World Gym

Winter on the west side is short on daylight and long on grey afternoons, which is when indoor training stops being optional for a lot of people. Summer poses the opposite problem: the lake, the trails around Rose Valley and the shoreline walkway at Gellatly Bay all compete for the same hour, and a training routine has to fit around them rather than the reverse.

Fitness floors vary more than their signage suggests, so the questions worth asking are specific ones. Find out what the room actually holds in free weights, machines and open space, whether classes are included or charged separately, how staffed hours work, and what a membership commits you to before signing anything. Ask when the place is busiest as well, since somewhere comfortable at ten in the morning can be a queue at six in the evening. If you are new to training, ask what an introduction involves and whether someone will walk you through the equipment. And if January is your starting point, expect company, because the first weeks of the year fill every gym in the valley.