When I moved to Scottsdale, one of the first things on my list of things that absolutely had to get done quickly was joining a gym. I am a certified yoga instructor & really wanted to make sure I didn't get out of the habit of getting some exercise everyday, even if it wasn't yoga.
After being a member for a year, I had to drop my membership like a hot potato. I couldn't stand being there. The first problem I had was with the yoga classes. I wasn't expecting a lot because the classes were at a gym & not at a yoga studio but after trying all the teachers I was getting pissed. Most of the teachers fell into the ok range but there were a couple of teachers who really didn't know what they were doing & were telling the students to do things that were dangerous. I even had one teacher adjust me & when I said that it hurt, he told me that it didn't. I left.
So I dumped the yoga classes & figured I would just do the standard cardio workouts & strength training workouts. The strength training area is pretty nice. Generally the equipment was clean & usually it wasn't crowded. There wasn't much space to stretch which bothers me, but most gyms are like that. What killed me was the cardio area. The machines are disgusting. They clean the areas where people sweat but look in a cup holder or between machine parts & there are hairballs & all sorts of crud. The other thing about the cardio area is that it is right next to the basketball court. Basketballs are constantly flying into the cardio area. I was whacked by basketballs at least once a month. Ouch!
The other thing that really got to me was that there were kids everywhere. I asked about kids in the gym when I joined & I was told that this was absolutely a facility for adults. There are teens running all over the place completely unsupervised, but the little kids are worse. They shriek & cry & play on the equipment (like running across the treadmills while people are on them). After a while I just never wanted to be there.
Save your money- buy your own equipment & stay home.