Jetts Gym vs Home Gym

I cannot decide which path to go down. Right now I have a membership at Jetts, and I quite like it there.

However a lot of people say it is not suitable for weight lifters as they do not have any squat racks or free adjustable barbells. Jetts has a Smith Machine, Dumbbells up to 40kg and ez curl bars up to 40kg.

I'm not looking to become like ronnie coleman or anything lol, so I thought Jetts would be fine. Would setting up a small home gym with a squat rack and barbell be better though?

home gym would be much better than Jetts gym. Jetts gym equipment is disgraceful even for those of us that are not ronnie coleman

I couldnt fathom not having access to a barbell and squat rack. Itd be like maccas without burgers.

Where are ya located?

I'm in Melbourne. The only reason I'm at Jetts is because its conveniently open 24/7 and does not have contracts, so if I decide that I am not committed anymore than at least I won't have to pay contract fees.

A pretty safe rule of thumb is if they don't have a squat cage: stay away, they are not a real gym.

Best thing I ever did was cancel my Jetts membership, bought a cage/bench setup and never looked back.

So it would be pretty hard to come up with any sort of routine for a beginner at a gym like Jetts?

bob23 said:

So it would be pretty hard to come up with any sort of routine for a beginner at a gym like Jetts?

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sure you could come up with a beginner routine but you would out grow it very quickly without access to a rack and free weights. also its much cheaper to set up a gym at home than pay commercial gym fees and just like Jetts your home gym is open 24/7 too

I'm sort of stuck here. As bad as it sounds I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on home equipment because I'm not sure if I am 100% committed yet. I also don't want to jump into a gym contract just yet either.

That's why Jetts suits me perfectly for now. I still can't even bench the 25kg dumbbells, so I think I'll be at Jetts for a while if I continue on lol

bob23 said:

I'm sort of stuck here. As bad as it sounds I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on home equipment because I'm not sure if I am 100% committed yet. I also don't want to jump into a gym contract just yet either.

That's why Jetts suits me perfectly for now. I still can't even bench the 25kg dumbbells, so I think I'll be at Jetts for a while if I continue on lol

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plenty of guys here to help you come up with a beginner routine. you just gotta work with what you've got

edit: try looking around for second hand stuff theres plenty out there at good prices

A poor tradesman blames his tools

Is there a barbell and a collection of plates there?

Grow some balls and an imagination and lift.

since you aren't locked in to Jetts.. make use of it until it is no longer useful..
and then when you know you want to stick with it, fork out $1000-1500 for rack and weights for home?

oldcorollas said:

since you aren't locked in to Jetts.. make use of it until it is no longer useful..
and then when you know you want to stick with it, fork out $1000-1500 for rack and weights for home?

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Sounds like a plan

I found Jett's annoying cause it didn't have a bench press, the closest it had was a Smith machine. I basically lived beside one, only went there once....

I know Melbourne is a big place but it has heaps of gyms and any of the real gyms will have casual rates. I know Doherty's was only charging $10 for a visit a couple of years ago and you will find all the equipment you can imagine.

Jetts eats bags of dicks. They shouldn't even be called gyms.

/My 2c.

fitness centre?

OP, i was thinking for a while about switching from gym to home, only recently i made the decision, and i'm currently trying to pick out the most suitable equipment.

You say your not sure if your fully committed, well from my experience a bad gym environment can do this to you. It's hard to stay focused and motivated when your gym sucks, has lousy equipment and the people going there simply bring the place down.

Fair enough i understand people saying man up stick to it and find some excersises. But we can all do with some sort of motivational help, how many of you guy's have benefited from switching gym environments to something like PTC? You never know you might setup a good gym in your garage and find some locals nearby and get a good after work gym thing happening with some people who will motivate you and help you long the way and get you through.

I feel i will be more focused at home for a few reasons. No more arriving at the gym to find the bench, rack ect is taken up, and your either waiting around or end up doing something different. You don't always want to ask to work in either with others, whether they be heavier / lighter lifters, or just the type of people you don' want to work out with.

Also when i do get your equipment to myself, i'm often mindful of others and limit my time on it. At home i can spend as much time (and rest time between sets as i want)

I'm actually quite motivated at the thought of being able to work out at home and put in %110 as aposed to some of the half arsed workouts i've done at the gym due to limiting factors.

AUSPEJ said:

Best thing I ever did was cancel my Jetts membership, bought a cage/bench setup and never looked back.

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Same experience here but with just a regular gym membership. Only thing to miss is the perve factor.

I know a lot of people wont agree and they'll say get the right stuff the first time, but personally I reckon if I was setting myself up again I'd lose the ego and just pick up someones neglected weights set, bench, cage or squat rack and a chin/dip station off ebay or gumtree or something.

Even just a $100 barbell and weights set with some extra 20s or 25's would keep a beginner happy for a little while imo.

If you get as far as bending cheap bars then for sure fork out for decent stuff.

Gotta say anyone struggling in the gym is not gona be magically motivated just cause there is a rack at home. Train at a regular gym for a while and make sure you got the bug before you drop the dough on a home setup.

Anyonw that doesn't trawl ebay and gumtree for bargains is stupid too. See rack and bar +100kg come up all the time for 200-300 just gotta be patient and wait.