A Gym Lover's Dilemma in Tel Aviv

Back home in Philadelphia I had a gym membership ever since my freshman year in college.  While completing my Bachelor's Degree I attended the University gym, which was by far the nicest and least expensive gym I've ever used (sure it was highly subsidized from alumni donations and because of my tuition, but still an amazing gym.  Was actually like four gyms, but what do you expect when you have a college campus of 40,000+).  My most recent gym back home, Planet Fitness, was also great, as it had everything that I needed for a great workout , was open 24/7 and only cost $10/month! Here's what it looks like on the inside:

If you can just get past the purple and yellow color scheme then you'll see that it's an excellent gym for an amazing price.

And that brings us to Tel Aviv.  I've been inside a number of gyms and Tel Aviv, and haven't been able to find one for less than 200 Shekels/month (equivalent to $50 USD/month!).  Most of these gyms are far smaller and more limiting than the gyms back home, and at a minimum of 200 NIS/month (most of them are closer to 300 NIS/month) it's difficult for me to justify the cost.

In addition, a smaller gym means that it's more crowded, which takes the joy out of exercising because you feel like you have no room to move and breathe.  Plus, most gyms that I've been to are not properly cleaned, which just grosses me out.

My alternative has been the outdoor Tel Aviv Gyms.  Although they don't have all the fancy weight machines or free weights they provide plenty of nice body weight resistance machines and tools that could let anyone get a nice workout.  I primarily go for the pull-up and dip bars for a nice upper body workout.  Check out some of the prime spots in Tel Aviv for these outdoors gyms:

As you can see, these are better than nothing, but still not complete solutions for those of you who like weight training.  I'm not at the point where I'm debating going back to the workouts that gave me my best results ever, which were free weight workouts at home.  In the past when I dabbled with DVD workouts like P90X and Insanity I felt great and had excellent results.

I like the versatility of a gym, and not having to buy and hold my own equipment is also nice, but it's so difficult for me to justify the cost for the tiny and dirty gyms in Tel Aviv.  Yes there are nice ones like the gym next to the Gordon Pool and Holmes Place in Dizengoff Center, and I know that I'll continue to debate this over and over, but for me a gym membership here just isn't worth it.  Hopefully I'll find the creative workout solution for me soon :)  Gym lovers beware, as Tel Aviv gyms will drain your patience and bank accounts.