I've been a Gold's member for years, even worked there once. On a lark I decided to check out 3 nationally known commercial gyms for memberships because I was moving to a different area, so why not look at all my options?

All seemed to be pushing everything but actual... Fitness.

Now, I'm 5'10, 150 lbs hard gainer. Eat 2500-3000 calories pd, Squat 185, deadlift 285, bench 155... So I'm very muscular and have a solid frame, but I'm NOT walking into the looking like Mr Olympia, it's just not in my genetics or ability to consume that many calories... Also, I use supps but I'm not doing crazy dosages or extremely long cycles.

Here's the basic pitch at all three:

We got rock climbing walls, Raquetball courts, indoor swimming pools, saunas, masseuses. And best of all, no meatheads. This is a place everyone can feel comfortable!

The whole pitch just turned me off to even considering membership, I felt they were condescending to assume I work out a certain way and would be drawn to these spa services. Furthermore, I don't understand the shitty attitude towards bodybuilders in general from these commercial gyms. It's basically a ploy to seperate the fools from their money. They have no intent on actually helping their clients.

In my opinion, there is no such thing as being "toned." I can recall a woman who Indidnan assessment for. She weighed 118 lbs, wanted to "get toned" but not "look like a bodybuilder." Her diet was max 1200 calories pd, but she wanted to do cardio programs x3 a week and do "crosstraining" workouts x2. When I started to explain that such an aggressive program would require a higher calorie intake she scoffed at the idea saying "that's going to blow me up and make me look like a man."

I could not get the idea through to her that this isn't how bodybuilding works, you don't just magically put on huge amounts muscle in three months; for small frames we're talking years if not decades of work. She simply would never come close to that sort of physique without maintaining a exorbitant calorie intake.

Sometimes, you just can't fix stupid.