Is this strength training program worth the money?
August 1, 2010 1:44 PM Subscribe
Am I expecting too much from our (fairly expensive) exercise program? Details within.
My boyfriend and I signed up for a Starting Strength program this June. It costs $900 for 3 months, where we use of their pretty awesome gym and enjoy the coaching of their certified instructor. The gym itself is really cool. Everyone is very nice and supportive, and often more experienced people will offer encouragement and suggestions for improvement in a non-critical, friendly way. The gym isn't fancy or sleek, but it's pretty well stocked in weights and tools for powerlifting, Crossfit and such. Every once in a while we have to wait for a bar or some weights, but it hasn't usually been a problem.
Classes are 90 minutes and are held MWF. We decided to shell out this not inconsiderable amount of money because we'd been lifting at home before this class and wanted more professional instruction as we got stronger. As it's only a 3 month program, we figure we'll continue to use the gym afterward, sans professional coaching, for about half the cost.
During the first week, our instructor was around to show us the correct form for Starting Strength's five basic exercises, but he's really faded away since then. There's a much larger Crossfit class going on at the same time that he participates in as well as moderates, and 99% of the time he's doing those exercises and/or coaching them. SS students are pretty much left to their own devices. The Crossfit class is bigger than the Starting Strength class, but it's also half as expensive.
While I don't expect the instructor to scrutinize our every single move, often a week will go by without a single glance in our direction. Every once in a while he'll come over and give us a thumbs up, but more often when he finally does pay attention, he's telling us that our form isn't up to par and we need to go down in weight. I feel that if he paid more attention to our form over the week instead of running around with the Crossfit people, he'd catch these errors earlier, allowing us to correct ourselves and making gains more steadily.
I don't want to criticize the instructor too much in person because I worry I'll alienate myself from the earnest high-fiving camaraderie of the gym, and he's pretty much the god-like hero of all the gym mebers. While we'll ask him about once a week to monitor an exercise, it's clear he's far more interested in the other class and usually offers a couple brief pointers before going back to their side. I don't personally blame him, since CF is a lot more fun to watch than squats, but again, I'm paying a lot of money for what I thought was instruction.
My boyfriend isn't remotely unhappy with the progression of the classes and says that since we've made decent gains since starting, the money is worth it. I feel that we're basically paying $900 for what's essentially a 3-month gym membership. When we're done we plan to keep using the gym as a powerlifting resource over the week, and I think the monthly fee is something like $150, but I feel we're already doing this anyways.
Am I being too cheap, and undervaluing the worth of the first 3 months of this training program that will allow us to continue using the gym later on as unsupervised lifters? Is this normal for most strength training programs? Honestly, I'd almost rather hear that this is par for the course when it comes to strength training so I know my $300 each month have been well-spent, but I have no means of comparison.
If it sounds like it's not worth the money, recommendations for strength training gyms in the NYC area would be much appreciated. I'll most likely pay the final $300 for next month regardless, but it would be nice to know of other options when we're done with our contracts.
anonymous because this gym is super clique-y and I definitely don't want to out myself as the lone dissenter, especially if I'm off-base with my expectations.
My boyfriend and I signed up for a Starting Strength program this June. It costs $900 for 3 months, where we use of their pretty awesome gym and enjoy the coaching of their certified instructor. The gym itself is really cool. Everyone is very nice and supportive, and often more experienced people will offer encouragement and suggestions for improvement in a non-critical, friendly way. The gym isn't fancy or sleek, but it's pretty well stocked in weights and tools for powerlifting, Crossfit and such. Every once in a while we have to wait for a bar or some weights, but it hasn't usually been a problem.
Classes are 90 minutes and are held MWF. We decided to shell out this not inconsiderable amount of money because we'd been lifting at home before this class and wanted more professional instruction as we got stronger. As it's only a 3 month program, we figure we'll continue to use the gym afterward, sans professional coaching, for about half the cost.
During the first week, our instructor was around to show us the correct form for Starting Strength's five basic exercises, but he's really faded away since then. There's a much larger Crossfit class going on at the same time that he participates in as well as moderates, and 99% of the time he's doing those exercises and/or coaching them. SS students are pretty much left to their own devices. The Crossfit class is bigger than the Starting Strength class, but it's also half as expensive.
While I don't expect the instructor to scrutinize our every single move, often a week will go by without a single glance in our direction. Every once in a while he'll come over and give us a thumbs up, but more often when he finally does pay attention, he's telling us that our form isn't up to par and we need to go down in weight. I feel that if he paid more attention to our form over the week instead of running around with the Crossfit people, he'd catch these errors earlier, allowing us to correct ourselves and making gains more steadily.
I don't want to criticize the instructor too much in person because I worry I'll alienate myself from the earnest high-fiving camaraderie of the gym, and he's pretty much the god-like hero of all the gym mebers. While we'll ask him about once a week to monitor an exercise, it's clear he's far more interested in the other class and usually offers a couple brief pointers before going back to their side. I don't personally blame him, since CF is a lot more fun to watch than squats, but again, I'm paying a lot of money for what I thought was instruction.
