# cross-country gym membership



## unrulywaunder

Hey All,

I'm looking at driving cross-country for the first time soon, and I was wondering: what's the best gym (for showers) when traveling cross-country?

I imagine "best" would consider:

Cost
Distribution (exists in almost every major city & many towns in-between)
The most important thing is that it has showers. Working out is a side-benefit that's not very important. I guess If they kick me out for wearing boots and well-worn & patched pants, that's a deal breaker.

I was looking at Planet Fitness. Anyone have experience with them? Or know of a better option?


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## creature

planet fitness is ok, but you need the black card membership..
requires direct withdrawal by PF of $20 a month & a $60 annual fee.
also, you can't just quit.. no shit.. you have to send a registered fucking letter to you home gym, notifying them of your desire to cancel..
you can't just walk into a PF & say "i quit", so make sure the $20 is in the account, or your bank might start to fuck you with fees.. as well as having to remember *when* they take it out, so you drop your last 20 when your strung out..

most PF's are in larger towns, so be ready to have to navigate that shit..
there are a bunch in smaller cities, too, but it can be a little hit & miss..
for just a shower it's a questionable deal, but if you're in an area for a few weeks it's def nice to be able to scrub up..

they have this thing called 'hydro-massage'.. pretty fucking bitching, & almost worth the 20, by itself.. def check it out if you go with them..

i dunno about ymca, or even if there might be some hard to find stuff that Pilot or TA may offer, but if you have time, that might be something to poke around on..

check the PF location map..
some states have zero PFs, or only 1 or 2..
west coast is best, of course, east coast follows, in between is hit & miss..


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## unrulywaunder

creature said:


> planet fitness is ok, but you need the black card membership..
> requires direct withdrawal by PF of $20 a month & a $60 annual fee.
> also, you can't just quit.. no shit.. you have to send a registered fucking letter to you home gym, notifying them of your desire to cancel..
> you can't just walk into a PF & say "i quit", so make sure the $20 is in the account, or your bank might start to fuck you with fees.. as well as having to remember *when* they take it out, so you drop your last 20 when your strung out..



Thanks for the info! Wow, I had no idea I had to give them my bank information. I can't just buy a $100 gift card & give them that? Yikes


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## scoutwilding

I've had a YMCA membership in one town and paid $1.00 to use other Y's across the country.
Now I go to planet fitness, which is much cheaper (I have the $10 / month option which give you gym & shower). Both take from a bank account, which I personally don't like, but bleh.

Also-my PF is in a smallish town, as is a YMCA so yeah you can find them in the smaller places as well.


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## Matt Derrick

unrulywaunder said:


> Thanks for the info! Wow, I had no idea I had to give them my bank information. I can't just buy a $100 gift card & give them that? Yikes



yes, actually... most gyms will take prepaid cards (not sure about gift cards) which then you can just stop putting money on when you want to 'quit'. i actually cover this in a little more detail in my book under the 'making money' chapter.


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## unrulywaunder

Matt Derrick said:


> yes, actually... most gyms will take prepaid cards (not sure about gift cards) which then you can just stop putting money on when you want to 'quit'. i actually cover this in a little more detail in my book under the 'making money' chapter.



Brilliant. Which cards do you recommend? I was thinking visa gift card.


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## ChaoticallyCrazed

Visa gift cards work, I've used that for memberships in the past. I definitely am not a fan of auto withdrawals from a bank account, fuck that. I mean. assuming I had a bank account


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## Chazten

Matt Derrick said:


> yes, actually... most gyms will take prepaid cards (not sure about gift cards) which then you can just stop putting money on when you want to 'quit'. i actually cover this in a little more detail in my book under the 'making money' chapter.


I think he's asking about PF in which case you most definitely need a real bank account with an account and routing number. I signed up a few months back.


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## Pervert Pirate

Check out this MapMuse page. There are links to nearly 40 Gym Chains. 
The first 4 are: Anytime Fitness, Curves, Plane Fitness, Snap Fitness, and LA Fitness. Then there is a link "Show More Related".

Understand that most of these Guys are with locations east of the Mississippi River. If you look at this image of the USA after dark taken from out in Space, you can begin to understand why west of the Mississippi River doesn't have so much. 

https://www.hcn.org/blogs/goat/images-2/UScitiesatnight.jpg/image

You can check each of these businesses and it will display their location on the map beside the list of links.

https://find.mapmuse.com/map/anytime-fitness-center

I found this link on this free links list site:

http://edjautoservices.homestead.com/index.html?_=1448299327090


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## rusty

I always wondered what the deal is with truck stop showers but i saw this, https://www.ta-petro.com/amenities/Showers





Lol Maybe askin a nice trucker for a shower inna pinch? I guess they can get em free, otherwise it sounds pretty steep.


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## BalancingBear

Matt Derrick said:


> yes, actually... most gyms will take prepaid cards (not sure about gift cards) which then you can just stop putting money on when you want to 'quit'. i actually cover this in a little more detail in my book under the 'making money' chapter.



PF will only take bank accounts now. (Not sure when this change happened) I personally ran into this issue and fought my way through finding out there is no way around it. (Very end of 2017) They bill only through account & routing #s, not card #s. Tis the only reason I dont still have that account myself for showers. I recommend them otherwise, if you are still willing to feed into the bank system.


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## BalancingBear

rusty said:


> I always wondered what the deal is with truck stop showers but i saw this, https://www.ta-petro.com/amenities/Showers
> View attachment 44016
> 
> Lol Maybe askin a nice trucker for a shower inna pinch? I guess they can get em free, otherwise it sounds pretty steep.


Meh.. I worked in a Petro for a long while. They are not spotless. I would certainly still opt to wearing flip flops in the least to avoid athletes foot. Otherwise I'd feel safe enough using them.
Truckers dont get them free, but at a discounted rate if there is a membership available that they are part of.


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## Wild Ty Laserbeam

unrulywaunder said:


> Thanks for the info! Wow, I had no idea I had to give them my bank information. I can't just buy a $100 gift card & give them that? Yikes



I haven't done it, but I hear the popular with around for that is too use a pre paid Visa card. That way if you decide to stop using them you can stop putting money on the card and they can't do shit about it.


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## Matt Derrick

BalancingBear said:


> PF will only take bank accounts now. (Not sure when this change happened) I personally ran into this issue and fought my way through finding out there is no way around it. (Very end of 2017) They bill only through account & routing #s, not card #s. Tis the only reason I dont still have that account myself for showers. I recommend them otherwise, if you are still willing to feed into the bank system.



many prepaid cards (once properly set up) have account #'s and routing numbers, so while i have not tested it, i believe this could still be done with PF.


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## Coywolf

24 hour fitness is a good choice. It is country wide, has showers, and is...well...open 24 hours. You just get a card thing to get in the door, anywhere.


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## Coywolf

BalancingBear said:


> PF will only take bank accounts now. (Not sure when this change happened) I personally ran into this issue and fought my way through finding out there is no way around it. (Very end of 2017) They bill only through account & routing #s, not card #s. Tis the only reason I dont still have that account myself for showers. I recommend them otherwise, if you are still willing to feed into the bank system.




You can purchase prepaid cards that act like a bank account, and come with account and routing numbers. I think Bluebird is one of those kinds of cards. Look it up.


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## unrulywaunder

if you can get a bank account, simple.com appears to be the most free option. No fees at all if you transfer with ACH (via bank routing & account #s). Bluebird charges you for adding money into the account.

* https://www.simple.com/policies/bbva-compass-truth-in-savings-disclosure
* https://www.bluebird.com/#fee-chart


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