Fitness First Angel

My first visit to the gym was to see Joe the Physio. He is excellent at pinpointing the location of an injury and speeding its recovery.
This was followed by a course of carefully considered personal training to bring me back to full strength. Julian the PT deserves top marks, and is now building me further. Ask for him if you are in a similar situation.
I only withheld the final star because the gym is in a windowless basement of a slightly tired building, and it is not the cheapest in the area. Towels are now provided, which makes the extra cost over the nearby budget gyms worthwhile. No more carrying a used towel all day after a morning workout.
Staff are friendly and helpful, and there is a good atmosphere on the gym floor. A good choice, not top price and not budget price, but a good place to fit workouts into your schedule.

So they have recently completed the refurb for this gym. The place is now very clean but with less machines and more space for their «freestyle» concept.
The changing rooms also had a full refurb and now you will need a padlock in order to secure you locker.
If you love group exercise classes this is one of the better gyms with a good size studio and plenty of classes. Just make sure you ring ahead the day prior to book.
Maybe it’s still January so the gym seemed busier than usual but I must say in loving the improvements made. I’d recommend it if you live/​work in the area.

Physiotherapy.
The only reason I went to this gym was to see Joe the Physio who has a little room in the basement of the gym. He’s a really great guy, chatty funny and he knows his stuff when it come to sports injury.
The price is £50 for a consultation and treatment. Then £50 per session after that. Each session last 45 minutes. I had been to a few other places before hand and was appalled by the lack of customer service and disinterest by the physio’s. However Joe is a great guy and I can recommend his services!
Personally I would not go Fitness First Gym ever, I use H2 Bike Run in Soho, Its Amazing! Read my review for more info on that! ;-)

Fitness First Islington is two gyms. The first opens at about 5PM. It’s overcrowded and smells potently of sweaty humanity, a big turnoff for a girl. It has unfriendly, even rude, attendants at the front desk. It’s damn near impossible to get a good workout because there’s barely enough room to move around. The second, on the other hand, opens early in the morning. There’s plenty of room to move around, and it’s easy to get a great workout. The weights and machines are all in order, and the only smells come from the cleaning products. The front desk attendants are welcoming and accomodating, even offering a free guest workout. At both gyms the locker rooms are clean, and the lockers themselves are great — spacious and easy to use. And both gyms offer free DVD rentals, free refreshments, and free newspapers. If I were rating only gym #2, I’d give it 5 stars. Gym #1, only 1 star. Since, sadly, both gyms occupy the same place in the world, I have to average out
my ratings and give Fitness First Islington 3 stars.

Fitness First in Islington is a Platinum Club, to be honest I’m not sure what that means, this is the only gym I use. I really enjoy the facilities at Fitness First. I know the locker area and bathrooms will always be clean and that at 6:30 am I won’t have to fight to use the equipment I like. At times they don’t have the hydro-​water I want, I find that irritating. What really gets me mad are people who don’t put their free weights back where they belong, and there is a bit of that. But neither complaint is enough to make me quit and find another gym, that’s because overall it’s a good gym and they’ve got Gemma B.
To mix it up I do attend classes and work out with a trainer. If you are looking for a class or trainer that will totally work you, go to Gemma B. She is an excellent one to one trainer, the next day I’m sore but when I work with her I get results. She also teaches a couple of classes. Gemma is by far the best spinning instructor I have ever had. Other spinning classes I’ve taken, I really push myself and by the end I am sweating a bit, but not too badly. With Gemma’s spinning class it’s non-​stop motion and by the end I am not only DRIPPING with sweat, my legs feel like they are going to fall off, now that’s what I call a spinning class.

Being a member of this Fitness First Platinum Club means that not only do you have access to all the gyms in the UK and the world, you also have access to some of the nicer Platinum clubs around.
I enjoy going for workouts here, as well as attending some of their daily classes, where you need to book if you go to the evening ones during the week (I recommend do try out Body Combat!). There is a sauna, steam room and aromatherapy room to relax and unwind in — though this space is unisex. And complimentary drinks, and tea and coffee are available as well as a free 24 hr DVD rental service.