What convenience means in practice
Distance on a map is a poor guide. A gym across a bridge can be easier at your hour than one on the island with nowhere to park. Convenience has four parts: the drive at your hour, the parking, the walk from the car to the floor, and how the trip fits the rest of your day.
If RPM is one of the gyms you are weighing, RPM's page for central Abu Dhabi explains where the club sits, so you can test the drive from your own starting point.
Choose the right starting point
Most people measure from home, but many train on the way to or from somewhere else. What counts is the extra effort the gym adds to a trip you were making anyway.
| Your routine | Measure | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Train before work | Home to gym, then gym to office | The second leg, which now falls in the morning rush |
| Train straight after work | Office to gym, then gym to home | The detour from your normal drive home |
| Train after the school drop-off | School gate to gym, then on to home or the office | Whether the morning traffic has eased by then |
| Train at the weekend | Home to gym and back | Evening traffic around malls and family outings |
| A mix of these | Each one, weighted by how often you will do it | Measuring only the easiest of your routes |
Measure door to floor
Time each part once, on a test run at your training hour, and write the numbers into the worksheet below.
| Part of the trip | What to include |
|---|---|
| Drive there | From leaving your starting point to reaching the car park |
| Parking | Searching for a space, paying, walking from a street bay |
| Car to floor | The walk, the lift, check-in and changing |
| Drive back | From the car park to your next stop, at the hour you would leave |
| Extras | Tolls at peak times, paid parking, fuel |
For how to run the test drive itself, see planning the easiest route at your hour.
The convenience worksheet
Copy this and fill one column per gym. Use minutes for times and your own figures for costs.
| Line | Gym A | Gym B | Gym C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting point used | |||
| Hour tested | |||
| Drive there (minutes) | |||
| Parking (minutes) | |||
| Car to floor (minutes) | |||
| Drive back (minutes) | |||
| Total per visit | |||
| Visits planned per week | |||
| Weekly total | |||
| Weekly tolls and parking | |||
| Meets my must-haves? |
Worked example: what a longer trip costs
These are illustrative figures, not real gyms. Say Gym A totals 30 minutes per visit, door to floor and back, and Gym B totals 70. You plan four sessions a week.
| Line | Gym A | Gym B |
|---|---|---|
| Per visit, there and back | 30 minutes | 70 minutes |
| Per week, at four visits | 2 hours | 4 hours 40 minutes |
| Per year, over 48 weeks | 96 hours | 224 hours |
The extra 128 hours a year is the obvious cost. The hidden one is attendance. When a session costs over an hour in the car, it is easy to skip on a tired day, and four planned visits slide to three. That is a quarter of your training gone, on top of the time.
Run the same sums with your own numbers. If the longer trip buys something you need, such as a women-only section or coaching you cannot get elsewhere, it may be worth it. If it buys only a nicer lobby, it probably is not. To set the trip against the price, carry these visit numbers into the membership value worksheet.
Convenience comes after your must-haves
A short trip to a gym that lacks what you need is still a wasted trip. Use this order.
- Remove any gym that misses a must-have, such as a women-only section, a coached programme or the equipment for your sport.
- Check opening hours against your week, including shorter Friday hours and Ramadan timetables.
- Rank the gyms that remain by weekly total from the worksheet.
- Break a close tie on facilities, using a side-by-side facility comparison.
- Run the numbers again if your office, your home or the school run changes.
Filling in RPM's column
RPM Gym is one club, on Level 4 of AD HUB Sports Complex in Al Manhal on Abu Dhabi island. There is free on-site parking and a lift to Level 4, so for RPM the parking line is about the walk from your space rather than a street search. Test the drive from your own starting point at your hour, as you would for any gym on your list.
Be honest with the result. If you live off the island and train before work, a gym on your side of the bridges may score better, and the worksheet will show it. RPM opens early in the morning and late into the evening, with shorter Friday hours, so check that your hour falls inside them.
Questions, answered.
How far is too far for a gym?
There is no fixed distance. What matters is the weekly total and whether the trip fits a routine you will keep. If the trip regularly puts you off going, it is too far for you.
Should I choose a gym by home or by work?
By where you will be just before you train. If most sessions start from the office, measure from the office, even if home feels like the obvious answer.
Does a gym in a mall count as convenient?
It can, but include the mall car park, the walk through the mall and the weekend crowds in your timing. Some mall entrances also keep shorter hours than the gym inside.
What if my routine changes in summer or Ramadan?
Fill in the worksheet again for that period. Ramadan changes both traffic and gym timetables, and the summer school holidays change the morning roads.