Locating a quality gym in your local neighborhood can be a tricky task if you haven’t done it before. Most inexperienced trainees usually roam the streets until they see a gym, and then simply sign up for it. Doing that can end up costing you a lot of money though, as it may turn out that you’ve signed up for a low quality, yet expensive place. To avoid such situations, you can simply use your common sense along with some simple rules.

First, word of mouth is a very powerful tool for this sort of thing – if a certain place has a reputation, be it positive or negative, you’ll quickly find out by simply asking around your friends from the neighborhood who’ve been there. This is the simplest, yet often most effective step in finding the place you’re going to visit.

However, there’s a common mistake that lures every beginner, more or less – people always seem to lean towards gyms located close to their homes. While this makes sense – you need to have convenience, after all – you shouldn’t go for the one that’s five minutes away from your place. The reason – a 10-15 minute walk can serve as a very nice warm-up and can help you get ready for your workout. This way you’ll be saving time when you’re actually at the gym, as you may not even need to warm up there at all.

Having a training partner can make a huge difference on your performance, so ask your friends and neighbors if anyone’s currently visiting a gym or planning on doing so soon. The gender normally doesn’t matter, but try to pick someone from your own – some gyms restrict men and women and separate them in different areas, plus you’ll be able to more directly exchange experience and information if your body types are similar.

Since you’ll be in the neighborhood anyway, try to pick a place that allows you to fit your workout with your other everyday tasks. Not everybody realizes how much time can be saved if you, for example, do your weekly shopping on the way home from the gym. Try to think of other things which you do close to home, and figure out which are most suitable for merging with your training as described above.

Don’t limit yourself to one place if you’re not satisfied though – sometimes you won’t make the right choice from the beginning. Don’t get discouraged, simply look around until you’ve found something else that suits your needs. And remember that in some cases, solving your problem can be as simple as talking to the gym’s staff and explaining it to them in a civilized manner.

Last but not least, if you don’t have any local gyms to consider, get a bicycle and expand your definition of “local” – surely no matter where you live, there’ll be a good gym a short ride away from your home!