Goodlife Fitness?

James_Bergin
James_Bergin Posts: 84 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Thinking of joining a good life tomorrow but I'm not sure. My friend swears by them and I've been in for the tour and the customer service is good as far as gyms go. That being said, no pool and a hefty price tag are cause for pause. I was wondering if most others who have joined have been satisfied; particularly if they've had any similar concerns.

Cheers everyone,

James

Replies

  • James_Bergin
    James_Bergin Posts: 84 Member
    Thanks for the advice! I actually dropped by another goodlife a little bit further from where I live and it was an entirely different story. The guy who gave me the tour was fairly relaxed and plain spoken and when I told him I wasn't interested in the personal training he laid off on the sales pitch.

    I told him I'm a recent u of t grad and mentioned the rates the offer and he was very quick to make a competitive offer. I mentioned I might move in the next 6 months to a year and he very clearly said cancelation would cost around a $100.

    Overall I'm really pleased with this second location and I think I will sign up. I wonder if the gyms acquisition of extreme fitness has introduced some less sacoury trainers to some of the goodlife locations because it was like night and day between the two locations I visited.

    Also, apparently making a downtown gym your home gym gives you access to all the goodlifes in Toronto, so I'll end up still being able to go to the more convenient location anyway! He he.

    Thanks for the cautionary notes though; I dealt with extreme once and it was seriously not fun so I'm glad you warned me to be careful even dealing with goodlife. Your message is in fact what prompted me to visit another location and I'm really really really glad I did.

    Cheers,
    James
  • rajathwalharris
    rajathwalharris Posts: 101
    Hey James,
    I joined Goodlife a few months ago....and it's a great place if you are looking to tone up and exercise....they have great group fitness classes,...RPM, Body Pump, Body Combat ..Body vive.....some even offer hot yoga and all their equipment is state of the art... I agreee that their prices are hefty but you are worth it...after all it's your health!!

    Also, I agree with the last post about their personal training being a money grab....I also tended to stay clear of that. I also heard from one of my friends that joined there that one of the trainers even admitted to her that they see people using the equipment incorrectly all the time, but they dont bother to correct them.....which I found kind of alarming, since I feel it's a safety thing and you should at least inform a person.....

    But it's a gym, ...and as far as I know all GL's are designed to be universally the same so that if you choose to pay for the "go to any location" fee.....you can easily fit into any one in any city or location, etc.

    The classes are great, but I have to admit they are rehearsed ....seems like the instructors are at a rock concert as they are mouthing to the songs etc...but if you can overlook all these things, it's still a fun place to work out....LOL

    Hope this helps and good luck.

    Raj
  • James_Bergin
    James_Bergin Posts: 84 Member
    Thanks Raj! Intend to agree with the personal training money grab theory but like I said, the guy backed off when I said I wasn't interested! Its a bit shocking they don't point out form problems though... They're often walking about aimlessly from what I can see, wouldn't cost them anything to offer a few pointers when they see someone working out in a potentially harmful way.

    I heard that some of the trainers are really that qualified though, so it makes me wonder if perhaps they don't really have a good framework from which to critique gym form... I don't know if that's more worrying than the fact they don't offer correction or not..

    Anyway, I signed up yesterday and I'm going in this evening. I'm really excited to get back into exercise.... Its been way too long!

    Wish me luck ;)

    Cheers,
    James
  • James_Bergin
    James_Bergin Posts: 84 Member
    Hey again everyone!,

    So a brief little update. I went into the gym for the second time today and to have a fitness assessment done. Apparently you can have as many as you want done for free.

    Anyway, I went in to get a feel for how intensely a pro would expect me to work out, and as well as get a feel for where I currently stand relative to my goals. Unfortunately I'm farther from being fit than I thought, but hey, no said it was going to be easy. So now for the somewhat negative part...

    I knew going in that their would be some kind of post-workout/assessment personal training sales pitch; that certainly didn't prepare me for what came however. After the workout, aching muscles, dehydration and all, the guy proceeded with to outline a potential fitness plan and timeframe; this was fine, informative actually. The problem was I didn't like how he then tried to leverage the highlight plan to get me to sign up for professional training. It was almost like I was getting guilt tripped for doing my body a disservice and letting him build this wonderful plan for me; only to say I wasn't interested.

    I think if your going to offer a complimentary service its fine to do a little advertising, but this was actually quite annoying because it made me uncomfortable after and otherwise great assessment and experience. I also didn't like being made to feel like its impossible to achieve one's fitness goals without training; that is simply false.

    Anyway, that's my two cents worth update. I'm happy with the gym and the trainer who signed me up. I was a bit dissatisfied with the guy who handle my preliminary fitness assessment; but hey, two out of three isn't bad :D
  • KettleTO
    KettleTO Posts: 144 Member
    Does your work offer a corporate deal? Mine works out to half the month fee plus towel service. Best part is that I you don't end up on their list so no further sales. Wasn't sure the the UofT deal was good.

    Goodlife really varies by location, but they certainly dominate the Canadian market. there is very little choice otherwise.

    What are your community rec facilities like? On the West Coast there weren't many gyms and some of municipal gyms were good and cheap. Membership also included pools.

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