Silver Chips Online's guide to gyms

We've all heard it before: good nutrition and exercise are the keys to a healthy lifestyle. But many people complain that they just don't have the time or opportunity to exercise. Therefore, a Silver Chips Online investigation has been conducted of local gyms open from sun-up to sun-down that offer a variety of machines, classes and pools for members. So now, there's no more excuses. It's time to start up those forgotten New Year's resolutions and get in shape.

Quick jumps:
The Aspen Hill Club
Bally Total Fitness
Fitness First
Gold's Gym
Kimble's Health and Fitness for Women
YMCA

The Aspen Hill Club

14501 Homecrest Rd. Silver Spring, MD 20906 (301) 598-5200 www.aspenhillclub.com

Monday through Friday: 5:30 a.m. – 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday: 6 a.m. – 8 p.m.

$59/month for students
For additional individual and family costs, contact the Aspen Hill Club.

The Aspen Hill Club is a large facility offering many different athletic activities. The club has 19 tennis courts, both rubber and clay, ten of which are indoors. The family-oriented club serves all ages, from preschoolers taking tennis lessons to senior citizens keeping in shape. The club is more about sports than working out but it has amenities for both.

The bottom floor of the club has a large and open exercise area surrounded by a one-tenth mile indoor track. Approximately 40 cardiovascular machines are on one side of the room with about 30 pieces of strength training equipment and free weights on the other side. Surrounding the cardio machines are a few strength trainers. Although there are few televisions in the cardio area, they aren't large enough to be viewed from all the machines. However, the area is well lit by the large windows installed in every wall, which gives the feeling of openness.

Other facilities include a full-sized suspended-floor basketball court, a six-lane Olympic-sized swimming pool, six racquetball courts, a well-equipped locker room complete with free toiletries and a massage parlor where members can get a massage for a price.

Members get one free session with a personal trainer, who will teach them how to use the equipment as well as how to exercise without it. The club also offers two hours of free childcare for each member per day as well as free classes, such as water aerobics.

Bally Total Fitness

Wheaton Plaza Shopping Center 11010 Viers Mill Road Wheaton, MD 20902 (301) 933-6100 www.ballyfitness.com

Monday through Thursday: 5 a.m. – 11 p.m. Friday: 5 a.m. – 10 p.m. Saturday: 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. Sunday: 8 a.m. – 6 p.m.

$40/month for a basic membership
For additional costs and information on the different membership levels, contact Bally.

Bally Total Fitness is a large and well-equipped gym serving an extremely diverse clientele. Upbeat music plays throughout the entire gym. Dozens of exercise machines, a pool and an aerobics room are available for use. There is also a unique juice bar where members can buy healthy drinks and energy snacks.

The building has two floors divided into several distinct areas. The first floor has five rows of cardio equipment with about a dozen televisions mixed into the area. The room is brightly lit by large windows, although the sun can also be blinding at times. The 60-plus machines are arranged in five rows less than three feet apart, making for a cramped workout area. However, the first floor also contains a three-lane indoor pool, a sauna, a steam room and a hot tub.

The second floor of Bally houses strength training and free weight equipment. The club offers about 40 pieces of equipment divided between free weights and machines, a spinning room with about 15 spinners and a large aerobics room.

The facility is brand new and the equipment in great shape. Members receive a free session with a personal trainer on their first visit.

Fitness First Health Clubs

14383 Layhill Road Silver Spring, MD 20906 (301) 598-4800 www.fitnessfirst.cc

Monday through Thursday: 5 a.m. – 11 p.m. Friday: 5 a.m. – 10 p.m. Saturday: 7 a.m. – 8 p.m. Sunday: 7 a.m. – 8 p.m.

$33/month with a $90 joining fee

Fitness First is a mid-sized health club with an extremely friendly and helpful staff. The building's interior is bright and aesthetically pleasing, with the machines color coordinated with the green walls and floor. Upbeat music is played throughout the building.

The upstairs is devoted to cardio and aerobics. The main room is filled with 25 cardio machines, and the front is lined with six televisions. Next to the main cardio room is a brightly painted spin room painted with UV-sensitive lights. A flick of the light switch causes the overhead lights to turn off and black lights to turn on. In addition, the walls glow florescent pinks and greens, and a giant painting of a sunset lights up in the dim room. Known as motivational art therapy, spinning in this room is interesting and engaging. In a large aerobics room, the club also offers classes in Brazilian jujitsu, kickboxing and other aerobic classes.

The downstairs of Fitness First is divided into several sections housing 45 different pieces of equipment, including free weights and machines for strengthening different parts of the body. Every room has a bathroom and in the center of the floor are two locker rooms that include a sauna, steam room and hot tub.

The Fitness First has a very welcoming atmosphere. Staff members keep track of each member, ensuring that those who are inexperienced know where they should be working.

First-time members receive one free evaluation from a personal trainer, who will instruct them on how to use the equipment. Fitness First also offers free aerobic and spinning classes every day of the week. There is also a two-hour-limit babysitting service for members for a fee.

Gold's Gym

City Place Mall 8661 Colesville Road Silver Spring, MD 20901 (301) 585-GOLD (4653) www.goldsgym.com

Monday through Thursday: 5 a.m. – 11 p.m. Friday: 5 a.m. – 9 p.m. Saturday: 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. Sunday: 8 a.m. – 6 p.m.

