August 14, 2007
Ask SFist: Any Good Gymnasiums?
Over on our interactive "forums" pages, socialevangelist asked:
Hey guys I was wondering what is the best gym to go workout at in San Francisco? Which offers the best amenities and a friendly staff? What gym should I avoid at all cost?
Much as with our search for a good Italian joint, we'll offer our $0.02 and then open it up to the brain trust of our readership, who probably know a hell of a lot more about this than we do.
We're members of the Embarcadero YMCA and, despite the seemingly constant construction, it's a great gym. It's got weight equipment, a full basketball court, a great pool for lap-swimming, a bunch of classes, a friendly staff, and, importantly, it's a community fixture. Your dues don't simply line peoples' pockets, they help pay for things like camp/summer programs and more for kids and disadvantaged youth.
Now, you specifically mentioned "amenities" -- at a place like the Y you aren't going to find mouthwash and shaving cream (sometimes not even soap, but we digress). We belonged for a few years to Club One, usually utilized the Mason St. or Embarcadero Center locations, and by and large liked it fine -- more up to date machines than the Y, better bathrooms (both amenities and facilities), and a more professional atmosphere. The staff in general was not as friendly as the Y. Some were great -- but we found certain trainers to be a little obnoxious, both in terms of sales tactics and demeanor. And the smaller physical spaces really get overcrowded quickly. Overall, we had a pretty good experience.
Finally, we'll mention the glorious guest membership week we spent at Equinox a few years ago, only realizing after falling in love with the pristine place that we could not really afford it after all. One of our coworkers loves and swears by it though.
Okay, gym-goers -- any further thoughts on a good gym for socialevangelist? Have any good or not-so-good experiences? Any opinions on Crunch or 24-Hour or independent gyms? Please, share it here!
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I'm a member of 24 Hour Fitness. It's dirty, overcrowded, and generally unpleasant. They do have a lot of locations, though, so that is convenient.
The JCC up at California & Presidio is pretty darn awesome.
http://www.jccsf.org/content_main.aspx?catid=83
The Koret Center (Shrader & Turk) is pretty good. You can get a 15-use pass for $75, but they always have specials so it's like 25 uses for $75.
However, there are restrictions for some of the amenities, so only 'locals' can use them at certain times (er, is this NOTA now?). From their site:
"15-use passes are available for general public and member eligible categories. 15-use passes for the general public allow access until 2 pm Monday through Thursday and during all hours of operation on Friday, Saturday and Sunday."
Good thing is no contract - pay as you go, especially if you work out lunchtime or weekends.
if you have the cash (approx $80-90 a month) and work in the FiDi, you can't beat Club One: 4-5 downtown locations, towel service, pools. I'd almost consider Bally's a close second if 1) they still owned crunch/gorilla (and you could work out there), and 2) they weren't fucking Bally's (fuck you, long term contract and pushy sales!).
most other major gyms in sf are meat-markety, full of meatheads or both (looking at you, 24 hour and gold's).
i like the YMCA for their reasonable contracts, but they strike me as pretty high priced for what they offer (was a member of the berkeley Y for a long time).
I belong to 24 Hour - I have the single location membership, so the monthly dues are really cheap. I use the Montgomery St. location and used to belong to the one in Upper Market. Neither were the swankiest places and probably on par with a YMCA. The equipment was in good shape and the place only got really crowded during the immediate post-work rush hour.
I mainly like it due to convenient location and more importantly, that given the vagaries of my workweek, I don't have to worry about making it to the gym before they close. Having a 24 hour (for the most part) access to my fitness club means one less hassle in my life.
Live Fit gym just opened up on Valencia ( at 21st right next to Herbivore). It is a circut gym, meaning you only get a certain amount of time on each machine. BUT it gives you a great workout in 30 minutes. After all, dont you want your gym experience to be short and sweet?
It is also quite affordable. Check it out.
I belonged to a smaller neighborhood gym called Valencia Muscle on Valencia between 14th and 15th. It's small (so very, very small), but its not a meatmarket at all. Their small enough that they can be really flexible with their pricing, which can be nice. I think my prepaid membership for a year was $200 even. It's about as no fills as you can get, but there's almost never a crowd there.
If you have the $ to spare, The Bay Club. I'm a fan.
Can't recommend any gyms, but I would love to see a Curves for men available in the near future.
If you want to buy a used car or maybe haggle over a set of steak-knives from an Amway salesman, go ahead and walk into 24-hour Fitness. They've had a number of class action lawsuits filed against them for using illegal high-pressure sales tactics and bilking clients out of membership fees. But hey, Harness the Power of 24* !!!
