Dedham Health and Athletic Complex

Save your time and your money because I’ve never been to such a deceptive and disrespectful place in my life. They will send you all these things of deals $ 60 for 60 days special sign ups it’s all baloney because none of that is available unless you meet special requirements
and trust me you won’t they just want to get you in the door so they can sell you a ridiculous package that you will need to hire an attorney to get out of. they will continue to take l your money for 90 days after you’ve decided to drop your membership because the place is too dirty and management is a joke, yet I still considered signing up for a family membership and another couple we knew were going to sign up. but after being treated like we were lfrom the ghetto by the used car salesman that didn’t know I make more money in a day than he does in a month, I believe the steroids have gone to his brain because he does not know how to make a sale, save yourself the aggravation and go to Planet Fitness or any other gym. It’s not worth it

This place is a dump! It is dark, dated and dirty inside. The staff suck. There are always a bunch of kids (who supposedly work there) at the front desk yapping to each other and ignoring the clients. The manager is a joke, he is so incompetent it is ridiculous. I just joined Lifetime in Westwood and it is like going from the ghetto (DHAC) to a mansion. Waste of money at DHAC. Lifetime does not charge extra for the outdoor pool, the club is MUCH bigger, lockers are clean and spacious, and the staff is nice and attentive. DHAC will be out of business soon!

I have been a member for about a year and for me, the most important aspect of a health club is whether I am motivated to work out there on a regular basis. Dedham health is the one health club where I have made the most progress. It’s not the most modern, cheapest or «flirtatious» club. What it is is clean and never crowded. It has abundant equipment and activities and classes. I like that it encourages its older clientele to stay active and remain healthy as they age. I would say the best thing is the free training by very competent, well educated trainers. In my case, I was recovering from some connective tissue problems. The trainer was very familiar with such issues and designed a program which allowed me to improve my strength and lose weight and most importantly, not injure myself. I have met with him at least 6 times and am encouraged to make an appointment whenever I want. Again, all at no charge with no pressure to do more than I can.

I have been a member 4 years for convenience of location and a pool. The somewhat gloomy club facilities miss being top notch by a good margin. While there are several staffers behind the front desk hanging out, very little checking in on the rest of the facility is apparent – dirty studio floors, cold locker rooms, etc. The level of service and limited class schedules do not justify the fees. The pool is used for rehab at some times and also regular aerobics classes, eliminating 2 of the lanes from use by lap swimmers. Rehab staff in pool can be quite rude and unprofessional to club members.
The longstanding geographic monopoly may be sorely challenged by new Lifestyle gym in Westwood.

Won’t give a day pass. Refuse to tell monthly rate on phone. No exceptions even if you don’t use email? Very strange tactics.

I definetly don’t reccomend this gym. It is terrible. The staff is annoying, and the lifeguards can’t let you do anything fun without blowing the whistle. The food for the outside pool is so tasteless and bad! And you have to pay for the outside pool, like paying crazy money for the indoor gym/​pool isn’t enough. Just don’t go to this gym.

I am very dissapointed with the way personnel treat customers. I signed up my son for water baby class and after the first class he got sick, so I made up 2 classes. i had to call 3 times, 2 of which noone called me back. they said we can do one class at 9.10 that goes for 30 minutes and another one at 10.20.I asked what should we do for 40 minutes between the classes, i was told that we have to get out of the swimming pool as we are not members and do whatever we want to. it’s really hard to wait there with a toddler that is running around and there’s no place for kids to play but a lot of stairs and you have to be very carefull so kid doesnt fall down. i asked then to roll over classes, i eas told i can do that just if i buy the next session. i am very, very dissapointed

All great except for one despicable young obnoxious mouthy «lifeguard «batch in the children’s pool who kept opening the door mid winter to the freezing outside «because she was pooh so hot» ! At least ten parents screamed at her at one time not to do it, and my husband nearly shoved her out of the open door he got so angry. Hope she got fired because we stopped using the pool in the winter, i feared my husband was going to eventually choke her !

