Downtown Athletic Club

CLOSED DOWN
It was good while it lasted, but I walked in one day and found that it had turned into David Barton Gym.

The fitness club is not bad, staff are very friendly and professionals. Calm, quiet and practical.

One of Miami’s best clubs with a basketball court. Sadly it closed yesterday.

For me, they are the best local fitness club in this area. Except for a pool, they have everything in there to make it an excellent club. Brian, the manager, is one of the nicest persons I have know in any gym. The rest of the staff are very friendly and very professionals. Spinning classes are the best in town…

There is one climbing wall with 3 different level routes. They have these automated pulley/​spotting system which worked but was a little scary jumping back and trusting a machine. If I worked in the building or near it would make sense to use the gym… for rock climbers not so much though it was good for one time.

I got a one month groupon for DAC. I’m not joining because it’s out of my price range and the location is not really convenient for me.
That aside, I found it to be a great gym. It’s clean, never crowded and has a wide range of equipment. I found the staff to be very friendly and helpful. I enjoyed the Body Forging class with Georgette
To update a few things since many comments here are old:
They do provide you with towels
They now have a stairmaster and two areas with cardio equipment upstairs

Joined the club a little bit over a month ago and couldn’t be happier.
Super-​convenient location for people working downtown and have never had to wait for any machines/​space.
With my initiation was offered a free training session with one of their trainers and after the first session signed up for even more. Could not recommend Victor more (
), great trainer and great motivator.

I love love love their court… Their facilities are always very clean, the staff very friendly and service oriented. :)

This is a great gym that not many people know about. It is in a great location amidst many office buildings. It is never crowded and you never have to wait for cardio equipment. They recently renovated the spinning room, added a yoga room, and have updated their cardio equipment. They have a rock climbing wall (haven’t seen that in any other gym), a basketball court, a boxing room.

This gym is ok. They do not provide complementary towel. Therefore, the machines are always drenched in sweat, gross. I spend more time cleaning the machines than working out. This place is always packed which is great for business, however, sucks for me having to wait for certain machines. This place has a basketball court and pool.
The staff is friendly. I appreciate friendly front desk people. At this location I see more people talking on their cell phones than working out. It’s nothing like the pretentious Brickell location. They keep it real at the Biscayne location.

This is not a girly gym. Downtown Athletic Club is a midsized, dimly lit gym with a rock climbing wall, a small studio for classes and a basketball court. If weight lifting is your thing, they have all of the necessary equipment, including TRX bands, ab rollers and a good selection of free weights. The guys in here train hard and they know what they’re doing, even though the clientele is mostly corporate guys who work or live nearby. There is no chit chatting, no doubt about it, these dudes are here to sweat. That being said, no one is too involved with their workout to help a girl out in finding the water fountain or ab straps.
The sales staff is friendly and professional, without being pushy. They do validate parking for up to 2 hours. You can valet, which means you have to tip the guys but if you come after 5 PM I find that there are some empty spaces as people leave their offices.
The reasons that made me decide not to sign up for a membership here are as follows:
— The class schedule is limited and I like my yoga, kettle bell training etc.
— The cardio equipment is completely outdated and they have NO stair master. I was told they are in the process of constructing a whole new cardio area on the top floor and expect to have brand-​new equipment early next year but I need to get my sweat on prior to that happening.
— No preloaded barbells. You have to manually load them, which takes too long when you’re limiting rest time between sets.
— Getting in and out of the parking garage can get annoying long term, especially with frequent special events happening downtown.
— Be sure the limited weekend and evening hours are sufficient before signing up.
Otherwise, if you don’t want to pay $ 130 a month for Sports Club LA and your primary reason to join a gym is to put in some hard work, this is the place to do it. Don’t expect any girls in yoga pants to eyeball, no such thing here.

The gym is fine, all the standard equipment, a little on the small side but didn’t seem too crowded.
However, as you can read from my wife’s review (laura m.), we were treated very poorly – I cannot recommend a business that cares this little about their customers. They try to make it seem like they are a level above their competitors, but they’re just the same scoundrels at a higher price point.
Do yourself a favor, go elsewhere.

I never do this due to the whole karma thing but I have to say the people who run the Downtown Athletic Club in Miami lack integrity, professionalism and respect for their customers. I am writing this so people like me (a retail manager) and my husband (active duty military) don’t get taken for $ 300 again.
I was feeling extra fat one day and decided to check out the local DAC across the street from my building. They told my husband and I that we were welcome to use the club for a free session and see what we thought. Great! We liked the club, enough that we were interested in joining. Stupidly I thought we should join right away so we didn’t mooch off the club and their staff…
As I was signing my life away my sweet husband specifically stopped the process and asked if we changed our mind could we get our money back. They said «absolutely» in the first week or so, we could get a full refund. We agreed and joined. After trying very hard that entire week to make it to the classes I wanted, I realized that my schedule was just not working, and classes were the main reason we chose the gym. We only visited the place 2 more times for the rest of the week.
Then the fun started…
We called the front desk asking if we could cancel our membership. They seemed confused, but told us that they would figure it out and call us back. They never did. Finally we went in and signed the cancellation paperwork and spoke directly to the manager. He said he would have to talk to the person who signed us up (I am leaving everyone’s name out of this but if you message me I will tell you their names). I had to call them three separate times, without a call back ever, even though they seemed to agree with us but just needed to talk/​get approval from the manager for the refund.
After a month, they told us that they couldn’t cancel our membership because we «waited too long.» That would be 8 days from the day we signed the paperwork Not only did they misrepresent their refund policy to us to get us to join, they screwed us out of a month of use of the gym. If someone had just told us upfront they would refuse to honor their verbal agreement to refund our money we would have made a point to use the equipment at the very least. This place is shady and I will tell everyone I can that they should not be trusted.
One more thing, I went to their spin class thinking this would be the perfect way to blast the fat off my ass, I was wrong. I’d never been to a spin class before where the instructor stood around and air drummed to his music choices instead of spinning with the group.