My boyfriend isn't remotely unhappy with the progression of the classes and says that since we've made decent gains since starting, the money is worth it. I feel that we're basically paying $900 for what's essentially a 3-month gym membership. When we're done we plan to keep using the gym as a powerlifting resource over the week, and I think the monthly fee is something like $150, but I feel we're already doing this anyways.
Am I being too cheap, and undervaluing the worth of the first 3 months of this training program that will allow us to continue using the gym later on as unsupervised lifters? Is this normal for most strength training programs? Honestly, I'd almost rather hear that this is par for the course when it comes to strength training so I know my $300 each month have been well-spent, but I have no means of comparison.
If it sounds like it's not worth the money, recommendations for strength training gyms in the NYC area would be much appreciated. I'll most likely pay the final $300 for next month regardless, but it would be nice to know of other options when we're done with our contracts.
anonymous because this gym is super clique-y and I definitely don't want to out myself as the lone dissenter, especially if I'm off-base with my expectations.
I think that comes out to $16.67 an hour, which is nothing. I'm surprised the trainer even glances at you for that kind of scratch.
Well I assume they're not the only people in the Starting Strength class; if there's 6 people, the trainer's making $100 an hour.
What's more, it's not their job to look out for their instructors' finances. The instructor agreed to a deal - $900 for 90 minutes of training, 3 times a week, for 3 months. If he didn't want to provide those services at that price, he shouldn't have agreed to - and if he doesn't want to hold up his end of the deal, he should at the very least offer a pro rata refund.
If the instructor's going to coach a different class during the time when he agreed to coach them, what are they paying for over and above a standard gym membership?
posted by Mike1024 at 3:45 PM on August 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
Well I assume they're not the only people in the Starting Strength class; if there's 6 people, the trainer's making $100 an hour.
What's more, it's not their job to look out for their instructors' finances. The instructor agreed to a deal - $900 for 90 minutes of training, 3 times a week, for 3 months. If he didn't want to provide those services at that price, he shouldn't have agreed to - and if he doesn't want to hold up his end of the deal, he should at the very least offer a pro rata refund.
If the instructor's going to coach a different class during the time when he agreed to coach them, what are they paying for over and above a standard gym membership?
posted by Mike1024 at 3:45 PM on August 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
Presumably this is 16.67 an hour for a class of several people to be supervised by an instructor, though, not just for the OP and their bf.
I think this is poor form on the part of the coach, personally. If you paid expecting to be doing a lot of supervised lifting, and instead you are getting an open gym with occasional comments from a trainer, well, that is not cool. I would be pissed if I thought I was taking an actual class and instead I was paying for some guy to run and participate in a different class.
If you don't feel comfortable complaining, then I would advise you to simply interrupt the guy and ask him questions as often as you feel necessary. If you're not sure you can do a move perfectly, ask him to come over and observe. If he is not available to do that, I think you would be reasonable in asking why not, given that you were under the impression that this was a supervised class.
This does sound about par for the course for NYC crossfit gyms, from what I have read and occasionally observed. Not exactly the most professional places.
posted by ch1x0r at 3:45 PM on August 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
I think this is poor form on the part of the coach, personally. If you paid expecting to be doing a lot of supervised lifting, and instead you are getting an open gym with occasional comments from a trainer, well, that is not cool. I would be pissed if I thought I was taking an actual class and instead I was paying for some guy to run and participate in a different class.
If you don't feel comfortable complaining, then I would advise you to simply interrupt the guy and ask him questions as often as you feel necessary. If you're not sure you can do a move perfectly, ask him to come over and observe. If he is not available to do that, I think you would be reasonable in asking why not, given that you were under the impression that this was a supervised class.
This does sound about par for the course for NYC crossfit gyms, from what I have read and occasionally observed. Not exactly the most professional places.
posted by ch1x0r at 3:45 PM on August 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
My data point (not NYC, but a large metro area): for about $150/month, I get Crossfit classes along with Olympic/powerlifting classes. The Oly/powerlifting classes are scheduled with a dedicated trainer, who watches every rep of every work set and makes suggestions/corrections. The trainers also work with people on programming, if you are stalling or the Starting Strength template isn't a fit for your goals.
posted by kovacs at 4:54 PM on August 1, 2010
posted by kovacs at 4:54 PM on August 1, 2010
Is this normal for most strength training programs?
It doesn't matter what kind of program it is, this is not normal in the slightest. Honestly, it's a load of shit. A trainer is there to train you, not half-ass watch you while he's doing a workout. The problem with hiring a trainer is trying to find a decent one. Seriously. Mark this up as lesson learned about hiring a trainer and move on. After all, you guys are in a group and you could all use each other to learn from.
posted by P.o.B. at 9:45 PM on August 1, 2010
It doesn't matter what kind of program it is, this is not normal in the slightest. Honestly, it's a load of shit. A trainer is there to train you, not half-ass watch you while he's doing a workout. The problem with hiring a trainer is trying to find a decent one. Seriously. Mark this up as lesson learned about hiring a trainer and move on. After all, you guys are in a group and you could all use each other to learn from.
posted by P.o.B. at 9:45 PM on August 1, 2010
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Just my $.02 though.
posted by chairface at 2:06 PM on August 1, 2010