Amateur Review
Written: Mar 26 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: equipment availability, locations, hours of operation
Cons: Claustrophobic stretching areas, big crowd
The Bottom Line: It's a good gym with good hours and attractive rates that is good enough to try at least once.
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| videodude's Full Review: 24 Hour Fitness |
Consider this, you've spent eight hours sitting in the trenches of modern day office life, and you're itching to get out of there and feel more proactive. So, naturally the closest thing you can do without harming yourself too much, is go to the gym. Thus, that's what my routine was five days a week, was to get my butt to the gym to feel more active and feel good about myself. Thus, I picked 24 Hour Fitness.
Now this is a review of 24 Hour Fitness on Van Ness avenue in San Francisco, one of the biggest streets in the Bay Area that expands for nearly throughout the entire city, if not, it does. Aside from using two other gyms, I must say 24 Hour Fitness was an exceptional gym: the equipment availability, the locations, and the hours. I mean, seriously, it's open twenty four hours a day with the exception of holidays. Truth be told, it's nice that the gym is open at 3am, but you'd have to be a diehard musclehead to want to work out at that time, not to mention have the energy. If it were 3am and I were lifting weights, I'd be drooling face down on a bench press machine catching my Z's, rather than building up my muscle endurance.
The 24 Hour Fitness location on Van Ness avenue has plenty to offer with great staff, lots of equipment, and even a nice scenic view of Van Ness avenue. There are two floors in this location, both full of Nautilus equipment and machines for everyday use.
SECOND FLOOR
It's on the second floor that you can find a selection of free weights placed against the wall and a collection of benches. Now, I'm certainly no expert to weightlifting and I won't have the desire. But there are about three or four areas which are used to lift weights with that can work all parts of the upper body. These are in every gym, but like I said, I possess no expertise of weightlifting machines.
Prominently in the middle of the floor, are nautilus machines, and there are PLENTY of them that can work all parts of your body. There are like three different machines that can work three different parts of your legs. Perhaps the drawback to these machines however, is the way their placed. There's no room to particularly stretch and it feels closed in, rather than roomy. Think of it as an organized collection, which it most certainly is. One thing I found off putting, as the lower back device, which I could only really find one, and it's quite a popular machine.
Also located on the second floor are the locker rooms which are nice, but be advised, you most certainly should bring a lock with you. There are TV's in these rooms so while you can change and watch TV. The shower rooms are open and it may seem a little invasive on your privacy if you want to shower on your own. Also connecting is a co-ed hot tub/steam room for people. I never used it.
The one thing I find uncomfortable is the stretching area. There are two hallways on both sides of the floor, that are rather small. The only devices that can be used for stretching is either the metal fence that constructs part of the window, or the mats. It's kind of difficult to do your stretch when your banished to the back of the hallway.
FIRST FLOOR
The first floor is where all the Nautilus machines are. It's great that you can always find a machine because someone will always be getting off. There are cycling machines for your legs, a good lineup of treadmills, as well as free runners to work your body. Not to mention a selection of bikes and stairmasters. Also featured on the first floor are more Nautilus machines. But the second floor contains everything Nautilus. You can use a chest press machine, an obliques machine, back machine, and back legs machine.
RATES
The rates are expensive. I signed on for three months at $125, but I know there are prices that may seem a bit more steep. The rate I signed on was for a beginner's introduction package.
OVERALL IMPRESSION
I find 24 Hour Fitness to be a great gym. When signing on, new members are given two personal training sessions which are free. The trainers were great and I had one that was very passionate and taught me more about fitness than I knew in a year. They also offer lessons for $50 for 18 lessons which is a great price. But for one thing, 24 Hour Fitness really isn't a family gym. It's more akin to being a single's place as the average age would be 40. I can't recall seeing anyone older than that age. Some of it's female members even wear makeup when working out to attract men, and it does work wonders. It's more like a meat market as the place has it's share of attractive people.
If you were to go to the gym during the workday, and not after it, it's great because it's not crowded. But as soon as 5pm hits, the place is remarkably crowded and your chances of getting a good workout look pretty slim. There's a Jamba Juice bar located on the first floor for anyone looking to get their wheat grass fix.
SHORT CONCLUSION
It's a great gym to join if you're a young single and want a good workout. For others, it may seem isolating, despite the gym's decent prices. But I would recommend 24 Hour Fitness because it has a lot of great features that other gyms don't possess.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
videodude
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 in Hotels & Travel |
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Location: South Shore Massachusetts
Reviews written: 473
Trusted by: 21 members
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