*not all 24- Hour Fitness locations open 24-hours.
david latterman is chuck revisited on sfwall, and this texas outsider gets to tell us how to live! go figure...I guess if you have pals in high places you can tell natives what to do...how colonial...
http://www.sfbulldog.com/hBrown/
As noted, 24 hour is cheap. Way cheap compare to the posh financial district options, especially if you can get all clubs.
The locations vary a lot in terms of classes and equipment, but I get more than my $24 a month in value and have $ left over for yoga, Feldenkrais, and other classes I might want to attend.
Actually, I'm from New Jersey. Is that better or worse?
I've been a member at World Gym (16th and De Haro) for 5 years and love it. The vibe is low key, people seem to be there to actually work out instead of lounging on the machines, and there are some nice perks included in the (relatively affordable) memberships, like free towel service. It isn't as state of the art as the new UCSF center at Mission Bay (nor does it have a rooftop pool, sigh) but it is clean, everything generally works, and the staff are friendly.
For personal training, J+K fitness studio at 16th and Mission is awesome.
I'm a 24hr Fitness member ... it's fine, and I guess I've become somewhat of a snob because I'll only go to super-new locations like the one around Post/New Montgomery (AKA locations that don't have really old equipment and warped stinky seats/cushions like the Ocean Ave. one). I agree with the first commenter about it being convenient, due to the bazillion locations.
However, a friend of mine recently tried out a free week pass at The Sports Club/LA, located in the same building as The Four Seasons Hotel on Market and 4th. From what she told me, you're basically worshiped at that gym, but with a hefty price (like ... SUPER hefty, and $100+ monthly fees). But some of the things she told me that had me sold was the equipment they had (a lot), and also their locker rooms, which were super clean, big, complete with towels and shampoo, as well as an area that offers you refreshments like tea. And also ... private yoga rooms with sound systems, which really got me sold, but not enough to pay hundreds of dollars a year (I think a week-long pass would be enough for you to experience the place. My friend just said you had to meet with a representative in order to get the pass). My final assessment is that it's a pretty swanky place to consider a gym, but you'll most likely get your money's worth. But if you want more info, check out the website here, and the yelp reviews for a better perspective.
The Bakar gym at the new UCSF campus (bottom of Potrero Hill, 3rd and 16th) is great. Two pools, one outdoor, squash, racquetball, steam room...
If it were in NYC or LA, it would be teeming with hot girls. Alas, we're in San Francisco.
Been a member of World Gym (16th and De Haro) for years, but don't love it. The evening and weekend staff can't be bothered to even look up and say "hi" half the time, they keep shortening their evening hours, and some of the daytime trainers wear horrific perfume (apparently it's a never-ending internal battle).
They also have no policy about cell phone use on the machines, so you can often expect to be working out next to some gabbing idiot. And on weekends the upstairs aerobics rooms are used as private playgrounds and kickball courts by some staff member's kids (who also like to run through the upstairs cardio room shrieking and turning the lights on and off).
The machines are often sticky, too. They don't really clean often - the same piece of detritus in a water-bottle holder is likely be there for about a week if I don't take it out myself.
Complaints go into a black hole, so I've stopped bothering. Used to be a good gym, too.
Um, the remodeled locker rooms are nice, though.
I've been a member of Cruch (ex-Gorilla) for a few years. When it's not peak time after work, the Alhambra location is pretty enjoyable. They just started up towel service a few months ago, the classes look pretty enjoyable (some more full than others) and the new Crunch owners have been bringing in new equipment slowly & surely as well.
My only complaint about Crunch is with personal training: Gorilla used to have P.T. deals all the time and Crunch doesn't play that game (no deals). Also, when you sign up for personal training, you will get charged the entire amount in one shot. No payments over a few months, etc. That's a massive dent in your credit limit if you charge it.
I've belonged to 24 off and on for several years now and finally invested in one of their many promotions of buy x years, get x years free, and I'll pay pennies for my membership in the following years. Yes they will rip you of if you aren't careful and don't know your way around their system (or where to find their newer locales) but hey, if you pay $90 / month and work out only once a week at your fancy clubs, you're ripping yourself off. At least if I skip a week of workouts, I don't burn my bank account.
I stay with 24 HR mainly because it's convenient. I moved out of CA, and there's one in my new city. There will be one in my next city too.
Although, if I had the disposable income to spend on gyms, I'd go to the Bay Club. Not too posh, but not old or unaccomodating.
**Avoid Marina and North Beach 24HRs. I recommend downtown / Davis & CA.
The Sports Club / LA San Francisco is very clean, has great equipment, the staff is very professional, has tons of classes, offers towel service and clean locker rooms and lots more. The monthly fee is outrageous though - $130+ / month!
The answer to the question REALLY depends on what you want in a gym. Over the years I've been a member of Embarcadero and Central Y's, Golds, Sports Club LA and several others that have changed names. I think if you want a full service gym (pool, ball courts, workout) you can't go wrong with the Y.
