Fitness First,,,,,,,chocolate after???! (Fitness First in General)

Member Name: nazc1

Product:	Fitness First in General
Date:	09/08/09 (166 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: V relaxed atmosphere without to many posers!

Disadvantages: The extra cost of personal trainers and some classes

I was a member of a gym before I got pregnant but for one reason or another I quit. I always had the intentions of rejoining but with no time and less money after my little bundle of joy arrived it kind of got way laid! 2 years down the line and I couldn't put it off any longer! We have about 5/6 gyms in our town but after much debating I decided to opt for Fitness First. Before we go any further into the review I just want to state that although some information is generic my primary review is on our club in Kidderminster as I haven't visited any of the others.

I first went for a look and was shown round by one of the sales team who was very useful and answered any questions I had. He showed us all the facilities which I will briefly list below, I'm pretty sure after looking at their website that these facilities are available in most clubs.

LOUNGE AREA: This is an area near to reception which has comfy sofas and stools for you to relax in after your work out (or build you up to a work out I guess!) There are complimentary papers to read and also soft drinks, tea and coffee for you to have, all free of charge. In this area there is also an extensive DVD library that you can borrow from. You use your membership card and can 'rent' a DVD free for 24 hours.

BEAUTY ROOM - Here an independent therapist works providing all sorts of therapies and beauty treatments. These are at additional cost but there is a price list outside so you don't have to feel embarrassed asking how much things cost and then saying no!

CHANGING ROOMS: Obviously separate male and female changing rooms, each of which have mainly open areas for changing but also some cubicles. There is lots of space here and plenty of lockers, these are activated by your membership card so you don't have to remember a 20p all the time! They also have an ironing board and iron, as well as lighted mirrors and hairdryers for your use.
The shower area is cubicles for privacy and provides complimentary shower gel etc. I have always found them to be very clean and in good condition

SAUNA AND STEAM ROOM: Speaks for itself but nice to relax here after a work out. Beware though that both sexes share this area!

AROMATHERAPY ROOM: This is similar to a steam room so is kept to about 30/35 degrees but they have soft fibre optic lighting in here and introduce lavender, rosemary and pine scents into the room to help calm and relax you! Good if you've got a cold but can be a little overwhelming until you acclimatise!

SUNBEDS: These are an optional extra which I have never used but I believe them to be stand up ones. You pay for you minutes at reception and use them as and when you like. Apparently according to the signs in the gym sunbed sessions are more effective after a work out but I'll take their word for it!

GYM: The gym area itself is very open and spacious. There is the CV section where the rowing machines, treadmills, X trainers, bikes and steppers are all situated and then to the side there are the machine weights (sorry that's not the proper term but you know what I mean!) There are lots to choose from helping every muscle you can think of (and even ones you didn't know you had!) Then there is a free weights area which I've never used because it tends to be the proper body builder blokes that go there!
They have a lot of other pieces of equipment you'd expect in a gym too like mats, dumbbells, steps, core training globes etc etc.
There is also an area with scales and machines that tell you your BMI, fat % etc and I tend to visit this once a month to spot any differences!
There is a 'cardio theatre' which makes use of the 6/7 flat screen TV's situated in front of all the CV equipment that has 16 TV and music channels and each piece of CV equipment has a control that you can plug headphones into and pick what you want to watch or listen to. There tends to be a mixture of your usual BBC programmes, sports channels and music channels as well as Fitness First TV which plays their own mix of music and has the odd advertisement feature and health section from Dr Hilary Jones!

Upstairs (with access via stairs or a lift) there are more machine assisted weights as well as equipment along with:

SPIN ROOM - This is a room dedicated to Spin classes which in brief is a really good way to loose weight and tome up, burning up to 1000 calories in an hour! You use a bike, altering the tension throughout the session, either in a sitting, standing or pumping position to great music!

LADIES ONLY ROOM: This room has a couple of pieces of equipment that are in the main gym but is for ladies only to use. I found this especially useful until I'd built up a bit more confidence or if you're just having one of those days where you feel a bit self conscious!

STUDIO - This is a large room that holds most of the classes offered by the gym. The classes range and tend to fall into categories focusing on active, strength, mind and body as well as feature classes.
Examples of classes are Abs, circuits, boxercise, yoga, belly dancing and pole dancing!

A couple of other things to mention are FREE parking which is fantastic and some gyms have a crèche facility (mine hasn't thought it would be great if it did!)

On looking round I decided this was the gym for me. I was impressed by the facilities they had and it was very clean and well laid out. But I think what convinced me the most was the ATMOSPHERE in the club. I had been a member in a couple of gyms before and although I'm relatively slim, I am not V fit so when I was attempting to run etc I did feel a bit stupid! In Fitness First there was a wide range of people, ages, sizes and abilities all working out side by side. There are of course a few posers, as you get anywhere but these are few and far between. I would never run on a treadmill at other gyms I've been to as after a few minutes Id have to stop and I always thought the person next to me who'd been running hours and hadn't even broke a sweat would look down on me but I don't know why, I just didn't feel like this here. I started by only being able to run for 1 minute and I've gradually worked it up at my own pace and am getting much better!

Now came the most important part, PRICE! On line it lists about 7 types of memberships available but doesn't give you any prices. It tells you to contact your local club. I wont describe them all but some things that differ from each are the length of contract (from 3-12 months) whether membership is reciprocal or not (I.e. can you use any Fitness First gym or just your home club) also do you have unlimited access any time of the day or during restricted times? My club is open from 6:30am to 9:30pm Mon to Fri and 8amto 7pm on the weekends and I can go anytime but I know some memberships are limited to 9am to 4pmish.
There are special memberships available for students, over 55's and corporate establishments.
I would say it is worth haggling as this is what I did and managed to get £10 a month of the price although I did have to join up with a longer contract.
Also wait until there is a free joining offer as if not you can end up paying £25 just to join. They do tend to waive the fee on a lot of their special offers so I'm sure if you mention it they might be lenient!
On joining I got a free backpack with gym towel and water bottle and an umbrella (all plastered with the Fitness First logo but hey it was free!)

DISADVANTAGES: As I stated previously I can only comment on my local club so you would be worth checking on these things maybe before you join.
Recently things have changed in our club so that, as I understand it the personal trainers are self employed. This means where as in some gyms you can ask for a programme and someone will help you out etc here you have to buy personal training sessions. These tend to be about £15 for half hour so it does work out quite expensive. There are some offers available to cheapen this option but it is a big down point. For me personally, as Id been to gyms before I kind of just made up my own programme but if you were new to the machines etc and didn't have a trainer there's a tendency to sort of get lost and just wonder round without a real purpose meaning you wont meet your goals as well.
There are many classes available, I would say in a week there's about 38 but the more popular ones do tend to be at extra cost. Roughly I would say 7/8 of the classes in the week are pay classes which is a shame as it does tend to put people off as obviously an extra £5 a week say adds up on top of your standard membership fee as well.
For the price you might end up paying here you can also go to a gym with a swimming pool as well.

In summary I would say the gym has a good range of equipment and facilities and a relaxed atmosphere but if you want to take advantage of the more 'fun' aspects of the gym it can end up costing you more.

If you're thinking of joining I suggest you visit www.fitnessfirst.co.uk and take advantage of the free 1 day guest pass offer they have so you can try before you buy!

Summary: A good gym for people who just want to get fit