My husband and I moved to Washington in October from California, and decided to buy a gym membership. Since I’m in the Navy, we do have access to the gym facilities on base, but we decided that the hours and location from home were too inconvenient, so we went to Bally’s.

The salesman gave us a tour of the facilities and took us into their office to look at different membership selections. The salesman was very nice, but he was there for one purpose, and on purpose only, and that’s to sign us up today. Both of us are very active, so we didn’t feel the need to get a membership that included personal training sessions, and he was very good about not pushing us to upgrade. We ended up getting the Platinum Membership, which is one of the plans with the least amount of “extra’s”. This plan includes:

Use of all local Bally Total Fitness clubs* (all days, all hours)

New member first workout with a certified personal trainer.

Unlimited access to our most popular group exercise classes

Special family add-on discounts

For a list of all membership plans, you can check out this webpage: https://opal.ballyfitness.com/join/membership_plans/

I didn’t really like the idea of signing a one year contract, but I know that I do work out regularly and am not going to be the type of person to purchase a membership and not go to the gym after a month or two, so I purchased it. It is a little pricey, however. For my husband and I to get a joint account, we put $100 down, and pay $78 for the first twelve months, and after that we pay $30 something dollars a month.

Now, there are two different Bally’s gyms within 15 minutes of my house, one north and one south. The differences between these two gyms are huge. This may be something to consider if you’re looking into joining Bally’s because not everyone has the option to go to a different facility. The two locations nearest me are in Everett and Lynnwood.

I’ll start off with my favorite of the two, Everett. The numerical statistics from the website say that they have “over 83 pieces of cardiovascular equipment, 98 pieces of resistance training equipment,” and “The latest group exercise classes including Yoga, Pilates Mat, Kwando® and SPINNING® in one studio(s).”

To me, this gym is near perfect for working out. They have great, new equipment, and a fair amount of space to do so in. It’s always immaculately clean, and the locker rooms are fresh smelling. I have no complaints with the equipment or staff, but there are a few things I wish were different. I wish this facility had a pool. I am a lifeguard and former competitive swimmer, and still like to do laps from time to time. They do, however, have a whirlpool and a sauna. They keep the whirlpool at “hottest temperature allowable by law”, as the salesman explained to me. I like it really hot, so I thought that this would be great, but as I soon found out, there is such a thing as painfully hot. However, the size of this thing is huge, and it is kept clean.

The sauna is right behind the whirlpool/hot tub. My biggest complaint with it, is the layout. It’s not an enclosed, peaceful sauna. It’s basically no different than a wooden set of bleachers. How comfortable is that? And the worst part is, you’re sitting on these sauna “bleachers” right in front of a glass window overlooking the gym. Everyone goes by walking in and out of the locker rooms, and everyone who is working out, is staring right at you!! I can’t stand that!

But, overall, for working out this gym is great. Other features which make this gym a great facility are the state of the art tanning booths, an excellent juice bar where they also sell supplements, nutrition bars and such, and not to mention that they sell their own brand (and other name brand) workout gear. But, as I’m sure you’d expect, it is overpriced.

Now, on to the Lynnwood facility. I can’t stand this gym. The only reason I go there is because they have a pool. It’s a nice pool, but they only have 2 lap swim lanes, and sometimes, there are a lot of kids who take up those lanes “swimming” when they could, just as easily be doing this in the free swim area. They also have a sauna here, which is nice and enclosed as it should be a gigantic whirlpool, and a steamroom. These are the only features which make it worth coming to for me. Others may enjoy the fact that this facility has a basketball court, a racquetball court (which you have to pay for unless you have one of the pricier membership plans) and a track upstairs.

This gym only has 47 pieces of cardiovascular equipment and 44 pieces of resistance training equipment. This doesn’t even begin to compare to the figures I quoted above! Plus, the cardio equipment they have there is mostly outdated. My favorite cardio workout is the Precor EFX 546 elliptical machine, which they do not have at Lynnwood, but luckily they do at Everett.

They supposedly offer the same classes that Everett offers, but I’ve never seen a one, whereas I see several a week at the gym in Everett. Another huge problem I have with this gym is the locker room. It completely reeks. Every time I’m there I notice a huge smell the moment I step inside. It smells like stinky feet! I suppose this is because they are more “water” based than the other gym, but there is no excuse for the smell.

Plus, there are no “extras” to this gym like the juice bar, workout clothes and tanning booths like mentioned before. They do sell the supplements here, but the selection isn’t nearly as vast as Everett. If this were the only Bally’s in my area, I would not have joined this club. So, basically, before deciding to join Bally’s check out the facilities nearest you to make sure that they are adequate and that they fit your workout need…as I’ve proven, not all clubs offer the same things!!

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.


Recommended: Yes