After being a member here for 4 years I finally had to end my contract and move on to another gym. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed my time here and the facilities and some of the staff are great and the equipment and pools etc are well maintained and updated consistently. What was not appreciated especially for a member as long as I have been one, was the fact this place increases its dues for members without telling you they are doing it. Over the course of 4 years my dues went up an average of $ 20 per year and the last increase was almost $ 30. According to the membership department, this is hidden language in your contract that they can freely increase dues whenever they want. Besides the fact you pay what amounts to a car payment for a Family Membership and then on top of that to even get in 3 car payments plus annual dues. Then if you want to add swimming lessons for the kids or any specialty classes there are more fees on top of this. If you want to join their «Summer Club», try adding on another $ 2000 for the summer which is outrageous. After all of the money I shelled out and the actual use I got out of this place, it is in the end not worth the money for what you get.

I love this club. I was a member for a while with my two young boys… all I can say is… I left my wedding rings in the ladies room next to the sink and didn’t realize until I got home… I called really nervous that they would be gone, and a nice member turned them in to the manager, who was holding them for me. I just don’t see that happening at WOW.

Shame on me for not paying attention to the contract. Be very careful with these guys. I went to cancel on the day my next payment was due only to find there is a 30 day cancellation clause. Caveat emptor folks… read the fine print before signing up.
A pitty since I was only leaving for a time while I take a new position with the intent of returning. Lessons learned!

I’m reviewing the PT service here not the club. I went to the spine center on the floor below and they were great. Individual service and attention.
Once I got upgraded to the top PT section things shifted some. I felt like the folks would often talk to each other and not the patient necessarily. The work they did was good though. Everyday appointment you did the same thing but weights gradually increased, at least for me.

I took my child for water babies swimming class here. Overall I am very unhappy with the experience. When I initially paid for the registration I mentioned that we will be on vacation for 2 of the classes and if there was an opportunity to make up these classes. I was assured that all I will have to do was to talk to the Manager and it will be all set. After registering I asked to have swimming manager to call me back and re-​schedule classes that my child will miss, I left my phone number at the front desk. I never got a phone call. I tried calling DAH and every time Swimming Manager wasn’t available as he was in the pool. I left my information at the front desk on multiple occasions and never heard back. Classes themselves were disorganized and there was a new instructor (usually a high school kid) every other week as main instructor, Mike, was at swim outs. On occasion classes would start earlier and «new» instructors will finish them earlier and I had to remind them that we still had 10 minutes to go. It’s infant swimming classes and I realize that it’s just to acclaim your child with the water, but I wish there was more consistency from week to week and classes were more organized. There is also only 2 showers available and we constantly had to wait after the class to shower our child. I asked if I can use showers at the women’s changing room and was told it was for members only. Very inconvenient considering you have to wait 20 minutes or longer with sometimes a cranky baby.
When we signed up for the classes we were considering signing up for the gym as well, but after our experience I will not be signing up and will take my money somewhere else. Very poor management.
I also had multiple calls/​e-​mails from DAH asking me to sign up for the next swimming session but nothing about making up the classes that I was told I was able to. Obviously they have my contact information. when I told girl on a phone that I will not be signing up due to poor management from them she just hanged up. My recommendations would be try somewhere else and swimming classes were not worth my time or money.

