Get fit before xmas!!! (Esporta Health Clubs (Guildford))

Member Name: lm4amf

Product:	Esporta Health Clubs (Guildford)
Date:	06/10/05 (1194 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: No pain no gain

Disadvantages: not the cheapest gym around

Opened in September 2004 the Esporta Guildford is the newest of the company's health and fitness clubs.

I never really planned to join as I had heard whisperings about £200 joining fees and monthly rates of £80+ per person but my boyfriend joined on a corporate deal and I went along a couple of times as a guest with his free passes.

I've since joined for £55 per month because we are a couple and get a discount for joint membership and I told the sales rep I couldn't see the point of a joining fee so I wasn't charged one!

That's enough about me, I'm sure you want to know what's inside. The club seems quite small from the outside but is really a tardis in disguise. It comprises of;

Downstairs
a cafe - serving Costa Coffee and a range of breakfast cereals snacks and drinks, soft and alcoholic which is an added bonus when you want to drown your sorrows after a mad day at the office!
2 treatment rooms - I've not had any treatments myself but I've heard brilliant reports from other members about the 'hot stone' therapy and prices and treatments are what you would expect from and beauty parlour.
male, female and family/disables changing rooms - a changing room is a changing room hey? There is a sun shower in each though which is pretty handy as the last gym I was a member of has a separate room with a bed which took longer and sparked my claustrophobia.
pool - fairly small but it is split into lanes and is fine for swimming lengths
sauna - the sauna is much like any other except you can't control the temperature yourself with this one as the water on stones is done automatically behind the scenes
steam room - mmmm smells of essential oils! a word of warning though, don't use last thing in the evening as it tends to get a bit stale and sweaty.
spa - my favourite! This spa is absolutely huge, with plenty of jets and bubbly bits! I have been known to sit in the spa for an hour at a time and the lights on the ceiling change from green to blue (and back again) so it's all too easy to unwind and forget about.....well everything really.
Upstairs
gym - the gym area takes up most of the upstairs and is divided more or less in half. At the front half you have all the treadmills, cross trainers and bikes. There are 8 flat, wide-screen TVs with 4 different channels that you can watch (bring your head phones along as you can plug yourself in to most of the equipment for the volume).
At the back half you have all the weights equipment, benches, balls and a huge mat for yoga and floor exercise.
2 consultation rooms - I've not ventured in yet myself but some of the instructors use them for one to one consultations (funnily enough)
2 class rooms - there are heaps of classes every day of the week and you can book your place with reception. To make things fair you can only book up to a week in advance so be quick if you hope to go to the same class every week because they fill up in no time. I've found the Pilates especially good and Sunday morning classes tend to stay on the empty side.
spinning room - otherwise known as the torture room. Honestly if you think biking up a mountain on a hot summer's day then you're there, exhausting!

The staff are all really friendly. They make an effort to get to know everyone by name and the fitness instructors will go out of their way to make you feel like the hard work is paying off.

Opening hours during the week are 7am until 10pm (last entry for swimming at 9.30) and 8am until 9pm (last swimming 8.30) at the weekend. This does change slightly for holiday times but the reception do a good job of letting everyone know in good time.

I guess it's quite important to mention car parking, there is a lot of space but it gets full by about half six. However, Budgens is just next door and many of the nearby offices are closed by this time so I have seen people parking round the corner in the office spaces.

I hope I've let you know everything you need to, my days are Monday, Thursday and Saturday if anyone wants to have a giggle at me being red in the face!

(also in my ciao profile)

Summary: DEfinately worth a shot although you have to join up for 12 months so be aware of the cost.