Gym Reviews

RacoonQueen

Sheldon Park Leisure Centre


Plenty of cardio equpiment, always have equipment free when I'm there, so no queueing, although I'm usually there at off peak times.
Free weights area is way too small and cramped, just having one other person in it makes me feel claustrophobic. Free weights are always a mess aswell and you either have to hunt down a matching dumbbell or hunt down the same weight from a different set, note, the free weights section is small and it can be so messy that it's that hard to find the weight you want. Plus certain members seem to think they own the free weights section and like to take it over. Plenty of weight machines, thats fine.
Never been to any of the classes, they never seem to be on.
Pool is tiny and if it's not full of kids it's full of their stupid water toys. If they sacrificed their stupid water sculptures they could have a decent sized pool.
Half the lockers in the changing rooms are broken, otherwise the changing rooms are OK, feel a bit grotty, but they're clean.
Staffing, I've been a member about 8 months and I think there's now only one instructor who was there when I started, don't seem to be able to keep their staff, I've never dealt with the instructors though so I've no idea how good they are at programming or whether they know their stuff or not. They don't seem great, but as I say, I can't really judge.

Mr_Roger_Bongos

Hello,

I'm going to be working in the area and was wondering, has anyone been to this gym or heard anything about it?

Johnny Utah

Does anyone else find that the ramps in the car-park of Carlisle Gym are far too high?

I went in there last week in my new car, and even though I approached the ramps very carefully- I stopped and drove over the ramps slowly in 1st gear- the underbody of the car still brushed off the ramps a couple of times. I've seen other cars driving very cautiously over the ramps too, so I guess I'm not alone in thinking that these ramps are too steep.

I mentioned this to the girl on the reception, and she said that they had to be put in because people were speeding around the carpark. The way she gave the answer sounded like she had it learned off, so I guess I'm not the first person to complain about these high ramps.


My membership is up at the end of May, and I'm thinking of not renewing over this particular issue. The only problem is that the only other gym near me is Jackie Skelly's Rathfarnham, which is a lot more expensive.

Any suggestions as to what I should do?

jameshayes

Park around the corner and walk in?


The ramps are far to high tho - but who are we to complain about it!! If it saves 1 person from getting knocked down I'm happy

Johnny Utah

I'm all for driving safely in the car-park, and most other ramps are no problem at all. They could have put in ramps that weren't so high.

The ramps in the Carlisle carpark however are deceptively steep- if you were to look at them they seem fine, but when you actually drive over them it's a different story. I was able to get over them better in my old car but that was a lot higher off the ground. Looks like I'll have to change gyms as I don't want to damage my new car.

Where can I park around the corner? (I don't really want to park outside someone's house as some people don't like that.)

jennylee324

:rolleyes: yea, for workout music, you basically need hard-hitting euro-dance music.... nothing else does the job really. Search around on itunes for "euro club hits" or check this link::pac: http://electricfilebox.com/tracks :cool:

shepthedog

Anyone here used/using the YMCA Gym in Sandymount? Its close to where I live and would like to know what its like.. Their website is pretty sparse.

What facilities are there and whats the cost like? Is it busy?

Blackdragon

Any members/former members of the locker room.

Im seriously out of shape and trying to pick my first gym.
Ive been looking at the reviews on the gyms in cork city but havnt come across anything for the locker room.

Membership monthly is 60Euro which i find extreamly reasonable and from a quick look on there website seems like a great gym but what do i know

I have managed (due to the magic of the sofa) to get myself to a weight of 13 and a half stone with a height of 5ft 9 (no muscle) and its time to do something about it.

I intend to focus on weights but knowing nothing about it i would need a place with frendly/helpful staff that know there stuff and can point me in the right direction and show me what i should be doing and how i should be doing it.

Also looking to find out what the atmosphere in the gym itself is like.
The last thing i want is a bunch of cocky members laughing at me - i would be more inclined to start in a gym with members that are happy to help out a Struggling Beginner with advice rather than snort at him.

