you over-tighten any area at the beginning it can prevent the rack from standing level. I had to loosen every bolt and basically start over because when I did it the first time I over-tightened some bolts and the rack was basically twisted and wasn't flat.

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Thank you for the accessory recs. I definitely want to get some plate holders to add weight. Probably pick up the safety arms and pullup bar too. Do you have the dip attachment? Also thinking about the landmine attachment for standing rows with the barbell.

I had an old bench/rack/barbell. I upgraded the bench and rack, but still have the old barbell for now. I'll look into barbells. I didn't know there was that difference. Not sure I'll be do any snatch, clean, jerk anytime soon. Definitely do deadlifts, squats, overhead press and the like.

I love the quality/sturdiness of the Rogue. I'm glad I didn't cheap out with what I saw at Academy Sports.

For the record that red wuss cushion pad on the barbell was put there by my GF!!!

Thanks for your post.

That rogue is pretty. What made you end up with that one over some of the others?

Love the little boxing nook!

Floors really make it look sharp and finished as well.

I work out regularly at the YMCA in Katy and it's not busy all that often.

CC09LawAg said:

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I don't want to be "that guy" but if you haven't bolted down the cage yet, I'd scoot it away from the wall a little bit since it looks like your bar is pretty close to hitting the wall.

I only say that because if you're lifting and your form breaks down a little and you bump the bar into the wall, it will cause you to get off balance and could easily cause you to fail a lift/pull something trying to overcompensate.

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Yeah, I already moved it way away from the wall this morning. GF moved it there because she was trying to center it on the mirror for the look. Where she had it, you couldn't even put weights on the barbell! It may be a woman thing, but she's arranging stuff based upon how it looks. I've moved that stupid wooden cubby thing out of the way about 5 times and she keeps putting it back in the way of stuff. I'm gonna trash that thing when she's not paying attention.

The whole time we were painting and putting in the floor, etc.. , I kept reminding her that it didn't have to be perfect and NO ONE is coming down there. If we are showing guests the house, we might open the door and let them look at the room for 5 seconds, but that's it.

Keep spending money, it's a great motivator to use all the equipment!

10andBOUNCE said:

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That rogue is pretty. What made you end up with that one over some of the others?

Love the little boxing nook!

Floors really make it look sharp and finished as well.

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I didn't spend too long on all the different Rogue stuff. Kinda overwhelming. I shopped online and at sporting good stores for other options and Rogue was just way more solidly built. I used them in gyms and like them.

The one that I bought had all the accessories I thought I might want to purchase down the road, so I went with that. Probably a bit overkill for me, but she also has a 14 year old son that needs to hit the weights. His grandfather and uncle are 6' 5" plus and wiry and it looks like he definitely got those genetics.

I just wanted to be able to squat heavy and bench heavy alone and not worry about being smushed.

I just requested a guest pass for Monday at the YMCA over by the Pin Oak HEB. If it has everything I need I might join.

The only bummer is the outdoor pool, but I can skip swimming in the winter.

I have a dip attachment and landmine as well. I don't use the dip attachment anymore because my left shoulder can't handle it, it's just too much stress. The landmine is great because you can do a ton of different exercises with it. I have a step up platform too that I use from time to time. Of those the landmine is easily the most versatile.

The one on Westheimer has an indoor pool.

The best thing about my garage gym is that there are no crowds. The worst thing about my garage gym is it really sucks when it's cold. One of these days I'll put a good heater in there, but it's low on the priority list of things to spend money on right now.

wangus12 said:

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Gyms should require people to put the phone in a locker before using equipment. Keep people from staring at them instead of using equipment or even worse, setting up their dumb little tripod so they can video tape themselves sitting around not doing anything

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Not a good idea considering a lot of us use apps supplied by our coaches or coaching services. A lot of these will auto-regulate the training as you go. Sure, I can do it in my head and I know enough to do my own auto-reg, but its how people track their training.

Now, I get it that a lot of these folks aren't t hat focused or serious. But I also have no issue asking to train in with someone and that typically scares the broccoli haired kiddos away even when I am totally nice.

My best suggestion (to OP and all of those dealing with the NY resolutioners and cheapos unwilling to pay more) is see if there is a serious gym near you, a more upscale gym near by or something of a combo of the 2. I train at a gym in Allen TX that specifically caters to the bodybuilding and power lifting community. You do not at all need to train for competitive reasons but we never have the NY resolution rush and the broccoli hairs stay in check and are respectful. And if they aren't, they usually get a talking to from very large human beings. I have seen it happen and it's funny. Kids immediately shape up and apologize and the issue is solved. People do use tripods but almost all of them are very respectful and realize that they are the ones that need to be mindful of the rest of us while they film vs us who just train.

Try looking for a gym where there is a more serious, get work done, type of focus. And no, you don't have to have a bunch of IFBB Pros or anything, but you will tend to find that if you are a regular Joe like me who takes his training seriously, these types of environments are a lot better places to train in than you average commercial gym. We have a lot of the $10 gyms around us. I've tried to train at them in the past and it's brutal.

Hoss said:

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The best thing about my garage gym is that there are no crowds. The worst thing about my garage gym is it really sucks when it's cold. One of these days I'll put a good heater in there, but it's low on the priority list of things to spend money on right now.

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In general, I love the cold and hate the heat, but when it comes to lifting it is the opposite. I will gladly work out when it's 110 and humid but I am so unmotivated when it's cold. I have an electric smart heater that I can schedule to come on early to help preheat my garage. and then two Mr. heater propane heaters that I turn on when I get in there. Once I get warmed up, I can usually turn off one or both of the propane heaters and be fine.