What if I want to work out?

[Cinema]

So... I'm a PG student, been matriculatin' online, and it mentioned that I have to pay a gym fee and a fee every time I want to work out. Is this accurate? So, it is like 33 pounds + 3 every time I want to work out? This seems quite expensive...

Is this accurate as far as just wanting to work out at the gym goes? Is it a better idea to join some of the clubs for exercise instead?

Thanks for any advice.

[munchingfoo]

You have to pay the membership fee even if you want to use the facilities with a club, so you can take that out of the equation.

If you buy 40 gym passes in one go it works out about 75p each which isn't too bad.

The other option is to use east sands leisure centre. I pay a one time fee here and get and unlimited free swimming for £110 per year. You can do a similar thing for the gym.

[Haunted]

There's another gym behind NG's (citigym?), no idea what their prices would be.

[ojk6]

If you buy 40 gym passes in one go it works out about 75p each which isn't too bad.

I heard talk that they'd stopped doing the multi-passes in higher denominations than 20, meaning the cheapest you can get now is 20 for £25.50, working out at slightly more than £1.25 a visit. Do you know if this is true (it is according to http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/sport/SportsCentre/Prices/)?

[ojk6]

There's another gym behind NG's (citigym?), no idea what their prices would be.

Not sure about that one, but if I remember correctly the gym at East Sands is £230 for student grade annual membership (giving unlimited access to gym, swimming pool and steam room). From what I remember, they have a reasonable array of cardio equipment, some mediocre resistance machines, some free weights but nothing even resembling olympic bar. The benefit of this is that you can also use the other gyms in the Fife network, including a rather good one at the Fife Institute of SPort. If your main interest is cardio, it may well be a cheaper option than the university gym.

[ONeill]

There was another thread recently highlighting the rising costs at the Sports Centre which also noted that the standard of the facilities didn't justify the prices. Depending on which end of town you are staying at it may be more beneficial to use East Sands but either way it's going to cost you a good bit. Don't get much on the cheap these days.

[donpablo]

If you only plan to use the gym at the sports centre you might be better off just working out at home if you have enough space and motivation.

For strength training you can't beat good old fashioned bodyweight exercises. Invest in some dumbells, a kettlebell, medicine ball and a pull up bar then you're really set (doesn't have to be anything fancy). Alternatively if its cardio you are into then St Andrews is perfect for running, jogging or just walking and a bike is a brilliant investment.

All this stuff you can sell on when youre finished unlike a membership.

[ojk6]

I've been thinking of doing just than donpablo, maybe adding a Swiss Ball in as well - would double as a chair to sit at my desk.. Argos do some pretty reasonable barbell sets

[Cinema]

Oh I see, so the university gym's equipment isn't so hot either? I would have liked to do some circuit training on resistance machines, but if that isn't even available I'll have to look into other avenues.

I'm going to get my bike over as soon as possible, because it sounds like the biking is pretty nice over there? Also the cycling club sounds pretty active.

I'm also a big fan of martial arts, which would probably provide me all the strength training I need, but I haven't quite decided which martial art I want to go with yet.

[schmod]

The Tourist Information shop on Market St will sell you a number of maps with good cycling routes highlighted. There's a national network of designated cycling routes along (presumably) low-volume roads with wide shoulders. Some of the roads surrounding St Andrews are extremely narrow, so do be careful.

The equipment at the university's gym is neither fantastic nor abysmal. I'd consider touring the facility before making any investments.

[Oli]

For cycling and walking maps, take a look at the University's maps - www.st-andrews.ac.uk/maps
and http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/media/cyclemap.pdf in particular

[ONeill]

The only little bonus you get with the Sports Centre gym is that your membership offers cheaper access to everything else as well. While you may not plan to get involved in any other activities to start with you never know what's round the corner and it may come in handy.

As mentioned though there are plenty of alternatives and I imagine you can make arrangements to look round them all in advance of making any commitments.