Just the gym or a personal trainer? What each option gives you

The gym is open 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Access costs €80 a month or €20 for one day and doesn't include training: you come in and train on your own. If you want to do it with a trainer, there are 3 formats: small group, 1-to-1 personal training and online. Nutrition is a separate service you can add to any of them.

In the small group there are 3 of you at most and you pay a monthly fee based on the days per week. In 1-to-1 the trainer is with you alone, by single sessions or with a pack of 4, 8 or 12 sessions. In both formats you choose between training with me or with one of the centre's trainers. Online, you get the programming, a plan each month, follow-up, exercise correction and contact by WhatsApp, but no in-person sessions and no access to the facilities.

The gym on its own is the cheapest option and the one with the most freedom over your hours: with the room open 24 hours, you train whenever suits you. To make the most of it you need to know what to do each day and how to increase the loads. If you are starting from scratch, how to start at the gym shows you how to approach the first weeks.

The risk is giving up. At a gym in Rio de Janeiro, the records of 5,240 members were reviewed over 12 months: 63% of new members quit before the third month, and fewer than 4% kept going for more than 12 months in a row^[1]. It is an observational study of a single gym, where people trained without supervision, so it doesn't compare with training alongside someone. But if you have ever signed up and quit after a few weeks, you know what it's like.

With a trainer you pay more, in exchange for supervision and a plan made for you. In 36 young men and women who already trained, doing the same programme with supervision led to more muscle and a stronger squat than doing it alone (there was no difference in the bench press), and the authors conclude that supervision also helped people not to miss sessions^[2]. In another study of 18 men, the supervised group increased their loads faster^[3]. Both are small; I explain them in personal trainer or on your own.

Among the formats, in 1-to-1 all of the trainer's attention is on you. In the small group you share it with 2 other people at most and, for the same days per week, you pay less than for 1-to-1. Online you have the plan and the follow-up, but you train alone, and if you want to do it at the gym, access is paid separately. You'll find the price of each format in how much a personal trainer costs in Mallorca.

You don't have to pick just one. The WHO recommends that adults do strength exercises working the major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week^[4]. You can do 1 of those days with a trainer, in the group or in a 1-to-1 session, and the other on your own with what you are learning. Bear in mind that gym access outside the sessions is paid separately: €80 a month or €20 a day.

If you want to see the gym before paying for a month, one-day access costs €20. And if you don't know which format suits you, ask for the initial assessment: it is free and with no obligation, you tell me your goal and I tell you which plan I recommend.