Duluth Fitness Centers

The Y is really nice but parking can be a pain and I've found that it's frequently too busy for its own good. On several occasions, I ended up leaving before I was able to do cardio because all the machines were taken.

Essentia Fitness is the only option besides the Y with a pool. It is adults only, no kids or day care. Parking after 5 p.m. or before 8 a.m. is easy and free on the street.

If you really want to get in shape, check out the Superior Kettlebell Gym.

I always liked Anytime Fitness because I'm pretty awkward and generally like to work out and have people leave me alone. At AF you can show up whenever works for you, no matter how early or late.

Don't know if other centers are as bad about this, but I've found Snap Fitness to be very unreasonable about suspending membership. It's a perfectly adequate gym I suppose, but buyer beware in terms of their policies if you don't expect to keep the membership active 100% of the time.

In our case, we only really need a membership in the winter. Not sure if there are any centers that are reasonable about that.

Chickonen, Essentia's Center for Personal Fitness allows you to buy daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly passes. Not sure if there are restrictions, but might be a better option if you only want to use a gym in the winter.

Superior Kettlebell Gym if you are looking to get ripped and are willing to suffer for it. That place is not for pansies!

Essentia lets you suspend your membership for the summer. You have to tell them a few weeks in advance if you are on monthly billing.

We got a family membership to the Y, but dropped it, it was such a pain in the neck. First, parking was always a hassle. Also, the kid wanted to use the treadmills and other machines -- we had to get her doctor's permission first, another hassle. She then complained that she felt she was "stared at" in the exercise room when she used the machines, so she didn't want to go anymore. And the mister never went... So now we have a treadmill at home, which works out well, especially with the crazy hours we keep.

The fitness center at Essentia sells day passes at a discount during the holiday season.  If you only want to work out during the winter a few days a week this can be a very inexpensive option and no membership fee and no committment.

It all really depends on how you want to use your gym. If you are a go, workout by yourself, and leave without anyone bothering you type of person then Anytime Fitness is perfect, and very reasonably priced.

If you like to take classes and use the pool then I would go with Essentia. It's not an extra expense to do the classes and use the pool  or hot tub.
 
Also, if you have health insurance that reimburses your membership I would check first to see which gyms participate.

Superior Kettlebell all the way!! You'll feel like you did something and Adam's not gonna run a slack class.  He's the real deal and so is his gym.

Avoid Superior Kettlebell gym if you are a beginner and new to the scene.  Adam is clueless on how to work with beginners and will do more harm than good.

That's a load of BS @xterrabuzz. Adam is RKG certified and has worked with at least a hundred beginners to safely learn KB technique.