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In MANY cases people should at least LOOK at Yelp prior to going to places and doing things at them. I spend a LOT of my retirement time, posting pix and ratings on Yelp since it was 'overhauled'. I am not one to spend my retirement $$ on places that are crappy in any ways.
As for the Silver Sneakers Program, NOW run by Healthways...it's a lot of 'fluff' and pretty pictures and little else UNLESS the Senior using it is 100% SELF motivated and needs no supervision. NONE of the Charlotte area W's allow us and their main fitness centers are the cheesy ones that require little and also provide little. EACH city has different facilities that are Silver Sneaker and they discourage your from using more than one in your home city (NOT what S/S says on their website).Their 'classes' for S/S participants, depending on the facility, are few and mostly in the mornings when 20&30-somethings are at their jobs, so we won't be in their space. I found it to be a huge joke...at the Charlotte, NC centers unless I could make those early day classes (which I cannot). I wonder what Healthways gets to contract with the BIG insurance companies and run it??
Do your homework and go TO the fitness center and check it out with your Mother and let her decide. It's a sad program so far for the 10,000 of us baby boomers retiring each day who will absolutely need to have many places to try and remain fit or die...not a joke. All it takes, once we have gone thru Menopause or Andropause is a single fall and hip or shoulder fracture.
IN Charlotte, I did better with the many WMCAs who now have lowered their prices for single seniors or at least have 'scholarhips' for them. I pay $30./month and can go at any time, do any classes, and they have MANY kinds of classes for Seniors to help keep us limber and healthy (chair Yoga, slower Zumba, etc). I hope this helps.
I second planet fitness. There's one open in Cary now I believe. There's also a fitness connection which I belong to but I think its an extra $10 a month, the staff are pretty rude and it's pretty crowded though I think Planet Fitness is also pretty crowded on peak hours. The only good thing Fitness Connection is the one in North Hills has a pool and hottub.
Both these gyms charge maintenance fees for $40 a year once a year plus a sign up fee. Do your best to negotiate these down before signing up. If you seem like you're not sure and say "well xyz gym" offered me this (even if its a lie) but this gym is closer so I'd prefer to go here if the price as right and haggle, you can often get much of these egregious fees waived.
My mom decided to try "Fitness Connection" (mainly because of the price and the location). On her first visit after joining, two of their sales people tried to tag-team hard-sell her on a personal trainer program and ended up wearing her down and talking her into it. I think it was $180 a month, which is way more than she can afford. She was very upset and I was extremely pissed.
I did some research and found out that North Carolina has a law that says you have three days to cancel a gym membership contract, which is what we did. Fitness Connection has a website that you use to cancel your membership, but we delivered cancellation request letters both in person and via certified mail to make sure. We were successful.
My mom ended up finding a gym that she really likes. Rex Healthcare has a "Wellness Center" in Cary not too far from her house. She went with a "mid-day membership" for $46 per month. I would have liked to see her at a gym that cost less per month because of her tight budget, but she's really happy there.
My mom decided to try "Fitness Connection" (mainly because of the price and the location). On her first visit after joining, two of their sales people tried to tag-team hard-sell her on a personal trainer program and ended up wearing her down and talking her into it. I think it was $180 a month, which is way more than she can afford. She was very upset and I was extremely pissed.
I did some research and found out that North Carolina has a law that says you have three days to cancel a gym membership contract, which is what we did. Fitness Connection has a website that you use to cancel your membership, but we delivered cancellation request letters both in person and via certified mail to make sure. We were successful.
My mom ended up finding a gym that she really likes. Rex Healthcare has a "Wellness Center" in Cary not too far from her house. She went with a "mid-day membership" for $46 per month. I would have liked to see her at a gym that cost less per month because of her tight budget, but she's really happy there.
They tried to charge her $180 a month? What kind of "personal training" did she get offered that's beyond absurd!? I don't like Fitness Connection but usually its a $49 sign up fee (negotiable) + $20 a month + a $40 maintenence fee every November (negotiable).
If thats true and they tried to rip off an old lady by overcharging her 6x than they should shame on them. I wouldn't be surprised however. Their sales people are scumbags. Spread the word about this gym, please.
$46 a month is still very high. I'd do planet fitness if I were you.
Last edited by njbiodude; 03-21-2015 at 03:57 PM..
They tried to charge her $180 a month? What kind of "personal training" did she get offered that's beyond absurd!? I don't like Fitness Connection but usually its a $49 sign up fee (negotiable) + $20 a month + a $40 maintenence fee every November (negotiable).
If thats true and they tried to rip off an old lady by overcharging her 6x than they should shame on them. I wouldn't be surprised however. Their sales people are scumbags. Spread the word about this gym, please.
The personal training was a completely separate thing in ADDITION to the normal initial/monthly/annual fees. It was for a certain number of 1 hour one-on-one sessions with a personal trainer per month.
I sat with her during the initial signup session to make sure that they weren't charging her for anything extra, and then once they got her alone, the sales people pressured her into signing up for the extra personal training.
The personal training was a completely separate thing in ADDITION to the normal initial/monthly/annual fees. It was for a certain number of 1 hour one-on-one sessions with a personal trainer per month.
I sat with her during the initial signup session to make sure that they weren't charging her for anything extra, and then once they got her alone, the sales people pressured her into signing up for the extra personal training.
Thats still outrageous period. Many gyms you can probably get a few personal training sessions for maybe $50 a month. The way they hide fees and use agressive sales tactics are why fitness connection sucks
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