Any opinions on the Locker Room?

Thanks in advance

senordingdong

I'm in Westwood Clontarf and something that really pisses me off about the place are the fees compared to the gyms busyness.

Because of the hours I work I have to pay the higher, *peak rate*. So I go at the peak times, evenings and weekends, but as it is the peak time, so do alot of people.
Now I'm paying the higher rate, yet when I go, there's huge competition for the equipment, ques for machines and weights can never be found.
Personally I think it's ludacris that I have to pay more and get a poorer use of the facilities.
Has anybody else ever found a similar problem in their gym?

Hanley

micmclo wrote: »

It's in Fairview, not Clontarf godamnit! :mad:;)

Hahahaha someone must live in Clontarf

hunter164

Here there doesn't seem to be a review of Northwood. I'm planning on joining for the summer so anyone on here a member?

Tadgh78

Is there any gym on the south side of Dublin that allows you to pay by the month or preferably by the session?

I'd rather not have to slap down a pile of money up front for a long term contract when I might stop going after the first few weeks!

colmconn

Tadgh78 wrote: »

Is there any gym on the south side of Dublin that allows you to pay by the month or preferably by the session?

I'd rather not have to slap down a pile of money up front for a long term contract when I might stop going after the first few weeks!

you can join pinnacle for 3 months, but I don't think there's an option to join for less time than that. you can also not pay per visit there either.

Wenlock

What about Body Health and Fitness in Sandyford. A small gym but the lads there are very nice and always have time to give personal attention. I always hated going to the gym and didn't start exercising until I was 29. But the trainers take the time to get to know you and make great training programs. I just met some people I hadn't seen in ages and they told me I had lost loads of weight. Always a good sign!!

pvt.joker

Northwood Santry:


I joined last month and availed of a fantastic price at the time 210 euro (3 person deal)
I think the standard price is 310 per person, still fantastic value.

Car parking is easy to get, the car park is massive holds 500+ cars I would think.

The gym is split on 2 floors, with the majority of resistance training / weights machines upstairs. Downstairs is mainly cardio, upstairs has a fair bit of cardio also. The 25 metre pool is located downstairs also. Pool facilities are second to none, with whirlpools/jacuzzi/steam rooms etc .

There are plenty of cardio machines, and even in the evenings when you would expect to be waiting for machines, there is nearly always some free machines due to the sheer amount of equiptment.

I don't know much about weight training yet, but there seems to be at least 2 of all of the weights machines (chest press/ shoulder press etc).

There is a large free weights area also, with plenty of mats / mirrors.

The changing rooms are excellent also, and are always clean.

Staff were very helpful when I asked for a programme to be made up , and spent over an hour going through the various machines with me.

I would highly recommend this gym.

MIN2511

Anyone a member of Sheldon Park hotel gym?
What's it like? Classes e.t.c.

MistyCheese

Tadgh,

The Fitness Dock is just around the corner from Pinnacle and you can pay by the month.

I think Pinnacle is more of a specialist bodybuilder gym (correct me if I'm wrong peeps) whereas the Fitness Dock is more of a general allrounder. So it depends on what you want out of your gym.

RacoonQueen

MIN2511 wrote: »

Anyone a member of Sheldon Park hotel gym?
What's it like? Classes e.t.c.

I put a review of it on the previous page.

celestial

Quality Hotel, Sir John Rogerson's Quay (off Pearse Street), D2.

Quality Hotel is a quality gym! It's been over a year since I was there, and I only really went up round 8pm weekdays. I've been up once or twice since and hasn't changed in any significant way by the looks of it. By all accounts it is busy round peak times, 5-7pm, but it certainly quietens down round the 7.45-8.30 mark. I would go in and head for the weights area and there might only be 3 or 4 other people there! They also have a pool which at around the same time would only have a few people in it.

It also has lots of treadmills, plenty of bikes - the free weights section is decent enough too, 2 or 3 benches, they do classes too. Staff are friendly too.

