What Do I Have Against Commercial Gyms?

Many commercial gyms are a big part of the problems in the fitness industry. Notice I didn't say all. There are definitely some good gyms out there but to paraphrase Bruce Lee " 90% of commercial gyms are baloney" ( or some stronger words ).
Actually in most cases the gyms philosophy of training isn't the problem. The one exception I can think of is Planet Fitness ( aka Planet Fit less or Planet Fatness ).Their so called " judgement free zone " is really a no progress zone. Seriously, alarms going off when you exhale, staff rushing up to you when you do a strenuous lift. While everyone doesn't need to dead lift double their body weight , doing only light lifts always will definitely not improve anything. In fact, it's a way of keeping people out of shape, and thus constantly dependent on the gym.
The 2 biggest problems with most gyms are the trainers and equipment. Most trainers are poorly paid and make their money through commissions ,thus the often high pressure sales pitch . Also, most trainers themselves only know accepted ideas ( work every body part individually, static stretch before you work out,etc. ) and have limited real world experience  using fitness( competitive athlete, military vet, first responder ) .
The other problem is the equipment most modern gyms have . 90 % of  the equipment are machines . As I've mentioned in previous posts , machines take away your supporting muscles , move you through the same range of motion every time, etc. Seriously, it doesn't mean anything if you can do 100 pec deck flyes. On the other hand , a double body weight bench press or 100 push ups takes serious effort and will work your chest , triceps, and many supporting muscles . There are a few reasons for all the machines. They're much easier to use so gym owners get those. Also like the trainers I mentioned earlier, many gym owners have wrong ideas about what works. Finally, they can get more clients in a gym with machines. Free weights on the hand are not as appealing to much of the public. This gets to their bottom line, the gyms profits. They want alot of clients , and if they can get them to take a personal trainer that's even better for the gym. They want to get as many people as they can, and get them in and out of the gym .
Part of the problem is also the public's perception of what works. Often some people won't even hire a trainer if they don't work in a gym. I guess they never heard of  Pavel Tsatsouline, Stew Smith ,  or Mike Mahler . All those guys have proven themselves athletically many times over ,Smith in particular in his 7 1/2 years as a SEAL. These guys also don't work for any gyms  ( although they do sometimes hold seminars in a gym ). Most of Smith's work outs are in fact done in parks.
Now there are definitely good gyms with good trainers in them. Crossfit Witchita,Tx. has strength coach Mark Rippetoe for example. Pat Flynn works out of the Dragon Gym in Pa. Clearly there are exceptions. The problem is finding the good ones if you want a gym. Many good trainers will work with you at your house, the park,etc. But if you don't want a trainer and just want to work out on your own here are a few things to look for. Make sure the gym has lots of free weights. You would also probably want a bench and squat rack although these may be unnecessary. Other useful things would be kettle bells and dumb bells. Depending on your goals you may want to look for specific things like a heavy bag ( for boxing and martial arts ) and a pool ( obviously for swimming ).
I'm not trying to scare you but I'm trying to show you the facts , saving you some big money in the process and hopefully still reaching your goals.