My wife and I joined the DHAC about 2 months ago and we have really enjoyed our experience so far. I was doing swimming classes with our 19 month old daughter there and decided to check it out a little further. We got the rundown from Pam, a memeber representative, who was both very friendly and informative before we finally decided to join.
Some Pros:
There are a bunch of classes, all of which we have enjoyed so far. There are various options ranging from cycling to Bollywood dance to cardio and my personal favorite, Trailmix with Jason.
The equipment is pretty state of the art and there are always plenty of machines with some redundancy to the more popular ones. There is a separate area for people not as familiar with resistance training too which takes away some of the anxiety they may have when working out at a place like WOW or Planet Fitness.
They have plenty of tennis courts for member use and they offer some free new member clinics if you are so inclined. The instruction I had was good and I am looking forward to playing with some other members sometime soon. No court fees from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
They have a kids only pool which is awesome. No worries about dodging swimmers. The pool is salt water as well so no stinging eyes and a cleaner feeling coming out.
Raquetball courts, of which there are two, have been recently resurfaced and they get a lot of use.
The facilities are reasonably clean and large and there are ample showers, a sauna and steam room.
The childcare we have gotten so far has been worth the fee it costs for our daughter to join ($ 40 – 45 a month). They love holding her when she needs it and they have three separate rooms for the little ones to play in. They also have a big padded gymnastics area with tumbling mats. Our little one loved running around up there when she was learning to walk.
Other things I haven’t tried but hopefully will… basketball court, indoor track, rock climbing wall with bouldering area and golf hitting mat and net, children’s karate classes.
Seems like they are upgrading a lot of the facility too. Recently upgraded some LifeFitness machines and redoing the entryway with granite tiling.
Some Cons:
The cost is a pretty high ($ 220 per month for our family of 3) but the childcare is well worth it. It would also be nice to include a guest pass or two for each paying member so my friend and I could play tennis without him having to fork over $ 40 (for him and his 11 month old daughter) everytime.
Tennis court fees during fall to spring. I probably won’t play besides taking a clinic or two if I have some extra cash.
Definitely an older crowd there which is not too big of a deal but miss some of the youthfulness of the WOW crowd.
Separate outdoor water park costs a crapload! Again, for what we pay, maybe a day pass or two for paying members would be in order. Let us see what it is all about and then entice us to join.
So in all, it works for us. We love the childcare, classes and everyone has been very welcoming to us and our daughter. We’ll stay members since it is close by and has lots of the benefits you’d expect from a high priced gym… plus the cost is an incentive to get our butts in there to use it!

I worked out here a few times on a guest pass ($ 20/​day and must be accompanied by a member) while my wife was doing a special program called ⁶⁰⁄₆₀ (BTW, she LOVED her experience. She said the trainers were excellent, got addicted to mat Pilates, the private workout area had fantastic circuit training equipment, and she made tremendous progress in meeting her goals).
As for my experience and balanced opinion, the cardio equipment is excellent: lots of current striders, ellipticals, treadmills and bikes. Ah, the bikes. I am in love with the Expresso HD upright, a networked virtual road biking experience. Check it out here:
. DH&A has cardio theater with good programming. The strength training machines are numerous, varied, and in working order. There are many sanitizing wipes stations and clientele use them. «A+» for hygiene. The indoor track is a cool feature, and they have indoor tennis, a pool, gym and climbing wall. There is also a kids workout area.
Less impressive are other things: the place is dated, like it’s stuck in 1980s, and not in a good way. The men’s locker room is something out of «Scarface.» The outside pool area looks like an abandoned water park. The big drawback, and the reason my wife and I did not join after her program, is the price. They have a steep joining fee (approaching $ 200) and an annual fee. Monthly dues were close to that of top-​tier spa/​fitness centers Sports Club/​LA and Equinox, and neither of those charges a joining fee or yearly admin fee. Sorry, but DH&A is not in the same league. I tried to negotiate because my wife liked the place so much, but they held firm. My sense is that many members have workman’s comp or insurance subsidies (DH&A runs a busy PT/​rehab program). I highly doubt they are paying full retail. DH&A does not offer a month-​to-​month option; annual contracts only.
If DH&A is your closest or best option (proximity and usage are highly-​correlated) try it out on a guest pass basis. As noted above, DH&A provides options, even if they come at a undeserved premium. But value is relative. As for us, we joined elsewhere.
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I was a member here for over 12 years before leaving due to high membership costs. If you use the facility for everything that it has to offer, then it is worth it the money. My main interest at DHAC was to utilize the fitness area and take the classes. Their cardio equipment is top notch but some of the weight machines need to be upgraded.
As far as classes go, I was more than happy to walk away from this gym. They offer the same classes they did 12 years ago! Body pump, spin, yoga, and an aqua class. It is the same all the time! They never want to introduce anything new and if they do, they pass it along to an inexperienced trainer because they do not want to make the effort. The one class that all the members truly enjoyed was Zumba because the instructor was so committed and really connected with her students. They of course let her go for no reason and we were left with a less than worthy replacement. If you need to take a class, look to Meghan’s Spin class or a class with Jill (note: they are outside instructors which is why the class is more enjoyable and effective. They are about the members, not the drama!)
The management is awful and definitely caters to those they are friends with. It is very «clicky» and if you aren’t in the «in» crowd, you can forget about sharing your opinion or having any concerns addressed. There are a lot of romantic relationships going on there as well that are put out in full view of the members. Very unprofessional environment!
All in all if you have the cash, go to Fitness LA in Chestnut Hill instead. Beautiful, clean, and updated facility. The classes are all new and innovative with well trained and educated personal trainers and instructors.

