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| - The "Extreme" in this gym's monikker couldn't be more apt. You'll be extremely frustrated dealing with the sales department of this club, who will undertake extreme measures to sign you up. This is unfortunate because this otherwise decent facility is marred by a unnecessarily aggressive sales culture.
The good: This is a spacious, clean, and aesthetically pleasing club. My very first experience he was after a gut-busting meal at Khao San Road when I happened to walk by and my bulging stomach (almost audibly) suggested I take a quick tour. First thought? Wow. It made my home gym seem like a dump, and by comparison the change rooms at extreme are positively spa-like. We're talking steam room, dry sauna, cold room(?!), lots of couches and seating, a tanning booth, full size lockers, a TV for some reason -- the works. And it isn't ass-to-ass in there (sorry for the visual). The workout area is on two-floors making it larger than a lot of city health-clubs. They have a spinning room, yoga studio, a personal training room, lots and lots and lots of machines.
The bad: Lots and lots and lots of machines. For a gym this size, I thought the free-weights section was a little limited. I was disappointed that there was a room full of equipment that you could only use if you hire one of their personal trainers. I also thought the juice bar and lounge (a seating area at the entrance of the gym with a monstrous projection screen TV) were unnecessary. They seem to want to create an environment where you can chill when you're not working out but in my opinion it's a waste of valuable real estate.
The ugly: Dealing with sales. After my tour, I expected nothing less than to sit down with someone and get pitched on a membership. That's fair. And to be honest, I was pretty impressed with what I saw. The sales rep was friendly, though he did pull his share of "let me call my manager to see what I can do for YOU". Whatever, no sweat. He followed up a few days later and let my try the facility before I made up my mind. This is where things got pear-shaped. For starters, the management asked that I sign up for a full membership before I work out, noting that I could cancel anyway. What? I refused. They asked to hold my credit card while I exercised, and again, I refused. I left my drivers' licence and worked out for 1.5 hours. The facility was fine. For my purposes the equipment was A-OK. When I returned I got the hard sell again. I was offered an incredible rate, and they were willing to absorb the penalty to get out of my existing contract with a competitor. But they kept insisting I sign right then continually emphasizing that I could always cancel within 10 days anyway if I wanted to change my mind. Major alarm bells were going off, and it took me a while to extricate myself from this conversation.
Ultimately, even though many aspects of this facility was objectively better than what I am used to, and they matched the price of their competitors, there was something about the entire process that rubbed me the wrong way. My decision to stick with my home gym was ultimately the outcome of a one-man referendum on whether I should reward sales practices such as these, and truly I could not.
Obligatory Title Pun: It'll take MORE THAN WORDS to get me sign up here.
Menu Readability: The juice bar never seemed to be staffed anyway.
Need to mention: I was not a paying member here, but I did get to try the facility and staff on a free trial. Believe me, it was sufficient.
What this place teaches me about myself: When in doubt, trust the Yelp reviews.
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