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by Benjamin1147 » Fri, 08 Mar 2013 9:40 am
So I just wanted to give my input on a couple of gyms I've tried over the past month. So far I've had trials at fitness first paragon, California fitness orchard, and sky fitness at harbor front.
Fitness first paragon
Pros: The gym is very well maintained and everything is very clean. There is a good amount of cardio equipment, and a complete set of free weights and barbells. There’s towel service and free gym clothes if needed – everything was clean and felt relatively new.
Cons: the place gets really crowded, this gets really frustrating as there isn't a lot duplicates of their equipment so waiting is inevitable. This also means in the weights area you can feel really packed in. I also find the design of the gym sort of ridiculous; there's as much or more space devoted to a lounge area as there is for a free weight area. The place also gets pretty messy; people don’t always rack their weights or return their equipment to the proper location. Some of the amenities I find entirely unnecessary: free flow of coke and movie rentals for example.
Price I was offered: $100 in joining fees $136 a month
California fitness orchard
Pros: this was the biggest gym in Singapore I've been to so far, so there' a good amount of space and plenty of equipment. I can’t think of any weights or machines I wanted and couldn't find here. The gym is relatively well kept, I wouldn't say it was spotless but it was clean enough for me to not be bothered by anything.
Cons: The place gets really crowded. The worst thing though, and this is a huge pet peeve of mine, is people often don't rack their weights and the place becomes a huge mess. I find it so disrespectful to everyone else working out to not clean up after yourself. There are horror stories on forums of overly aggressive salespeople; I think they’re a bit exaggerated but they will try to sell you. When I first came in for my trial, after about 15 minutes of admin work they spent about 30-45 minutes giving me a tour, trying to sell me a membership, asking if I was interested in PT sessions or classes, and taking my body fat % (unexpected and I can’t verify the accuracy but interesting). While I thought it was a waste of time, continuously telling them I wasn’t interested got them to back off pretty easily. I also didn’t give them my actual phone number.
Price I was offered: $70 a month for 18 month contract paid up front (you can sign up online for $90 a month no contract)
Sky fitness
Pros: This gym is very clean and organized. Everything is where it should be and the facilities are well maintained. This was also the least crowded of all the gyms I went to; given I generally avoided peak times. For me, they had all the equipment I would need.
Cons: It’s really quite small, and I imagine during peak hours this can become an issue. Really though, it was just way too far away from work and my home to be practical.
Price: I only used a month long groupon, and didn’t bother getting a rate because of how impractical the location was for me