Treadmill vs. Gym Membership

Now that my gym membership has reached expiration I've been debating whether or not I would like to renew it. I'm currently weighing three different options, renew my YMCA membership, obtaining a membership at a different gym, or purchasing a treadmill. I've thought about purchasing a treadmill ever since I moved out on my own. I'm not looking for a brand new treadmill and I'm hoping to spend about $150 but no more than $200 which is totally reasonable for the used treadmills I've seen on Craig's List. If I renewed my YMCA membership it would cost me $180 for the whole year. I don't use the weights or machines at the Y so my only benefit there would be taking classes. I'm not planning on making this decision until after my I find out my class, research, and work schedule. If the Y classes don't fit into my schedule then I'm not going to renew my membership. The Y's hours are also less than stellar. They open at 5:15 and close at 9. Their weekend hours are terrible and the class schedule really isn't that great. Since I'm in gym membership limbo I thought that this would be a good opportunity to try out new places. Monday I picked up a two week pass to Anytime Fitness. They aren't located quite as close to me as the YMCA but they are open 24 hours. Downside, they aren't staffed 24/7. After 7 p.m. you use a key fob to get into the building. They told me that they haven't had any issues in the three years they've been there but maybe it's the 22 year old basically defenseless girl in me that's not comfortable with that. It's also a really really small gym, what you'd expect from an apartment complex gym. Four or five treadmills, a few elliptical machines, as well as weights and weight machines. On the plus side they have an in house personal trainer (of course that costs more) but they don't offer any classes or even have a room for that. They also aren't month-to-month (you have to sign an 18 month contract, which you can break hassle-free with 30 days notice) and it would cost me $37 a month. I don't think I'm going to be joining that gym but I will be using those 2 weeks free. I'm also planning on trying out the Lifetime Fitness that's down the street from the hospital but there's no way I could afford working out there. 

The plus side to having a treadmill is that I could workout anytime time of day (or night) that I wanted to, I wouldn't be self conscious of people watching me, I can watch Netflix while working out (major yay!), and it's a one time investment. The downsides are that I won't have access to gym classes anymore, treadmills take up a lot of space, and are a expensive. I also want to make sure I'm buying one in good condition. I could buy a brand new one for $400 but I am definitely not doing that. I know that for some people buying a treadmill would be useless because they need the motivation of going to the gym to workout whereas I am the opposite the leaving and having to go somewhere part of exercising makes it less likely that I will workout. Unfortunately my only strength training comes from doing classes but I still fully intend to continue taking yoga classes. Yoga can be considered strength training. I also have several Tone It Up workouts as well as a resistance band. Eventually I'll add a few free weights as well as a yoga ball to my workout gear. The biggest barrier to buying a treadmill is where am I going to put it! Now that is going to take some maneuvering. I'll have to let ya'll know when I make my final decision but until then it's the gym for me! 

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