SuperSean11

Anyone know if total fitness-Malahide is any good?

PrinceLTX

Excellent place, I love it! A bit of fresh air from some other certain "clubs"

daveirl wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

PrinceLTX

Good enough, used to got there when lived in Cork

daveirl wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

mikemac

SuperSean11 wrote: »

Anyone know if total fitness-Malahide is any good?

I'm realy failing to see why it's called that when it's in Clarehall and a few km from Malahide. Or it is beside Tesco Malahide now?

SuperSean11, there are a few reviews already if you do a search

Hanley

It's meant to be TF - Malahide Road afaik.

SuperSean11

micmclo wrote: »

I'm realy failing to see why it's called that when it's in Clarehall and a few km from Malahide. Or it is beside Tesco Malahide now?

SuperSean11, there are a few reviews already if you do a search

I looked through already and couldnt find it. Ill look again.

SuperSean11

micmclo wrote: »

SuperSean11, there are a few reviews already if you do a search

What pages i cant find them.

dublinmadyoke

If there was a better gym closer to me I would join. The place in my opinion is dirty. The gym just opened after Christmas and the tiles on the floor in the ladies changing area are held down with tape. They have been like this for 7-8 weeks. Not good for €75.00pm.

See picture I have attached as proof ...

dave13

celestial wrote: »

Quality Hotel, Sir John Rogerson's Quay (off Pearse Street), D2.

Quality Hotel is a quality gym! It's been over a year since I was there, and I only really went up round 8pm weekdays. I've been up once or twice since and hasn't changed in any significant way by the looks of it. By all accounts it is busy round peak times, 5-7pm, but it certainly quietens down round the 7.45-8.30 mark. I would go in and head for the weights area and there might only be 3 or 4 other people there! They also have a pool which at around the same time would only have a few people in it.

It also has lots of treadmills, plenty of bikes - the free weights section is decent enough too, 2 or 3 benches, they do classes too. Staff are friendly too.

Hi
Would you have a rough idea of cost for this gym?It'd be pretty handy for me, never knew it was there.

Thanks

pjordan

I've been a member of this gym for the past 4 years. For about two years it has been managed separate to the Lynch hotel by the Kingfisher leisure group and accordingly, the level of service has improved drastically in that time.

The staff are very friendly and enthuastic and encouraging.

The facilities are pretty good, a good range of equipment with plenty of free space except at peak peak (like 5-8pm in the 1st 3 weeks of January each year!). They have treadmills, stationary bikes, cross trainers, rowers and plenty of resistance weight machines althought the free weight section is apparently quite limited for those that specialise in this (I've found it more than adequate for my needs). There is a filtered mains water cooler in the gym and a classes room off the main gym. Members are entitled to discounts for classes and non members can signs up for classes only.

The thing that swung my membership initially was the excellent 22 metre pool which I make most use of. There is a sauna (with a TV - unfortuantely the sound isn't very good), a steamroom and a Jacuzzi which has also caused them a good lot of problems with breakdowns.

The dressing rooms are very spacious with padl-ockabe lockers and benches, hairdryers and the showers are temperature controllable push button and there are enough (In the gents at least) except for the peak peak times. There are TV's in the dressing rooms and piped music (radio) over intercom.

The place is normally very clean and well maintanined with the exceptions mentioned below.

Swimming caps are essential for the pool and can be bought at reception.

Towels can be rented.

There is a refreshment bar and a relaxation are with TV and a view of the pool at reception area.

The few gripes I would have are:

Some of the maintainance problems are an inherited problem form the original Lynch build with the initial less than perfect design and build of the facility such as poor workmanship on the pool deck resulting in permanent puddles and sometimes a distinct stagnant water odor, probably caused by the limitations of the overall hotel complex sewarage treatment facilities.

Because it is attached to a hotel the facility can get very busy and clogged with kids (and less well maintained) during school holidays.

Parking can be a problem when the hotel is busy.

The soap dispensers in the showers are empty more often than full.