$49/month for a year* with a $149 joiner fee
*Smaller denominations of time are also available. For additional information, contact Gold's Gym.

Gold's Gym is an extremely large gym with a strong focus on individual self-improvement through exercise machines and free weights. The few classes offered by the gym are short and usually involve machines. Gold's has a friendly and helpful staff with top-of-the-line exercise equipment. Throughout the gym, loud and energetic music plays, although Gold's allows members to borrow portable CD players, free of charge, to play their own music as they work out. In front of the cardio section, at least half a dozen large televisions play various stations to entertain exercisers.

Gold's Gym consists of one extremely large open section, divided into two distinct parts separated by the front desk. All the cardio machines and strength training equipment are located in the main room.

With their 72 cardio machines, the staff boasted that even at its peak hours, from 5 to 7 p.m., 20 or so machines are always empty and members never have to wait. Four rows of machines contain treadmills, cross trainers, Stairmasters and bikes, with ample room between them and a seating area at the back of the room for members to rest.

The strength training and free weight area is also huge with 30-plus pieces of equipment. The gym also offers 20 spinners, located in a separate room.

Gold's also has a small women-only exercise room, known as Lady Gold's, for women who wish to work out in a more private area. The room has one television and five cardio machines, along with a few pieces of specialized lifting equipment for women. The room is effectively isolated from the rest of the gym by frosted doors.

A membership at Gold's includes a free personal trainer for the first visit, who will instruct new members on how to use the equipment and will give them a personalized workout plan. There are also several free exercise classes, including spinning, abs, kickboxing and yoga class. There are 20 spinners at Gold', in one of the rooms separate from the giant cardio and strength training area.

Kimble's Health and Fitness for Women

2190 Industrial Parkway Silver Spring, MD 20904 (301) 622-2800 kimblesfitness@aol.com

Monday through Thursday: 5 a.m. – 9 p.m. Friday: 5 a.m. – 7 p.m. Saturday to Sunday: 7:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Student: $45/month with a $75 joiner fee
Multiple-month deals are also available. For additional individual and family costs, contact Kimble's.

Kimble's is a single-sex gym for women looking to get in shape. The building is small with only one equipment room that is split in half with the left side set aside as an aerobics area and the right divided into cardio and strength training.

Kimble's has about ten cardio machines, all of which face two televisions. Next to them are about ten spinners and a pile of large red aerobics balls. In front of the cardio machines are a dozen pieces of strength training equipment arranged in a circle. The machines are new and well maintained; however, they do not offer much variety.

Kimble's has a spacious locker room that is about a quarter the size of the main room. Inside is a sauna large enough to fit over ten people comfortably. The gym is also in the process of installing a spa in the back.

The staff members at Kimble's are very helpful, but the high membership cost is not justified by the gym's equipment or facilities. As one of the only single-sex gyms in the area, Kimble's small and all-female environment does appeal to female students who do not like to exercise around others.

YMCA

9800 Hastings Drive Silver Spring, MD 20901 (301) 585-2120 www.ymcawashdc.org

Monday through Friday: 5:30 a.m. – 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday: 6:25 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Youth (Age 13-17): $26/month with a $12 joiner fee
Young Adult (Age 18-22): $36/month with a $27 joiner fee
For additional individual and family costs, contact the YMCA.

The YMCA is a small and traditional gym with great recreational opportunities and activities. Although it does not have as much equipment as some of the more fitness-focused gyms, such as Bally Total Fitness or Gold's Gym, the two pools and family atmosphere more than compensate. The YMCA also welcomes a younger crowd than many of the other gyms, although you must be 16 to use the workout rooms.

There are five main areas in the YMCA where members can use gym equipment: two strength-training rooms, one free weight room and two cardio rooms. The free weight room includes about 10 pieces of equipment, not including dumbbells. One of the strength training rooms has computerized fitness equipment which store members' settings and previous workouts and self-adjust themselves to the user. Both fitness rooms include a variety of machines, but since there are only about 10 machines in each, availability of a specific piece of equipment is rare.

The YMCA offers a stretching area for members to warm up before using treadmills or stationary bikes. Unfortunately, this area is fairly small, and two or three people would be crowded if they tried to stretch at the same time. The cardio room is also cramped with one aisle between two narrow rows of machines about ten feet apart.

The second cardio room is roomier, and the windows give exercisers a view of the outdoors. In addition, its 20 machines are double that of the smaller cardio room. Unlike many gyms, the YMCA does not have televisions nor music in its workout rooms.

While the YMCA's collection of equipment cannot compete with that of larger gyms, its other facilities balance out. They include a multi-acre field used by various sports leagues, a childcare center with free services for members, a dance studio and two heated pools – indoor and outdoor. The indoor pool is six lanes and 25 yards long; the outdoor is six lanes and 25 meters. The YMCA's two sets of locker rooms, one for all ages and one for adults only, include showers and a small, dry-heat sauna as well. One additional feature unique to the YMCA is the abundance of Blair students who are members and staff.

First-time members get a free session with a personal trainer, who will give instruction on the various machines. Members also have access to free yoga and tai chi classes.