As a christmas treat to myself I joined a new gym - it's a real hardcore place, loads of freeweights and weights machines - it's great!  I'm like a kid in a candy store - so much to choose from!  I can definitely say that the place can make a huge difference to your workouts.

I changed last year to a more hardcore place and it made a huge difference to my workouts.  Certain places inspire you more than others.

When I joined a gym a couple of years ago my then boyfriend convinced me to join a 'real' gym rather than a 'designer' place - I'm really glad I did, seeing people doing tough workouts inspires me to go for it.

I can't count the number of people I've turned on to the benefits of a serious gym over the years - they change to somewhere with real facilities and where people are really working hard, and their workouts improve 50% overnight.

I get a lot of inspiration from watching the workouts of the hard core folks around me.

The type of gym and the people around you can be very inspirational - unfortunately most people tend to make their decision based on either price of convenience.

yep - most people miss this trick - but choosing a gym that challenges you to better yourself is absolutely vital.  And that's not going to be the same for every person - a gym needs to inspire you, but also be a good fit for your personality and work out style, to ensure you'll keep coming back!

The key is to find some place that feels comfortable, but where the average gym goer is at a slightly (but not massively) advanced level compared to you - this way you've got something to shoot for!

It's good to have people to help push you a little isn't it?