World Gym - Almost World Class
Written: Aug 03 '01 (Updated Jan 23 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: A lot of equipment; a great cardio vascular area.
Cons: No bottled water, small ab/stretch area.
The Bottom Line: I definitely recommend World Gym. The equipment is top notch. The facility is clean, the price is good as are the hours.
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| jo.com's Full Review: World Gym |
After several months of indecision, my husband and I left the gym we have been member at for almost 2 years and joined World Gym. It wasn’t an easy decision because we knew many people at our previous gym and were not sure how comfortable we would be at World Gym. As it turns out many people are coming over to World Gym from our old one!
Before I review the gym itself I want to tell you that there were a few reasons we left our former gym. World is less expensive, it is brand new and the staff is nicer. More about each later. The World Gym I am reviewing is in Plymouth, MA. “World Gym Fitness Centers are a Franchisee of World Gym International, Inc. and is independently owned and operated.” In addition, not all locations offer the same programs or equipment. I have written a review on how to choose a gym and I would suggest you read that before you join any gym or read other reviews on the topic and on World Gym, in general since they do vary.
In addition I would suggest you do what we did. We toured the facility once; we worked out there once at a different time than we toured it and then we took them up on their current promotion which is one-week free. Again, that may be for my location only because the Plymouth location is new. It opened last fall.
One reason World costs less than our previous gym is because it does not offer a pool, racquetball court or basketball court in the Plymouth location. If you are in this area and looking for those amenities, this is not the gym for you.
What do I like about World Gym in Plymouth?
1. The weight training equipment: It is phenomenal. Of course it is all brand new new, but much of the equipment is leased which means that ripped pads and broken equipment will be more quickly fixed or replaced than equipment a gym owns. At least that has been my experience with the many gyms I have belonged to or in which I worked.
•The work out machines include brand names such as Cybex, Hammer Strength and Icarian.
•They have 2 complete sets of free weights plus another set of light weights meaning we have never had to wait for a dumbbell. Many of the machines are duplicates, for example there are two seated leg extension machines, 2 lying hamstring machines (as well as a seated hamstring machine) and 2 machine bicep machines. There are 5 different leg press machines! In addition there are 2 crossover cable machines with every imaginable piece of equipment to attach to a cable and 4 Cybex stations! World Gym in Plymouth has plenty of benches. Again we have never had to wait for a bench.
•The whole floor is made of rubber so it is comfortable to stand on and tripping over carpet won’t happen! World Gym in Plymouth is set up with one huge room with the equipment set up in it primarily in areas that work various body parts. For example on the wall it will say biceps and that is where you will find the bicep machines and dumbbells, for the most part. Of course you can work your biceps on the cable machine also so I am generalizing somewhat so you can get the layout. You’ll see around the wall shoulders, chest and back areas again finding most of the equipment in those areas. It is quite user friendly, however if you are new to a gym, you will need to be walked through all the equipment.
2. The cardiovascular equipment: There are about 50 different cardio machines including elliptical trainers, treadmills, bikes, rowers, Nordic tracks and stairclimbers. All the equipment is Cybex except for the elliptical trainers, which are Precor. (That is unfortunate because epinions only machine to review under Cybex is the treadmill, which I reviewed at my old gym!)
•In addition to the fabulous equipment they have 8 televisions which are hooked up to a gadget on each machine. Just plug in your headphones and you can watch 8 different channels and/ or you can read what is being said at the bottom of the TV.
3. Other amenities:
•child care
ה tanning booths
•A juice bar where both smoothies and bottled drinks are sold.
4. Other rooms:
•World Gym in Plymouth has a cute boxing area, which is a room with speed bags, heavy bags and double ended bags. The walls are decorated with tasteful graffiti!
•There is a fabulous private circuit training area in which you will find every piece of equipment needed to work every body part, some cardio machines and a set of light weights. Many people who are new like to work out 3 days a week and work their whole body at one time. This is ideal for that. It is also ideal for people who may be intimidated by the huge work out room, the people weightlifting or older people who may not feel comfortable in the larger room. Let me say, though, that we are older and many of our friends who now go there are older and we work out in the big room. That was one issue we were agonizing over before we joined.
