Is the Palomar gym cost effective for you?

SAN MARCOS — There are a multitude of options to look at when deciding on a gym membership. Here are three practical and local choices.

Palomar College has their own gym on campus. According to Paul Boley, the college gym’s fitness center specialist, about ¾ of the memberships belong to students and faculty and the rest being other members of the community.

Once a membership has been purchased at Palomar College’s gym, the member gains access to an array of workout equipment such as free weights, elliptical machines, treadmills and more. Also, the membership includes usage of the pool, towels, locker rooms and toiletries.

The cost of a month to month membership at Palomar is $20 a month with a $10 one-time admission fee. For a year membership it is $150.

Palomar’s gym is the least expensive option per year out of the three.

Crunch is a chain gym that has a location just about two miles from campus.

Crunch has the workout essentials such as free weights, cardio equipment, mats and leg and arm machines.

With the purchase of the base membership at Crunch, the member gets access to locker rooms with showers, an orientation, an online nutrition program and circuit training. The base membership allows the member to workout at a single location only.

If you upgrade to the peak or peak plus membership then it would also include group classes, tanning, guest privileges, multi-club access and more for the addition costs of an upgraded membership.

“I went there [Crunch] for about two years. I had a premium membership. I liked that it was clean and big. Lots of equipment and lots of room to do independent workouts, which is what I like to do,” student Shelby Messenger said. Messenger ended up leaving Crunch because of a lack of child care which was needed in her daily life.

For an additional cost, personal training and/or small group training are available to add to any membership at Crunch.

Per month a base Crunch membership is $20. If paying month to month for the base membership, a year would be $289.95 including the annual fee of $49.95.

The third gym on this list is LA Fitness which has a location off of N Twin Oaks Valley Road about 2 miles from campus.

LA Fitness has two types of memberships they offer: single-club access membership and multi-club access.

LA Fitness has the essential machines and workout equipment including free weights, cardio machines, mats and more. With a membership, it’s possible to add-on features like personal training and “Kids Klub”. This is the only gym on this list that offers child care.

A membership at LA Fitness includes group classes, basketball, racquetball, a heated spa, sauna, indoor cycling and Wi-Fi.

Out of the three gyms LA Fitness is the most expensive when looking at the basic membership only. Per month LA Fitness is $24.99 for the single-gym access. For a year at LA Fitness with the same membership it would total at $398.88 including the initial fee of $99.