Few people train at three in the morning. The main use of 24-hour access is more ordinary than that.

The sessions it saves

Think about how a gym session usually dies. You planned to go after work. Work ran forty minutes over. By the time you get home it is quarter past six, the gym closes at seven, and it is not worth the drive for twenty minutes. So you do not go, and then the same thing happens on Thursday.

With fixed opening hours, every late finish costs you a session, and over a year that adds up. With member access at any hour, the session just moves later.

Most of the sessions a 24 hour gym saves are ordinary ones a late finish would have cancelled.

Who it changes things for

  • Shift workers. If your start time moves every week, no fixed opening hours will ever line up with it. This is the clearest case there is.
  • Anyone in seasonal work. Through crushing the day stretches out and the only spare hour might be before dawn. In the wet it is completely different again.
  • Parents. The window is whenever the kids are handled, and that window moves daily.
  • People who hate crowds. Quiet hours exist and you are allowed to use them. For a nervous beginner this is worth more than any piece of equipment.

Who it does not matter much for

If you work regular hours and would train at half past five in the afternoon anyway, 24-hour access is a convenience. Judge a gym on what is on the floor, how far away it is and the price.

Access is not staffing

Twenty-four hour access does not mean twenty-four hour staffing. Outside staffed hours there is nobody to ask a question, show you a machine or spot you on a heavy lift.

Practically, that means two things. If you are new, do your first several sessions when someone is around, and get shown the floor properly before you start training at odd hours. And if you train alone late, be sensible about what you attempt. A near-failure set with nobody in the building is not the time to find out where your limit is.

So, is it worth it?

If your hours move, yes. If your hours are fixed, it is a convenience, and other things should decide it.

At Get Fit Burdekin, members get in with a fob or the GymMaster app at any hour, and staff are on site Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings and Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.

24 hour gym Home Hill sets out what is on the floor and how access works, or ring 0457 067 391 and ask whatever you want to know.