Last year, Valerie and I let our membership at the Plymouth Meeting Community Center lapse, and instead bought memberships at a nearby YMCA.

The Y had several times the fitness equipment that we liked, and quite a bit more space for it. But it was also further away, and I didn’t much care for the locker rooms or the pool, and so I stopped going. Bad, Lawrence.

Valerie’s been out of “gym commission” for the last few months, and other than being beaten up by my Pilates instructor I have not been getting much in the way of exercise (as is made evident by the bathroom scale).

Today I dropped by a newly-opened Planet Fitness. It’s a bit closer than the Y, and it’s on the way to work. The price is very good. There’s no pool, but there are plenty of ellipticals and similar cardio-type machines that I like to use. And the locker room is nicer (by which I mean not as small) as the Y’s. Plus, if I went with their “Black Card” membership, I’d have unlimited use of massage chairs, tanning, and red-light therapy treatments (though I don’t know that I need any of that), and the price would still be less than half of the Y.

I’ve had a bad experience with a different, nation-wide gym chain, but they seemed to have a very different business model.

Any of you have any experience with Planet Fitness (or tanning machines or red-light therapy, for that matter)? This would be a good time to share those insights with me. Thanks.

Bottom line though, I need to get myself back into a gym!