If you have money to burn the Bay Club or Sport Club LA are great. I was a member of Sport Club LA for about a year, because it was a block from work. I had visions of doing yoga, swimmng, working out, etc. But I found that I really only used the cardio machines and worked out. And for that...they're really no better than anywhere else (actually, on weights they're worse than lots of places since they're demographic isn't really targeting muscle-heads). You do work out with a classy bunch, however. But I couldn't justify the price.
I'm happy as a clam spending very little money at Golds...two convenient locations (for me) in the Castro and Showplace Square, good mix of machines and free-weights, and not crowded except right after work. Course it's cruisy as all hell, and straight guys would have to be comfortable with that.
Bay Club is nice. I was a 24 hour member for awhile but quit because of the dirty and crowded locker rooms, stingy towel policy and general ghettoness.
Brock, actually there is a curves for men, it's called Cuts (http://www.cutsfitness.com/locations.php#) but it looks like there aren't any locations in the Bay Area. Oh well!
I went to World Gym for eight years, but I just switched to Gold's SOMA. The owners of World Gym are clueless. I mean TOTALLY clueless. 99% of the customers are gay, but the owners try and run it like a straight gym in a corn town. The interior is off-white, they play 80's hair metal music and they have bimbos working the front desk that can't be bothered to even look at you. The trainers seem nice, but I think they're all straight so I'm guessing World Gym is "selective" about who works there.
Gold's SOMA is cleaner, better decor and music.
24 Hour Fitness can kiss my butt!!! They are con artists and LIARS. I bought a 3 month membership there that had a coupon for the 3rd month, but I was told that only new members can use the coupon so after my first 2 months I was screwed. But lordy did they try and push the vitamins on me after refusing me to use the coupon.
This was a fundraiser for the US Olympics and I'm sure the US Olympics got screwed over it too.
If you don't have the cash for the Sports Club LA why not just walk out the door and power walk/run the gorgeous hills of our city? Add your own weights.. Head toward the Presidio and get in the Lyon Street stairs with amazing homes to stare at before finishing up at the base of the GG Bridge. The cross training is endless.
http://fromsf.blogspot.com/2007/08/hump-day.html
I cannot believe the JCC was not mentioned on your post. They have beautiful renovated facilities, including an underground parking garage. The staff is so friendly, I consider them family. In addition, they recently embarked on a green initiative; all of the products they use (paper towels, cleaning supplies, amenities) are environmentally friendly. I highly recommend this fitness center.
I workout at the JCC (california and presidio) and they have one of the cleanest facilities that I've seen. Everyone is super friendly and accomodating, there are a wide range of classes to take, green products, a spa, a steam room, 2 pools, a jacuzzi, great parking, towel service...the list goes on and on. I love having a tv at every cardio machine because it helps me get through my workout. Plus, its not so crowded unlike other gyms where you have to wait to get on a machine. In the year that I've been coming to this gym, I've never once had to wait for a cardio machine. I highly recommend the JCC.
AIM Fitness on Howard & Fremont (215 Fremont) in SOMA is a great, small independent gym. Becoming a sports-oriented gym so it's got a Colorado Altitude Chamber and great spinning classes and triathalon/race camps. But if you're just looking for a place near work to go get an early morning or mid-day workout, it's perfect too. Going to the gym mid-morning or mid-afternoon is ideal, it's practically empty and I've never had to wait for a machine. They also have good classes offered (Yoga to Spinning to Salsa Dancing) and personal training.
One thing about the Y that nobody has mentioned is that for a couple bucks more per month, you can go to any Y in the City. I go to the Embarcadero Y before or after work during the week and the Presidio Y on the weekends. They have shampoo, soap, clean towels, etc. at both facilities every time I've been there. I love the mellow vibe at both places - no blaring music, no freaky girls and guys in spandex - just people of all ages, shapes, colors, and sizes getting some exercise. The yoga instructors at both Ys are great too - when I belonged to 24 Hour fitness the instructors would yell at people who couldn't hold poses - the Y instructors are very gentle and helpful.
If you want to be cruised by people of the opposite or same sex while Alice or Energy radio stations blare, go to 24 Hour fitness. If you want to work out and be part of a community institution, go to the Y.
Hi!
Obviously I'm unable to be objective because I'm the manager of Valencia Street Muscle in the Mission District. Some of you have heard of us and some haven't, but either way, I'd like to invite any and all of you to do a free trial at our gym.
We've been under new ownership since late 2005 and I've been the manager for only a few months now. The former proprietor certainly alienated many former members and I'd like to try and re-establish a reputation for the new ownership. We've upgraded the facility and added more cardio.
For more info please visit our new website:
www.valenciastmuscle.com
Thanks,
Hasad
VSM