Is the best gym in Bend, ELITE Fitness and Education? That is a difficult question to answer. Mostly because “the best” is always a matter of preference and that is always subjective to each individual person. There are several gyms in bend. There are gyms that cater to an older demographic of people and some that cater to the younger crowd that likes to slam weights and grunt while they lift. Instead of trying to answer a question that is impossible to answer I will rather, list the qualities of ELITE Fitness and Education I think are our strongest qualities and you can decide for yourself.
When a person is choosing a gym or fitness center to join they should consider their goals and level of fitness. If you are a beginner, you may not appreciate the loud grunting atmosphere of a younger “bodybuilder” type gym. To the same respect, if you are an advanced weight lifter that loves intensity you might not care to have the manager asking you to be quiet every time you drop your weights. This is why I recommend you always utilize a guest pass before joining a gym if it is possible. At Elite fitness and Education we have done our best to create an atmosphere that most people will appreciate. We play a variety of music based on the crowd at the time that ranges from classic hits, to the best of the 80’s, and some of today’s popular songs. We try to keep the volume at an acceptable level that gives you a nice background sound but is not too loud. We do not allow our members to drop weights or yell excessively. We understand weight training can be intense but we also want to be respectful of all our members. We will also ask you to re-rack your weights when you are finished. That is just common courtesy.
When someone joins a gym it can be very intimidating at first, especially if they have not been in a gym setting recently. We understand this and have created a “service assessment” for all of our new members. During the service assessment each new member will receive 2 complimentary workouts to help them get started. Safety is our primary concern so we always start with a couple of assessments to find out where our new member is starting from. We start with a posture assessment to see if there are any loose or tight muscles that may be disrupting the skeletal system. Then we do a short core stability assessment. It has been said that 84% of Americans suffer from low back pain. Ironically, it’s not because of low backs, it’s because we sit too much as a society and do not properly use our core muscles. This assessment will help reduce the risk of a member injuring their back while pursuing their fitness goals. You can click here to learn more about our complimentary service assessment. If you were not able to schedule your service assessment when you joined please email me so we can that scheduled for you.
The next thing to consider when joining a gym is what type of programs do they have? Most gyms offer one-on-one personal training, and if that is exactly what you want then you just have to investigate their trainers and program. A good indicator I would use is how many success stories do they have in the gym? If they do not have any, I would ask “Why not?” Let’s think about this for a moment. If a gym is trying to convince you that they are the best then shouldn’t they be bale to show you all the people they have helped in the past? If they have no success stories then what are they the best at? I mean people join a gym to look and feel better, don’t they. If they have no success stories then I would be very cautious on how committed they really are to helping their members succeed. To see some of our success stories click here. Every story you see was trained by a trainer of ELITE Fitness, myself, or one of the past gyms I managed. If you are an elite athlete and know exactly what you need to do, this may not be a concern to you. But if you are one of the 73% of Americans that are overweight, then you might want to look at some other options. At ELITE Fitness and Education we offer one-on-one personal training for 60 minute or 30 minute sessions. We also offer online personal training, group personal training, group exercise classes, weight management programs that are similar to Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers, and ELITE Boot Camps. We understand that not everyone is the same so we have researched the most successful programs in the country and brought them to Bend, Oregon. At the conclusion of your complimentary service assessment you will have a good enough understanding of our abilities to decide which program is right for you.
The last thing I would consider is what kind of help you can get if you can’t afford personal training or maybe you just aren’t ready to give it a shot. This is where most gyms I have seen, have no answer for you. Now don’t get me wrong, during the sales pitch they will promise you the world and tell you that you can always ask questions but that is not really true. Every person there has a job to do and they are not always able to stop what they are doing to answer your questions and show you some stuff on the floor. Besides, at what point do you start feeling like a bother to them, especially if they give a heavy sigh and begrudgingly give you some time? At ELITE fitness and Education we offer several educational seminars because we understand this dilemma. In fact, we have taken it so far, that we have built a classroom in the back of our gym so we can facilitate and atmosphere of educating our members. We teach free seminars on the basics of nutrition, supplements, stretching, warming up, foam rolling, hydration, designing programs, managing diabetes, reducing low back pain, organic foods, household chemicals, and more. For more info on our seminars click here. Again, if you know everything to get the results you want, you may not care about educational classes but if you are just getting started, they can be really helpful. Especially because they are free.
I know some people will think that a big locker room, clean facility, and friendly staff should have had more talk in this article. Those things are what I would put under the “DUH” category. Every gym should have a decent locker room, clean facility, and friendly staff. Just so you know, I have been to almost every gym in Bend and for the most part every gym does its best to do those things. That is why I didn’t mention them here. Other than the above things our gym has everything you would expect like free weights, machine weights, locker rooms, showers, cardio machines, 17 inch TV’s right on some of the treadmills, TRX training systems, kids club, and soon we will be adding 24 hour access, a barbell café and dry saunas in the locker rooms.
At the end of the day you need to go where you can be comfortable. Some may want to consider price but I don't think that should be your main factor in deciding. That being said, I am pretty sure we have the best rates in town.
Have fun and remember to enjoy your process,
Victor
At the end of the day you need to go where you can be comfortable. Some may want to consider price but I don't think that should be your main factor in deciding. That being said, I am pretty sure we have the best rates in town.
Have fun and remember to enjoy your process,
Victor