This gym is amazing! The staff is super friendly, the facility is beautiful, the management is organized and keeps the gym in tip-​top shape. Wolfcamp with Willie is phenomenal!!! Yoga with Gita is amazing, Dance Tribal Lab with Alvaro is a blast, the spinning classes will kick your butt, and there are so many other classes I have yet to try but I hear are great! The trainers are so friendly, well-​educated, and effective. I sometimes cannot believe a gym like this exists in Miami! Love love love the DAC!

I enjoy working out here. There are a good variety of things to do to stay active. The equipment looks well taken care of, not rusted. The whole place is constantly being cleaned. The bathroom and showers are free from mold and other gross things. The staff is super friendly and earger to help and answer any question. I like getting a towel when you walk in, as opposed to other places that require you to bring your owl towel. Parking is paid for so it’s quite convenient. I will continue to do my workouts here. I am a happy camper.

As many non-​natives of Miami will agree, customer service is decidedly terrible in this city. And maybe that’s because everyone with a good sense of how to treat a client or customer is already working at the Downtown Athletic Club (or as the frequenters call it, the DAC).
Anything you could want to do is here — basketball, boxing, weights, cardio, aerobics, and a laundry list of classes. The facility is spacious and never crowded, and the trainers and staff are amazing.
Even the people who work out here are different and extremely pleasant. The DAC is like it’s very own community, and I love it there.

I don’t have any complaints. Calm, quiet and practical. I tend to go at non-​peak hours but regardless it’s never a problem to use the machines or find what you need. I started with a personal trainer, whose techniques and attitude really make it pleasant and enjoyable. Like normal at times I want to scream at him– but hey, isn’t that whyb we pay them for? I saw results quickly and I’m a satisfied costumer.
There are also many classes available. The location’s water and city views are relaxing and beautiful. You should definitely give it a try. They have week passes. Ask for Armando if you need a trainer ;)

This is one of those places that I didn’t want to review. I wanted to be selfish and tell no one else about it. Unfortunately, sharing is what Unilocal is about and I stuck to the rules on this one!
So much that it’s converted me from the type of person that joins a gym and goes once a month, vowing to go again the next day and then don’t, into someone who has started going to the gym on a daily basis. The people who go here and the staff who work there are all extremely professional. It’s really refreshing from the usual suspect gyms, where you feel like everyone works out before hand, gets dressed in their fancy workout crap and goes to parade around like it’s a night club.
It’s also different because their trainers and class instructors aren’t just kids from the local college who don’t know what the heck they’re doing. The staff at DAC are all certified in something or another (if you go to the website, you’ll be able to see the strings of letters that signify something certified after their names). The classes are amazing because they are challenging but you can definitely go at your own pace and no one gives you a hard time about it.
Like Adam said, this club is pretty addictive :)
Also, you have to park in a garage but the parking is validated.

I’ve never been in a gym in my life. So, at 43, it was about time as I prepare for an upcoming surgical procedure. As part of the pre-​op program, increasing my pulmonary capacity was important, plus getting a little in shape can’t hurt, right? Especially when I really have to after the surgery… so I figured with it’s downtown convenient location, it would be the place.
I met with Thomas, their Training Manager and immediately had a good feeling about not only the gym, but the level of attention they can provide you. Thomas is extremely smart, well versed and makes you feel like he is the true training professional that he is — it’s like talking to a scientist about anti-​matter — he’s very informed. So, during my visit for the evaluation (which I expected a few measurements and a spin on the treadmill), he made it clear that if it was my first time in a gym, he was going to make me sweat!
I immediately signed up for a membership as soon as I got home, then I booked a month and a half of sessions with Thomas.
Today was my first real training session, and he is respectful of the fact I’m a big boy and haven’t really EVERY worked out. He paces you properly, knows your rhythm, and supports you every step of the way. While I thought I was never going to be able to finish, I did, and am actually excited about my ongoing visits to the gym.
If you need a little extra ‘oomph’ to get you going at the gym, I highly recommend this great facility and trainer Thomas with Ten out of Five stars. The place isn’t a huge monstrosity with only the prettiest people running around, you see mostly «normal» people (when compared to Miami Beach) and across all age ranges.
I look forward to my increasing abilities and spending more time downtown at the DAC Miami.

I am a new member here and am already addicted to this club. This is a gym that really has it all: plentiful machines and free weights, a basketball court with daily pick up games, a track, several work out rooms for classes, squash courts, spinning room, even a rock climbing wall! The atmosphere is very relaxed and friendly and the staff are easy going and high energy. I also appreciate the clean and carpeted locker rooms with large personal lockers, individual showers, a sauna and a steam room, and even a place to iron your shirt before you head off to work.
I have really enjoyed the classes here. They are intense and give me a great work out. I love the fact that they are included in your weekly price and not an extra cost. I also began working with a personal trainer and can tell I am getting great results already. They do a personal assesment with you when you start and help you figure out what to do to achieve your goals.
I would highly recommend this gym especially for people who work in the Wachovia center or other nearby buildings. Ask about corporate discounts as they really helped me.