Within the last few years, students have been more dedicated in buying gym memberships and taking care of their bodies. The positive move forward has caused some controversy between students. Which gym is the best gym? One can often hear many students talk about going to the gym and discussing how their gym is better. The main gyms that students are joining are Planet Fitness, Giant Fitness, L.A. Fitness, Retro Fitness, and Riverton Health and Fitness.

Planet Fitness’ big advertisement is they are a ‘judgement free zone,’ making it a nice environment for new gym members. To protect against judgment and create a welcoming environment there is a “lunk” alarm for people who grunt and drop weights. While this might be contradicting because all attention is being attracted to one person, Planet is primarily concerned with the average person, not the typical “meat-head” or “gym rat”.

Unfortunately, Plant Fitness does not have proper equipment for people mainly looking to lift weights. They lack regular benching racks and in-place for this they have 4 smith-machines. A smith machine is a great machine to help stabilize your movement and focus on single muscle parts, but some people would rather have a bench press. Planet has a great cardio area which is what most of the members like best about the gym. Along with specific areas that specialize in circuits workouts including a code circuit and an all body wellness circuit. There is also a separate area for core and leg workouts.

According to junior Anna Saginario she likes how “cheap” and “local” Planet is. Planet is located in the Shoprite shopping plaza just off Route 130 and is only $10 a month. The only negative thing, according to Anna, is the abundant of Cinnaminson students who are members. Planet fitness seems to be a great gym for people looking to improve their overall wellness.

Giant fitness has a similar set up to Planet where there are different areas for different types of working out. Unlike Planet, Giant puts forth care into the weight lifter type individual. According to junior Francis Akira Stepnowski “Giant has a lot of equipment and free weights unlike planet fitness.” Giant has two bench presses and 3 squat racks that can be used for multiple purposes. This is much more appealing for someone who goes to the gym to typically lift weights.

Along with the proper weight lifting equipment, Giant offers a dance studio and day care. Most of the time you will always find a dance class going on while the children of the members are playing safely in a separate room monitored by a staff member. Giant is also the same price as Planet per month at $10. Unfortunately, Giant is not as close as Planet but it is right down Route 130 in Delran. This means there are not as many Cinnaminson High School members.

Retro Fitness, unlike Giant and Planet, is very open. All the equipment is mainly out in the open without separation distinguishing different types of exercises. Retro offers a movie theatre where members can use a treadmill, elliptical, or bike while watching a movie on a big screen. Senior David Gall says “Retro is rarely busy and not far from where he lives”. Retro is on West Camden Ave near Manhattan Bagel. Again, not as close Planet but have similar distances compares to Giant. Retro is more expensive as well coming in at $20 a month. A past member, Senior Nick Thevanayagam says he enjoyed the smoothie bar before he changed to Riverton Health and Fitness when he became of age to go to the gym by himself. Senior Matt Ochman likes Retro because all his friends go there. Usually Matt goes with his friends and help each other workout.

Riverton Health and Fitness might be just as close as Planet to some CHS students, depending on where they live. A member at Riverton, Nick Thevanayagam, joined at a young age and has stuck with it. He says “Riverton isn’t huge but they have everything they need.” Riverton might be one of the smaller gyms in this area but it provides the necessary equipment to please all kinds of members. Riverton is $30 a month which is a reason why many Cinnaminson students have switched from Riverton to another gym. Matt Ochman made the transfer over the fall of this year mainly due to price. Despite being more expense, Riverton offers a sauna unlike most other gyms in the area.

Last but certainly not least is L.A. Fitness, which is the biggest, most expensive and farthest gym. Being $35 dollars a month and being located near the Cherry Hill mall might seems ridiculous compared to these other gyms. Fortunately, they have a good reason to be more expensive. L.A. offers a variety of different types of workouts that differ from the typical gym. They offer a swimming pool, a basketball court, a Racquetball court, a sauna, babysitting services, and group training sessions. Senior Sabrina Atkinson is a member of L.A. Fitness and loves everything about it. She says “not a lot of people from school go there just to pretend or try to show off that they go to the gym. At LA the people there are actually there to work hard and test their abilities. Also my brother works there and there facilities are very clean and people there are very friendly.” When speaking to Nick Thevanayagam about Riverton and L.A. Fitness, he said he is thinking of joining L.A. in the summer.

Overall, every person has their own opinion about gyms and why they like their gym. There are many factors that go into choosing a gym and sticking with it for many years. Some things to consider before picking a gym are cost, location, type of workout and