Fitness First Bloomsbury

I’ve been a member primarily at this branch for 20 months at this time of writing. First and foremost I’m happy that fitness first offer discounts for various personal situations, big +1 for that. They do get a –0.5 for recently changing the gym tiers so basically you now need to pay more to go to certain gyms; oh well, that’s progress right?
Anyway, for what you pay in their gym hierarchy you get a lot of value at Bloomsbury as it is one of the larger 5^th tier gyms in London. It’s a basement gym so no daylight unfortunately but it’s otherwise well lit with music over the PA system and several TVs in the cardio room.
Firstly there is the main studio with the wall of mirrors where large classes like yoga and body combat occur. Then there is a large area for cardio with lots of running machines and cross trainers, plus 2 cable machines, many cycles, steppers and 2 rowing machines. There is a dedicated spinning room next to a large area for working on mats with some other machines in between for working back and legs, plus a punch bag and power plates. Then at the end of this area is a separate room for heavy weights with benches and machines, this is where people do their squats and deadlifts, so where most of the screaming happens.
Fitness First offers many free classes which are now easily tracked on their website so you’re always up to date. I’ve never had a bad experience with any of the staff as they’re all so friendly and helpful. Even the macho male meatbags are 99% nice and I’ve only ever had bad feelings once in 20 months towards a super-​setting selfish soul.
There’s lots more to this great gym such as wifi & ipads, the sauna, the keycard lockers and the good-​looking people that frequent it (could do with a few more though), but I’m already at 5 paragraphs and getting the TL, DRs from my own review. The only reason it’s not a ⁵⁄₅ for me is that they take too long to repair equipment that gets broken. But if they were perfect I would probably be paying more so I’m real happy with what I’ve got! I’ll be there next week with a 40kg dumbbell in each hand!

Worst service I have ever experienced!!!
They made your termination of membership extremely hard, and be aware that if you want to quit the club, you should complete your «proposal» before 15^th of every month, or else you have to pay 1 more full month membership.
When I join the club the salespeople were so nice and friendly. I asked about situations of termination of membership, and the salesperson told me «it’s so simple, just bring your flight ticket and we will return what you did not use to you, and that’s it». BUT THAT’S NOT IT! when I went to them, I was told that in the contract there was another term that I have to cancel my membership before the 15^th. So guess what, I will pay them 1 more month of membership when I’m not even in the UK.
This is not the only horrible service I had with the salesperson. There is a whole lot story about my termination of membership. My advise would be you could join if you really have no other gym choice within 30 minutes walk of your home.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

One of the secret Gems of fitness first, it’s just had a refurb masses of amount of equipment, you never have to wait for any machine, and the staff are very very friendly, if your in the area and a black card member pop in or if your a local wanting to join a gym look no further.

Getting fit before all the Christmas food would be just the solution this year I thought! Loosing weight before Christmas so I won’t feel bad about gaining any over the Holidays.
FitnessFirst Bloomsbury is located next to The Brunswick shopping centre (the one with the huge Waitrose). It is located below the ground, which I first thought would be a little weird. No daylight whatsoever!
Upon arrival (I had a voucher for 10 day passes) I was greeted with an uninterested look and the receptionist took my voucher and gave me a temporary card in exchange for an ID. I was a little confused at first as no one showed me where changing room and all the other facilities were. After asking, they showed me the changing rooms.
A cardio room, a room with weights, one with more machines and two PowerPlates make up the gym. Additionally, there are a cycle room and a studio for courses. The machines are good but for a FitnessFirst studio I was surprised that there was not more on offer. Only three machines to train one’s back — after all FitnessFirst is a brand with which I associated a higher standard of quality and service.
After having been there for a few weeks now, I have come to a number of conclusions:
— The gym is nice but would require a number of additions in order to justify the monthly price.
— The staff is mostly friendly (though some staff were quite unfriendly) though they have changed a lot over only a few weeks.
— The changing rooms (ladies) are nice though it is a little confusing having music played and the BBC news at the same time.
— Showers and toilets are all right — shampoo and shower gel is provided.
— The users of the gym are not very hygienic. No one ever (except me) uses the disinfectant spray and towels provided to wipe the equipment after using it. Gross!
— The two PowerPlates (one newer, one old) are good but the required accessories for some exercises are missing which is annoying!
— There is free tea and coffee in the hall to keep you going when you leave the gym.
— Members can hire towels for a monthly fee of GBP 10).
The courses I cannot judge as I have not attended one yet but overall, this gym deserved a good three points. It is good but I would not take out a membership, as the overall value against the membership fee is not justified.

I had a peek around a few gyms near my office (I’m not a natural gym bunny, so didn’t really know what to expect!!)
This Gym wins on the hot-​ness factor. I get the impression it is the best out of the gyms I looked at for people-spotting…in particular looking out for beautiful, very fit blokes. One of my colleagues, who happens to be gay, LOVES this gym… when I had my tour, I could see why!
The staff are all really friendly, and they have a good number of weight machines. I got them to show me how to use everything, but felt a little intimidated because I didn’t like making the more serious weight machine users have to wait for little-​old-​me!
I think this gym is ideal for folks that are serious about their weight training, or who like the sound of their classes. For me, it was just a little intimidating, and a little smelly. Sorry lads! You are all beautiful… but you can’t build up that much muscle without some B. O!

Great front desk service, friendly & efficient. Very good Body Pump class, great instruction on form & great all around motivational coaching. Gym’s a little bare bones, not glamourous but I would definitely hit this again.