The individual rather than mixer taps in the gents and the shortage of basin plugs make wet shaving more difficult.

A costume spinning/drying facility might prevent some people from using the hair dryers for this purpose.

There are very few organised activities as part of membership.

Many of the special incentives to attract new members often cost less than what the long term members are paying and when such new members do join, they crowd the facility for existing members (admittedly thankfully their enthuasism doesn't usually last more than a few weeks at most!)

Sanlu

Have you yet visited peak health gym in bray???

Rebel_City

I posted a note here way before Christmas about joining diff gyms because I was working out of town and it was pointless renewing my membership in Crunch TB. So I eventually joined the Sheldon hotel gym on the Kylemore Rd. It's been tough going, not the prettiest of gyms, weights area too small and cramped etc..I went for a couple of months, but stopped cause of exams etc....I couldn't motivate myself...but I'm back working in town again and I've rejoined Crunch! Good facilities, great location (for me) and I love the fitlinx system. Much more motivated again and hopefully by Christmas I won't be making New Years resolutions to 'get fit' as I already will be!

Location and facilities...and decor...in Crunch suit me - everyone has diff needs/requirements though. That's my input anyway!

Piste

Hey anyone know if Curves in Donnybrook is any good?

doctor evil

What are peoples experiences/opinions of Fitness Dock in Camden St?

http://www.coralleisure.ie/fitnessdock_index.php

Deity

daveirl wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

What's the Iveagh Like these days? Word on the street is, there were a few beefy/intimidating guys throwing some serious weight about the place.

Dubdude

Dont know wer u heard that the only intimidating thing about the place is the non irish talking to each for example the other day i walked into the free weights room just after i had finished my run there was 2 polish on the smith machine and another doing db fly's they looked at me and then one of them said something to the others straight away i knew it was about me prob saying look at this guy he's so small yet has a vest top on thinking he's big anyway picked up 25kg db's and benched 12 then the 30kg's benched 12 then the 35kgs benched 10 all on my own no spot they then began to talk to each other after seeing this so my final set was the 40kg db's for 10 (had to get a spot) so that is how i dealt with them trying to be intimidating.

sheepshagger

Westpark gym on the Greenhills Road?

Took up their summer offer of 6 weeks for EUR 130. . think i'll join up fully as thats coming to an end. . .any comments/feedback (from me so far so good)???

WHIP IT!

sheepshagger wrote: »

Westpark gym on the Greenhills Road?

Took up their summer offer of 6 weeks for EUR 130. . think i'll join up fully as thats coming to an end. . .any comments/feedback (from me so far so good)???

Not much of an "offer" :eek: Seems pricey, no?

empirix

Westwood in Fairview seems to of gone down hill a bit within the last few months, freeweights are missing, presumably died from wear and tear etc and not replaced, also a bizarre amount of fitness staff seem to of left too (some of the ones that looked as if they actually knew what they were doing) and have been replaced by skinny newbies.anybody know the story there?

xox Sarah xox

hey does anyone know what northwood gym is like?

Degsy

xox Sarah xox wrote: »

hey does anyone know what northwood gym is like?

Kinda dark inside but not bad equipment-wise IF you're not doing weights.

Leonadis

Pinnacle Gym... Savage:cool:

EileenG

Been a member there almost a year. Excellent equipment, I've never been there that it was so crowded that I couldn't do a workout. They've actually got a squat rack and a decent amount of free weights.

Lots of cardio stuff, which I almost never use, as I cycle there, and a pool which looks good but I still haven't put a toe in.

Can't talk about the staff, as I do my own thing, but I have noticed an awful lot of people with cards doing weights with rediculously tiny weights. I mean, men doing 30kg on a leg press, that sort of thing.

Generally clean, shampoo in the showers, papers in the coffee area.

I'll probably rejoin.

EileenG

Excellent staff, good equipment, terrible showers.

Small gym, but lots of equipment, including a squat rack and a power rack, but shoved in very close together. Someone wearing strong aftershave can gas out the place.

