Best fitness centre in Dun Laoghaire?

cormie

Hi,
I'm looking at the possibility of joining a fitness centre and I'm thinking it would be best to join a local one as I'd be more likely to go to it. Both The Royal Marine Hotel and Crunch Fitness are within walking distance (less than 5 minutes) from my front door. Both have a pool and gym.

I've had a lot of injuries over the past 2 years or so and it's down to a lack of strength and balancing and I'm looking to improve my overall strength, posture, flexibility and also would like to have use of the pool where I'd hope to learn to swim (free classes?) and then relax a bit in the steam room/sauna to improve my overall physical health. I've no desire to "bulk up" so the availability of super heavy free-weights isn't an issue. I just want to balance my body and build overall strength and resistance to injury given my occupation (furniture removals) and playing basketball about 5 nights a week. Whatever natural physique that comes as a result of my efforts I'll accept as long as my posture improves and I'm resilient.

I have been to Crunch as a guest but only went to the pool/steam room/sauna but when I was there I had a quick glance at what appeared to be several free classes every day that members can attend including yoga and pilates. I'm not sure if swimming is free? I don't care how the gym looks and the golden tiles and abstract door handles just give me the impression that I'd be paying more than I need to. I believe Crunch is €64 a month for an anytime pass. I'd be mostly going during off peak hours anyway but would probably pay the €10 extra just incase.

Has anyone been a member of both the Royal Marine and Crunch? How do they compare? Are classes changed on a week to week basis or do they generally remain the same? In gyms in general, is there always somebody to show you how to use machines and to give advice or is this something that has to be paid extra for?

Also, any tips on how to know I'm getting an overall workout and not neglecting some parts while working too much on others would be great and again, if this was something a staff member could assist on it would be nice and also if they could understand certain injuries (I currently have tendinopathy of the shoulder and my physio has said I need to build up my upper body muscles and balance so they are working together and this should help bring my posture back at the same time and straighten out my shoulders).

Praetorian Saighdiuir

I was in The Pier for a year. When I was a member it had a very small cardio/weights area. I never used the pool but the sauna and jacuzzi were good. it's just a hotel leisure area more so than a gym.

I was a member of Crunch too. Im not a fan of a "blingy" gym but it has more facilities. It sounds like you need some coaching, so purely for that, Crunch would outweight The Pier.

cormie

Thanks for that! Yeah the bling is a bit ridiculous but I don't care if it's blingy, tacky or dated looking as long as I'm making good use of the time I'm there and I'm not paying extra to be washing my hands surrounded by candelabras

How much coaching do you think I could expect to get without employing a personal trainer? Is that what staff in gyms are generally there for or would it be asking too much to get some guidance every so often?

Anyone know what the story with guest passes is too? I've a friend or two who have studied personal training so would be cool to bring them along.

I left Crunch in 2008 and went to a few less commercial gyms and now that I'm living close to Crunch Dun Laoghaire, I joined back up and it is perfect for me. I love lifting my weights, doing my cardio and then chilling out in the sauna/jacuzzi after a workout. It's by no means an ultra serious gym in terms of the personnel attending like Ironside in Blackrock or the Loughlinstown gym etc but your workout is down to you as an individual anyway, but for me it's very important for me to completely unwind and spend 15/20 minutes dossing in a sauna/jacuzzi after I do the hard work. It just makes going to the gym more fun to have that reward.

cormie

Thanks for that. Have you any idea on the free classes at all? Think I'll pop down tomorrow and try and get the full info. It's not the type of gym that strikes me as having special offers on signing up so I guess it'll be €64 a month either way..

CWF

Not Dun Laoghaire I know but Ironside in Blackrock might be worth checking out!

cormie

Thanks CWF, sounds like that's just a gym by the name of it? do they have a pool and all the free classes etc would you know?

DL Saint

cormie wrote: »

Thanks CWF, sounds like that's just a gym by the name of it? do they have a pool and all the free classes etc would you know?

They do not afaik. However you could always give Monkstown Gym (Bluepool) a visit. They do classes and have a pool and you can payg if you wish.

cormie

Thanks for the info, would rather have everything under the one roof, I'll probably go with crunch given the proximity. They offer a better deal than royal marine when you take everything into consideration, a big part being royal marine hotel classes are all payg.