Getting into the gym after coming back to Uni can be a bit of a struggle but I’ve found that at The Gym based in Trinity Square, I got into the swing of things pretty quickly.
The joining process was really simple and there is no joining fee at the start of the Uni year, unlike some other gyms. I actually joined The Gym in my first year at Uni and have continued it onto the second year.
For a membership, it’s only £14.99 per month or £109 for the Uni year. It is totally worth getting a membership as the one-off payments are very expensive at £6.49 a visit which I regrettably paid the first time I went. This membership includes 24/7 access to The Gym, free classes and a few other bits which I will mention later.
I pay an extra £5 monthly which means you can bring a friend four times that month and use up to four other The Gym’s across the UK, plus a few other little perks. This means I can bring my boyfriend whenever he comes to visit. It also means anybody going back home for the weekend could freely use their home gym if there is a The Gym where you live.
While The Gym is a little bit more expensive than the Student Union Gym, I think it’s definitely worth it.
The Gym is the biggest gym that I have ever been to, it has two floors and they have just spent £300,000 revamping it over the summer holidays. The gym and changing rooms are always in excellent condition.
There are big free weights section and large open areas to do body weight exercises. The machines are conveniently grouped together according to which muscles they target. And of course, there are all the cardio-vascular machines which I tend to avoid due to my hate for cardio. The majority of them are lined up in rows as you enter the gym, but more can be found upstairs.
The only downside to The Gym is its popularity which I guess paradoxically should be seen as a positive. But this does mean it can get very busy very quickly, if you’re going at around 5-7pm don’t expect to get your workout done quickly as you could end up waiting to use the equipment.
However, thanks to the personal PIN entry system there are live updates on Google showing how busy The Gym is at any given time, so you can plan to go when it’s a bit quieter.
I love using The Gym’s website. Once you have your own account you can see how many times you visited within the month and how many minutes you spent training per visit, I find this really motivates me to keep going to the gym and pushes me to stay a little bit longer once I’m there.
A vending machine filled with protein shakes can be found on your exit from The Gym but also right across the street is Zero, a health bar offering smoothies, protein shakes and juices.
You can also get a discount in Zero if you mention you’re a member at The Gym, as well as numerous other places across the city by showing your membership card.
Overall, I would rate it a 4/5. It loses a mark just because it can get overwhelmingly busy at times and I think it would be nice if there was a room for body weight or free weight exercises as there is quite a lot of wasted space at the front of the gym. However, The Gym’s modern environment actually makes training and exercising enjoyable for me and I wouldn’t go anywhere else in Nottingham.
By Katie Sharman