Unless you have been living under a rock then you’ve probably noticed the “boutique gym” phenomenon. Small and specialized fitness establishments have been on the rise, popping up on street corners across the country for the past decade, taking over the fitness world. If you aren’t familiar with the concept, a boutique gym is simply the opposite of your run-of-the-mill big-box fitness facility that attempts to cram every workout machine known to man, under one roof. While it provides the consumer with a wide variety to choose from, which is great, in can also be a very intimidating experience to the novice. For a while I fought against joining the movement – why? Primarily because of the monetary requirements to do so. On average, a membership in a boutique gym will run you anywhere between $150 – $250 a month. Still, people across the country, including myself, are sacrificing their piggy banks for these golden tickets, so why?
Take it from a girl on a budget, these extreme costs aside, I’ve sacrificed many things to make it work – my favorite morning coffee beverages and bi-weekly pedicures – all in an attempt to continue my workout routine and here is why….
- Time: In today’s day in age, precious time is everything. From running to work, the grocery store, making time for friends and working out, there never ever seems to be enough hours in the day. When I was working out at my local LA Fitness or 24-Hour Fitness gym I often times found myself unmotivated to get there and even more confused when I got there. With all the equipment in the world to choose from the lack of training to guide me I often found myself wasting hours trying to figure out my fitness path for the day. With a boutique gym, you sign up, go, and workout – and I mean HARD – for 50-60 minutes and you’re DONE. You leave feeling a sense of satisfaction that you’ve shaved hours off your day in the most impactful way.
- Results: It probably goes without saying that if you work the system you’re going to see results, and I mean big time. In the now two months that I have been working out at my boutique gym of choice I have not only lost weight and defined muscles but I feel a sense of energy and enthusiasm about fitness that I haven’t felt in a long time, not to mention that my eating habits have inadvertently been impacted for the better as well.
- Camaraderie: This workout format also elicits a form of camaraderie with both the friends you know and train with to the strangers you’ve never met before. You find yourselves all in the weeds together, suffering in the best way possible, and once its over you all feel you’ve accomplished something
- Friendly Competition: While you find yourself becoming friendly with the people you are working out with, or near, there is also a sense of friendly competition that arises. For example, when you see the person next to you reaching for that 25 lb weight instead of the 15, you might think to yourself, “well if she can do it, so can I,” or when you see your fitness partner hitting a speed of 10 on the treadmill when sprinting, it will inevitably push you to greater speeds as well.
With consumer trends going this way – demanding more time and better results – it seems that the boutique fitness phenomenon is delivering big time and will more than likely be here to stay. If interested in checking out a gym concept near you, consider looking into the following:
