Ben and I took a short road trip at the end of January.

Whenever we go out of town we explore our workout options as soon as we get to where we are going. We’ll check out the fitness options at the hotel we’re staying at. If the options are sad we’ll see what our destination has to offer. If the weather is nice we’ll consider an outdoor workout.Most of the time, we can find a decent local GYM with a small day pass fee. Some let you in free for a day if you sign a waiver.Our hotel had worn out and even some broken equipment:(

We browsed the web to see if the town we were staying in had any fitness facilities. It had two. A YMCA and a privately owned establishment. We decided to check them both out.They were awful! I think they’re in cahoots with each other. Both places had the exact same turquoise and white weight machines from the 1980s! It seemed like they had a secret pact with each other to never upgrade anything ever! They both charged membership prices that were “over the top” and out of line for the equipment and services provided. And, sadly, they were the most dirty fitness  facilities we’d ever seen!Ben and I decided to do body weight workouts in our hotel’s tiny GYM. It, at least, was clean!

On our drive home we talked a lot about the two GYMs we visited. We wondered how they could get away with charging such high prices for such unkempt, prehistoric dives!

I believe it’s because they don’t have any competition.We decided that the HGTV channel needs to do a show similar to Restaurant Impossible only for GYMs (Gymnasium Impossible)!

The more we talked about it, the more we realized how fortunate we are to have the fabulous facility we belong to for the size of city we live in. Granted, our city is a lot bigger than the one we visited. But, for the size of Idaho Falls, our GYM is no short of spectacular!Apple Athletic Club was very nice before. But, over the course of the last couple of years, it has been almost completely renovated (including almost all new equipment). It’s such beautiful place to go to workout!I feel so lucky every time I walk through the front doors now!

It’s always super clean! The vibe is fun and energetic! People are excited to be there. Apple Athletic Club has countless amenities! You name it they probably have it! They even have a tween workout area!They are not the least expensive place in town. But, if you look at cost versus benefit, no other GYM in the area compares to Apple!

Apple doesn’t have to offer this much. In amenities alone they rank far above any fitness facility in the area. They could easily get away with offering much less and still be the greatest GYM around!

But, Apple doesn’t settle in order to rate “just above” their competition. They continually shoot for the moon without looking back.
I read an article once that said (for fitness motivation and satisfaction), “Join an expensive GYM! You’ll want to go there more!” Plus, you won’t want to waste your money! If I pay $20 a month for a membership to a place that’s, OK. I’m probably going to talk myself out of going because I’m not really out too much. But if I’m shelling out $60 + per month I’m going to make more of an effort. Especially if that place is super inviting, warm, clean, spacious, comfortable, versatile, kid friendly, teen friendly, pretty much all people friendly, and downright beautiful!I want to thank Apple Athletic Club for going the extra (million) miles, for taking all the major and minor details into account (all the little stuff really adds up to something special), and for not settling on a mediocre facility that rates only “just above” or equal to the “next best”!
Apple Athletic Club Website
Apple Athletic Club Facebook