We wondered how comfortable we would be since World Gym attracts a younger crowd than our old gym. One friend said this, “You can use it to intimidate you or to inspire you.” I thought those were wonderful words and although hard at times to know I will never be 25 again (or 35 or 45!) I use it to work harder (except I have a shoulder injury, but that’s another story.)
I have also seen young men work out in the circuit room so really it attracts everyone for a variety of reasons.
5. The lounges: I can speak about the women’s changing area and can ditto it for the men's through my husband.
•The lounge is always clean. It has plenty of toilets and showers including wheelchair accessible amenities.
•I love the fact that in each shower they have nice shampoo, conditioner and body wash (versus my old gym which had one all-purpose industrial strength liquid) and by the sink there is mouthwash, hand wash and lotion.
•There are hair dryers and you can rent a towel for $1.00. You don’t want to know how many times I have forgotten towels in the past!
•The women’s lounge has a sauna; the men’s lounge has a steam room. I am not sure why. When I asked I was told that women seemed to like saunas and vice versa. I’m not sure that is true, but that’s what we have. In addition to the lockers there is an area in the gym itself where you can store your gym bag or whatever you have brought if you don’t want to use a locker.
6. The classes:
•There is a separate room for spinning classes with brand new bikes. There is a fee of $10.00 per month for unlimited spinning classes.
•The aerobics room is huge with classes such as Yoga, Pilates, Kickboxing, body sculpting and step classes.
7. The price:
World Gym has been saying since at least December of 2000 that the price they are offering would end at the end of the month. They say that each month but the price has remained the same. In other words they say it is a special, but the special seems to be continuing.
•The fee is $39.99 for an individual membership or $35.00 each if there are two of you (I have no idea how the define a couple.). So it costs us $70.00 per month and there is a one time $99.00 fee each. That sounds like a lot but it is less than our other gym and that $70 is for life. They can never raise the price on us. We do need to give 2 months notice if we leave but can take a leave for up to 3 months for $10.00 month if we were going away or couldn’t work out.
There is another gym in the area that costs $25.00 per month. My daughter belonged to it when she lived with us and we did visit it when we were looking into gyms. I found the equipment to be less than adequate and would prefer to pay for excellent equipment.
8. The hours:
Monday - Friday 5:30am to 10pm
Saturday and Sunday 7:00am to 6:00pm
What I don’t like about World Gym in Plymouth:
1. There is only a bubbler. There is not bottled water for the taking or filtered water like our old gym had. I am hoping that at some point that changes.
2. The abdominal area could be better. There are two ab machines in the workout room and a small separate area for ab work but there is just one ab machine (roller type but off the floor), a couple of benches, a device to do hanging leg raises and balls. There definitely needs to be at least one more roller type machine or ab rollers.
In addition, unless the cardio room is free this is where you stretch and there are mats if you want. There really isn’t enough room for more than 1/2 dozen people to be using the ab equipment while people are stretching so they need to rethink this area.
3. One thing I disliked about our previous gym was the number of staff and trainers that stood around doing nothing. The opposite is true here. There should be one person, at least on the floor at all times and the only time I have seen a staff person is giving a tour or doing personal training. This is a mistake and hopefully there will be floor staff added. Also we were never asked if we needed to be shown the equipment. I have never been to a gym (even during a visit this happens at other gyms) where someone doesn’t go around with you and work up a program. I would not have opted for that but they should have asked us if we wanted a workout planned for us. There is one piece of equipment I have never seen and in order to know how to use it I would have to go out of my way to track down someone to show me. This is a negative for sure.
In conclusion: I am very happy at World Gym and am glad we switched. There are some flaws so it won’t get a 5 star rating, but I will give it a 4. There are some new classes that have popped up that World is not offering yet and there is some additional state of the art equipment that we don't have but what we do have is more than adequate. In addition, although not a negative for most, it is not a 24-hour a day gym. If you have any questions I haven’t addressed, feel free to e-mail me.
You may be interested in reading:
How to Choose a Health Club
Curves for Women
Recommended:
Yes
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