Which Fitness Club

Hi,

though I cannot join at the moment, once my foot heals better and Koas gets a job, I might want to join a club with Koas girl.

I definately need a pool, and pilates, a recumbant bike and treadmill (my knee doc says ellipticals don't have enough full range of motion- thanks! I have one in my basement.)
Other than that I can do upper body weights, but no lunges, squats, step machines and leg machines.

Kaos girl wants a club for all the benes. She got her tree trunk legs from her momma, and height from her dad. She wants to get some detail to her muscles.

So between the one over by AOL, and the new one in Brambleton, and the new Golds that will open...I have to add that In the past I only worked out at women's clubs, in order to avoid the meat market like you have in more urban places. The only one of those is in Chantilly, and they have no pool.
I'd appreciate your advice.

 

You said a pool is important... Lifetime has an indoor 25m pool with 5 lanes. I think S&H in Brambleton's indoor pool is only 3 lanes. Lifetime has a HUGE outdoor recreational pool with 6 additional lanes, and an additional indoor recreational pool that also has lap lanes (depending on how they rope it on any given day it could be two, it could be 6). So if swimming indoors is very important to you, you'll have an easier time getting a lane at Lifetime. That said, it's like 2.5x the price of S&H Brambleton right now, so you'll need to decide what's important. They both have lots of cardio machines and weights. Since Lifetime is much bigger they of course have more, but it's all relative since I suspect they also have more members.

Lifetime has lots of yoga and pilates including a special pilates studio (which I've never step foot in since I can't do pilates classes) and I can't comment about S&H's pilates facilities/classes. I have no idea!

They're very similar clubs in that they're both new, both nice, both have lots of equipment. You won't care about the awesome children's center at Lifetime, but that's one thing that keeps me at Lifetime. I don't know if you'll care about their spa, their indoor cafe, their outdoor cafe by the pool.

Lifetime costs more, and if you don't value the stuff that it has, then S&H will be the way to go! Besides... you know S&H's GM is a good guy. Can't go wrong there!!

 

One other thing worth considering... Lifetime doesn't require contracts. They're month to month, you can cancel whenever, you can freeze for a few months if needed. I believe all the other clubs require at least an annual contract and if you commit for a longer period of time you'll get an even lower monthly rate. But you're locked in.

 

A coworker just checked out the new gym (S&H) at Brambleton (free one day pass) and said he'd never go back. Said while it looked big from the outside, once you get in it is considerably smaller since alot of the outside walls are taken up by offices, etc. His biggest complaint is the common "walk areas" around the gym part are right behind some onf the machines, so while he was using some of the machines there was always someone walking behind him going to the other side. One other interesting note, and this could be because of the time of year he went, was that all the "traininers" were from a local high school. One told him that a number of guys on the football team worked there. He was kind of put off that the traininers had no more experience than that.


He did visit Lifetime as well and had nothing but good things to say.

 

heard a rumor that the new gold's gym is to have two pools... no other details but it would be nice if this gold's offers similar facilities to lifetime as it sure is closer.

 

I would verify that with the GM of sport&health. I know for a fact they require their trainers to be certified. Go directly to the source and he will give you accurate information.

 

I am looking for the fitness club with Racquetball facilities near Broadlands. Any idea?

 

Not sure what the deal is with the trainers. He just talked with an employee who conveyed he was a trainer and him and a few of the other guys were on the local high school football team. Maybe he was yanking my co-workers chain...don't know. Bottom line is my co worker left with a bad impression of the place and went somewhere else.

I'd love to hear a different story from someone that is a member there......

 

Lifetime Loudoun does not have them. I don't know about the others. (I think I heard that Lifetime Chantilly DOES have them, but (a) I can't confirm and (b) I wouldn't call that "near Broadlands" which is what you asked for!

 

Sport & Health in Worldgate used to have them. Neighbors use the club so it must not be too horrible a distance, especially if willing to pay for the Greenway.

 

Depending on when you join, you may want to wait for Golds to open to see exactly what they have and tour all the locations. We have been at LTF for 1.5 years and would love to move to S&H because of the distance from home factor (as well as price). But we are staying put because of the amenities for our 3 kids - ages 3, 5 & 7. The kids center is fabulous (they ask to go there), the pool is heated and open prior to Memorial Day so is our go-to through June, they have great (and inexpensive) camps for the kids, rock-climbing for my son. I also like that the cafe is there for meals while at the pool or after a workout - i.e. do a 5:45pm class, remove kids from childcare and eat dinner there at 7pm for less than McD's would cost.

HTH!