Big workout studio with punch bag.

Excellent staff, many of whom have competed and who really know their stuff. This is the only gym I've been in where staff will spot you without half an hour of hassle first.

Terrible showers, can't change the temperature, usually too hot, sometimes stone cold. Changing rooms have a strange smell. That's the only downside, I usually don't bother showering there.

pvt.joker

EileenG wrote: »

Been a member there almost a year. Excellent equipment, I've never been there that it was so crowded that I couldn't do a workout. They've actually got a squat rack and a decent amount of free weights.

Lots of cardio stuff, which I almost never use, as I cycle there, and a pool which looks good but I still haven't put a toe in.

Can't talk about the staff, as I do my own thing, but I have noticed an awful lot of people with cards doing weights with rediculously tiny weights. I mean, men doing 30kg on a leg press, that sort of thing.

Generally clean, shampoo in the showers, papers in the coffee area.

I'll probably rejoin.

Ill second all of that.
Good clean gym.
LOTS of cardio stuff if you're into that. Pretty big free weights area, I've never waited more than 5/10 minutes for a bench. Good selection of weights, when you're able to find them that is :mad:
Seems to be getting busier the last 2 weeks I've been there.
Monday and Tuesday nights are particularly busy, but ,again you'll generally get equipment without much of a wait.
Pool area is excellent, 25m pool, 3 large jacuzzis, 2 steam rooms, 2 saunas.

Hanley

EileenG wrote: »

Excellent staff, good equipment, terrible showers.

Small gym, but lots of equipment, including a squat rack and a power rack, but shoved in very close together. Someone wearing strong aftershave can gas out the place.

Big workout studio with punch bag.

Excellent staff, many of whom have competed and who really know their stuff. This is the only gym I've been in where staff will spot you without half an hour of hassle first.

Terrible showers, can't change the temperature, usually too hot, sometimes stone cold. Changing rooms have a strange smell. That's the only downside, I usually don't bother showering there.

Sounds like heaven tbh.

Piste

jebuz wrote: »

Gym in Mount Pleasant Tennis Club

I really like this gym, probably because I'm usually the only one in it. Sometimes there might be 1 or 2 others at most. For such a small gym it has 2 treadmills, 2 bikes, a rower, and all the necessary weight machines and free weights you would need. A nice cold water tap, a tv and a hi-fi system make it all the worthwhile. Its 70 euro for the year but you gotta be a member of the tennis club too. and don't tell anyone about it, its my little secret!

Hrm, that's only down the road from me! How much is membership of the tennis club though?


EDIT: A quick search tells me you can join the gym only for €105. Why didn't I find out about this before I joined curves?!

cance

they charge excessively for everything & the parking cost is extortionate. the staff haven't the first clue what they should be doing, the showers are always out of order and they constantly spam my phone with offers that only apply to new comers.

The split weight section is a complete farce. not nearly enough room in the heavy weights section, only one set of plates and bar (no i dont include that shíte smith as a useable bar), i complain weekly about the only 6 benches in the entire gym and they seem more occupied with buying useless fúcking ab machines then improving on this.

The pool is filth soup and is often occupied with people who seem to get offended by the concept of sharing a lane in the paddling pool they call a swimming pool.

IMO it should be avoided at all costs, I'll be changing my membership in October.

The only plus side is that the regulars are actually very helpful and courteous, they should be receiving the wasted wages of the staff.

BossArky

cance wrote: »

i complain weekly about the only 6 benches in the entire gym

My gym has only one of each bench (flat, incline & decline) so I wouldn't mind 6!

cance

BossArky wrote: »

My gym has only one of each bench (flat, incline & decline) so I wouldn't mind 6!

not if you were surrounded by a litter of D4 alroyshing & high fiving rugger buggers.

Degsy

cance wrote: »

not if you were surrounded by a litter of D4 alroyshing & high fiving rugger buggers.

Probably preferable to a clatter of shaven-headed Dubbalin wideboys,shouting and talking on the bleeding phone.