I finally quit after 2 years. The management was just very immature and unprofessional, they really need to hire some grownups to run that place.
The location is great, they just need a competent management team that has a sense of pride and who does not blame any and all complaints on the customer.
4 families on my street were all members and all 4 quit in the last 2 years. Coincidence?

This health club is not good for pool membership. They double dip. literally. After the hour of 3:30 pm swim lessons start up and 75% of the family pool is used for swim lessons. Then around 5pm to closing a very large swim team starts up and the pool is totally monopolized by them. Swim lesson students, siblings and team members are all allowed to use the member lanes prior and during the sessions.
Club management doesn’t care because they are making double the money by charging members for their side of the pool and then not allowing them to use it. You won’t find any members in the family pool area after 3:00 every day until closing.
The adult pool is dirty due to a large water aerobics groups that use the pool 2 hours a day. Family pool is also dirty from over use. I think the saltwater pool system is not meant to handle this much volume.

I’ll have to agree with many of the other posters on DHAC. I’ve been a member at probably 20 different gyms in my lifetime, so I’m no stranger to what’s out there. I joined DHAC for the tennis, as I like to be able to play in the winter, too, and they have plenty of indoor courts. I kept my membership at Boston Sports Clubs, which is where I still do my non-​tennis workouts.
The tennis courts are pretty average, nothing special. The fitness center itself feels a bit «tired» to me. The equipment is fine, but the place looks like it hasn’t seen a remodel since the 70s… with the prices they charge, I wonder where all the money goes.
The prices… oh the prices. I pay almost $ 100 a month just for the membership, and then I also pay a court fee every time I want to play. My Boston Sports Clubs membership is half the price, lets me work out at a ton of different clubs around the city (one near work, and one near home), the equipment is nicer, and the facilities are MUCH nicer.
You can do a lot better than DHAC.

10÷19÷15 — FYI, 3 YEARS AGO, THEIR FEES WERE $ 97 PER MONTH, AND I JUST READ ON HERE THAT LAST MONTH THEY JACKED THAT UP TO $ 130 FOR ONE USER PER MONTH, WOW! = FOR THOSE LOOKING FOR PRICING. THEY DO NOT LIST PRICING ON THEIR SILLY WEBSITE NOR DUE THEY GIVE IT OUT ON THE PHONE. AS YOU KNOW, THIS IS QUITE IS SLIMY. DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME HERE!
10÷21÷12 — Little kids running around the facility is a nightmare, employees are rude (especially dude who works the overpriced snack bar) little kids running around the basketball court is a nightmare, and lastly, this place is unprofessional with pricing, cancelling, and other customer needs. A hefty $ 97 monthly fee, to go to a gym (regardless of size, several things to do, and sauna) does not fly with me. Also, they are so sneaky, with off the charts first time sign up fees. Unreal. One can find a gym almost as good at half the price anywhere else.