Gym With the Most Locations?

[chingaling]

I travel a good bit and looking to join a nationwide chain of gyms with the most locations or affiliates. That way, each city I visit Ill have a nearby (hopefully) gym to grab a workout. Anyone know what national gym chain has the most locations?

 

[plang]

Gold's Gym has over 650 gyms nationwide

 

[mitochondria]

it has to be bally theres 3 within half hour of me

 

[MightyJohn]

It's either Snap or Anytime....I forget I read it like a week or 2 ago

 

[RexHead]

Gold's claims to be largest...but I'm guessing they are claiming to be the largest for profit gym....don't forget about the Y. Many YMCA's will honor your card if you are traveling.

I am a member of Golds. Most Gold's Gyms will let you in for free. You are supposed to have a Passport or a Travel Pass. Make sure you get them both and they are signed and dated. Some gyms don't accept a passport but will take a travel pass (and vice-versa). Other Gold's will just let you walk in showing your ID/Gold's card. The passport/travel pass is supposed to give you 14 visits per year (I'm not sure if that's to one gym or all gyms). I have a stack of passports and travel passes so I never run out. I've also never had a gym reject me after 14 visits.

Some Golds will give you a discount instead of a free day if your traveling. This happens a lot in major cities and vacation areas.

There is also the IHRSA Passport program. If your gym is a member you can get into other IHRSA Passport Participating gyms for free or at a good discount: IHRSA - IHRSA Passport

A report on the top 100 clubs of 2010 (it lists # of sites)

**broken link removed**

MISSING CLUBS
The following clubs and franchisors are large enough to be included on the Top 100 Clubs list, but their owners did not submit a Top 100 Clubs form, and we were not able to find another way to estimate their revenue.

The Alaska Clubs, Anchorage, AK
Brick Bodies, Baltimore
Bally Total Fitness, Chicago
California Family Fitness, Vacaville, CA
Champion Fitness Inc., dba Bally Total Fitness, Syracuse, NY
Chelsea Piers, New York
Club Fit, Jefferson Valley, NY
Curves, Waco, TX
Fitness USA, West Bloomfield, MI
Franco’s Athletic Clubs, Mandeville, LA
Gold’s Gym International, Irving, TX
Healthplex Sports Club, Springfield, PA
Lady of America, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Lakeshore Athletic Club, Chicago
MVP Sportsclubs, Orlando, FL
PRO Sports Club, Bellevue, WA
SIM Investment Corp., dba the Right Stuff Health Club, San Jose, CA
Titan Fitness Holdings, McLean, VA
Wheaton Sports Center, Wheaton, IL
Women’s Workout World, Chicago

Finally, if your traveling for business, and you have some ability to choose your hotel, then call around and ask if they have an affiliation with a local gym. Typically I find a gym that will give me a free day-pass at a great gym for every overnight stay.

 

[Ashop]

it has to be bally theres 3 within half hour of me

I thought they filed bankruptcy and went under?

 

[MightyJohn]

Yea a week or 2 ago one of the small club franchises took the lead on # of clubs...in was in Club Industry...I just forget who

 

[mitochondria]

I thought they filed bankruptcy and went under?

i have no idea, but thers 6 within 45 min

 

[readyset]

i think they filed for bankruptcy but I guess they didn't lose their spots. There's all kinds of legal bs with "bankruptcy" i wouldnt be suprised if they filed bankruptcy, all their investors lost everything, and whoever's in charge made a nice pay day.

The largest location near me, North Jersey, is Retro Fitness - theres about 5 within 20 minutes. theres a couple NYSC, Golds, LA Fitness and some others but I see more retros then anything.

 

[rliss1]

bally's but they suck ass... im a member, i should know

 

[pyramid74]

anytime fitness

 

[Maverick]

I drive by like 4 anytime fitness and a couple of those snap fitness gyms everyday and there never seems to be anybody in any of them. Like some of the other members here have already pointed out ,it is franchised and you have to follow thier outlines which can seriously hamper your ability to make money if you care to cater to a niche market. Also as i was stated you do need quite a few members to just break even after you pay your monthly overhead. Not an easy feat in todays economical climate.

Competing against major chains like golds, planet fitness , 24 hour fitnes,bally's etc is very hard unless you have an established gym that was there before these chains came in. I would be very weary of buying into any of these newer unmanned 24 hour chains like anytime. They seem like a flash int he pn to me. Something to try to capitalize on a market and something that will fade.

They seem like those curves for women type places. Soemthing that kinda caught on but faded after a while.