Premium you use, not premium you admire
Premium gyms sell two kinds of extra. Some save you time or effort on almost every visit. Others look good on a tour and go unused by the second month. A practical buyer pays gladly for the first kind and declines to fund the second.
For what one premium club holds, see RPM Gym in Abu Dhabi. Whether a premium club is worth its price at all is a separate question, answered in is a premium full-service gym worth it. This page assumes you want premium and asks which parts of it to pay for.
The every-visit test
Put each premium feature through three questions before you let it count towards the price:
- Will I use it on most visits, or at least every week?
- Does it remove a reason I skip, such as parking, crowding or having to go home to change?
- Will I still be using it in month six, once the novelty has gone?
Two yeses and the feature is practical. One yes makes it a pleasant extra, worth having only if it adds nothing to what you pay. No yeses and it is excess, however good it looked on the tour.
Keep or skip: premium features one by one
These verdicts suit someone training three or four times a week around work. Shift them if your week looks different.
| Premium feature | Verdict | Keep it if | Skip it if |
|---|---|---|---|
| Room on the floor at your hour | Keep | You train at peak times, when a queue for a rack costs more than any other feature | You only ever train when the floor is empty |
| Parking in the building, with a lift | Keep | You drive, especially from May to September | You walk, or the gym is in your own building |
| Lockers and a grooming area | Keep | You train before work or at lunch and go straight to the office | You always go home after training |
| Coaching built into the tier | Depends | You stall or drift without a programme and regular check-ins | You already run your own programme and keep progressing |
| Women-only section | Depends | Without privacy you would not train at all | You are comfortable on a mixed floor |
| Recovery rooms such as a sauna or ice bath | Depends | You would use them every week | You picture yourself using them, but rarely would |
| A large class timetable | Skip | You would go to two or more classes a week | Classes are not how you train |
| Lounge, café or juice bar | Skip | You regularly work or meet people there | It would add nothing to your training |
| A long contract for a lower monthly rate | Skip | Your job, your flat and your summers are settled | Any of them could change within the term |
Towels, toiletries and guest passes vary widely between clubs. If they matter to you, ask whether they are included rather than assuming a premium price covers them.
The order to pay for things
When the budget will not stretch to everything, buy in this order and stop where the money does:
- A floor with room at your hour. Everything else is wasted if you spend the session queuing.
- An easy arrival: parking, and a trip you can face on a tired day.
- Getting ready on site, if you train around office hours.
- Coaching, if you have stalled or keep restarting.
- Recovery and classes, once each passes the every-visit test.
- Comfort extras last, if at all.
If you are still deciding whether premium beats a budget gym for your week, a premium gym or a low-cost gym works out the cost of each useful visit.
Signs you are paying for excess
- You are on the top tier for one feature you use twice a month.
- Class credits expire unused most months.
- You picked the contract length for the lower rate, then spent the summer away.
- You cannot say what your tier includes that the one below it does not.
Fix it at renewal rather than mid-term. Write down what you used over the last month, set it against the tier list, and move down if the gap is something you never touched.
A worked example: a member on a tier that bundles recovery rooms and classes, at price P a month, trained on the floor four times a week and used the sauna twice in a quarter. The tier below, at Q, covers the floor. Over the quarter he paid the monthly difference, P minus Q, three times over for those two sauna visits, so each visit cost him one and a half times that difference. He moves down a tier and books recovery on the odd day he wants it, where the club allows.
RPM for a practical premium buyer
RPM, one club on Level 4 of AD HUB Sports Complex in Al Manhal, lines up against the keep column like this:
- Arrival: free on-site parking at AD HUB, and a lift up to Level 4.
- Getting ready: the changing area has keypad lockers, and the grooming hub has hairdryers and products. Ask whether towels are provided.
- The floor: the photos show plate-loaded machines, cable towers, a squat rack with colour bumper plates and cardio machines, plus a functional area with a turf lane and a sled.
- Women-only space: the Ladies section has strength and cardio equipment of its own, and houses the Pilates studio.
- Recovery: the suite holds a Finnish sauna, an aroma steam room and an ice bath. Ask which tiers include it, and speak to your doctor first if you have a heart or blood-pressure condition or are pregnant.
The tiers climb in a similar order: Floor for the training floor, Engine with coached programming on top, and Atelier, which centres on 1:1 coaching. Prices are not published, so ask for each tier's inclusions in writing and start with the one your normal week needs. RPM's membership page lists what to confirm. Where it may not fit: if you train at quiet hours, run your own programme and want the lowest fee you can find, a low-cost gym is the more practical buy. The club keeps early-morning and late-evening hours, with a shorter Friday:
| Days | Opening hours |
|---|---|
| Saturday to Thursday | 06:00–23:00 |
| Friday | 09:00–22:00 |
Hours can change, for example during Ramadan. Confirm with the team before a late or early visit.
Questions, answered.
Is the top tier ever the practical choice?
Yes, when you would use its main feature every week. If a top tier is built around one-to-one coaching and you would book a coach weekly anyway, the bundle can make sense. If you would book one now and then, ask whether sessions can be bought separately.
Can I start on a lower tier and move up later?
Ask before you sign, and get the answer in writing. At RPM the tiers are Floor, Engine and Atelier, and the team confirms what each includes, so ask too whether moving up mid-term is possible and how the price changes.
Is a recovery suite practical or a luxury?
Practical if you would use it every week, a luxury if you would use it monthly. Heat and cold are not for everyone, so speak to your doctor first if you have a heart or blood-pressure condition, are pregnant or take regular medication.
How do I stop paying for things I do not use?
Keep a short note of what you use in your first month. At renewal, set it against your tier's list and drop anything you did not touch.