Student Gym Membership in Central London / South London

DjP

I think the current LA Fitness offer is 6 months free ...

But only after you have paid £70 a month for a year

d.m_3

Just went to Totteham Court Road's Fitness First. Got quoted a student price of £54, managed to get it dow nto £47 for 4 months commitment. I'd also have to pay £55 which i'd get refunded to me, or £30 non refundable admin fee.

Only catch is I'd have to pay up front. Not even sure if its even a good deal yet. Also, I'd have access to all the gyms everywhere.. London, Outer London, Germany, etc. Again, not sure if that's standard on all packages or not.. any advice?

fizzytrinket

my son's a uni student and his gym is kinetic and at waterloo.it's through kings uni. much cheaper and it's pretty quiet there.

melancholly

just out of interest, why does it have to be a 'chain' gym? i'm with a council run one and it's actually better than quite a few chains i looked at, and cheaper. have you looked at the council leisure centres - they may be rubbish but they may be great. they're at least worth a look!

DjP

Ok so noone has any idea of the LA Fitness student rate,

I guess this means there isn't one?

Poop x

d.m_3

melancholly wrote: »

just out of interest, why does it have to be a 'chain' gym? i'm with a council run one and it's actually better than quite a few chains i looked at, and cheaper. have you looked at the council leisure centres - they may be rubbish but they may be great. they're at least worth a look!

The council gyms are locate in areas which would mean I would 9 times out of 10 have to go out of my way to access them. Im always on the move and pass through various areas of London every day; chain gyms have good locations in good hotspots. Also, chain gyms are just better quality all round. Maintained to a higher standard and have a proper atmosphere.. wouldnt want to.. get demotivated 3 weeks into the gym plan would I.

DjP

Ok

LA Fitness central London student rate is £51 a month ... hmm

DjP

Oh and only for use in one gym.

So if you pay the normal £70 ish non student rate you get three or six months FREE and you can use any gym.

The student rate is worse for me

jenniewb

d.m wrote: »

Just went to Totteham Court Road's Fitness First. Got quoted a student price of £54, managed to get it dow nto £47 for 4 months commitment. I'd also have to pay £55 which i'd get refunded to me, or £30 non refundable admin fee.

Only catch is I'd have to pay up front. Not even sure if its even a good deal yet. Also, I'd have access to all the gyms everywhere.. London, Outer London, Germany, etc. Again, not sure if that's standard on all packages or not.. any advice?

FF are normally quite good at giving day passes, think there is a 7 day pass going on the freebie board. (But you seem to only be able to use it once ever! I used a 3 day pass about 3 years ago, if I ever try to apply again I get told "sorry you have already had a pass" (am trying for the ipoints y'see!)

I'd try it out first. I had FF down as being only an inch better then my local gym. Mainly as they are so tiny, the one I went to had a handful of machines which = queues of 20 minutes most days. Also the people in the gym seemed to think it was all a joke. I really felt for the instructor in one class when a gang of giggly girls kept laughing all the way through the class. Two ladies walked out and the girls did too....then they came back and repeated the same giggling thing.
Another class had a massive pillar through the center of it! It was impossible to see the teacher unless you were in the front row which itself was only big enough for 3-4 people. The teacher in that class didn't seem to realise the class was for all levels and most of us got lost following the complex steps and couldn't do the class.
The showers were cleaner then my local gym, were proper power showers and locker rooms were clear but y'know when you get that "spring cleaning" feel...?!

The main worry I have over FF is the horror stories which have made it onto places like BBC Watch dog about memberships being expired, cancelled and then not actually being cancelled and then the gym comming down heavy on those that wanted to cancel or using random loop holes to lock people in for much longer then the original contract stated.

I'd google it abit first, could be its improved could be things are still going on but def. try before you buy!

d.m_3

jenniewb wrote: »

FF are normally quite good at giving day passes, think there is a 7 day pass going on the freebie board. (But you seem to only be able to use it once ever! I used a 3 day pass about 3 years ago, if I ever try to apply again I get told "sorry you have already had a pass" (am trying for the ipoints y'see!)

I'd try it out first. I had FF down as being only an inch better then my local gym. Mainly as they are so tiny, the one I went to had a handful of machines which = queues of 20 minutes most days. Also the people in the gym seemed to think it was all a joke. I really felt for the instructor in one class when a gang of giggly girls kept laughing all the way through the class. Two ladies walked out and the girls did too....then they came back and repeated the same giggling thing.
Another class had a massive pillar through the center of it! It was impossible to see the teacher unless you were in the front row which itself was only big enough for 3-4 people. The teacher in that class didn't seem to realise the class was for all levels and most of us got lost following the complex steps and couldn't do the class.
The showers were cleaner then my local gym, were proper power showers and locker rooms were clear but y'know when you get that "spring cleaning" feel...?!

The main worry I have over FF is the horror stories which have made it onto places like BBC Watch dog about memberships being expired, cancelled and then not actually being cancelled and then the gym comming down heavy on those that wanted to cancel or using random loop holes to lock people in for much longer then the original contract stated.

I'd google it abit first, could be its improved could be things are still going on but def. try before you buy!

Hmm I hadn't even had a clue about the horror stories etc.

The FF im looking to mainly use will be on Tot Court Rd. It's a black label gym (means it has a pool). Most others are blue or grey.. I was told by the sales girl that it has more corporate clients. The 10 mins I was there for didn't disprove that either. It was 4:45pm and people were finishing work, saw many suited city people coming in.Which gym was it that you joined?

Also, how much would you have paid if youd' joined FF when you trialed it