OT: Gyms in Square Mile

dhope

Recently moved jobs, pretty close to where I was before but I'd been spoiled by having the gym 50 yards from work. Now it's a full half a mile away. Yep, I know, that's no distance at all but I'm very lazy.
So, thinking of moving gyms. I'm at Fitness First at the moment which is cheap and cheerful (for a London gym - around £50pcm) but I'm going at peak times a bit more now and they're horribly busy.
There's a Gymbox around the corner and a Virgin Active. Gymbox looks decent but I'm concerned that it's for posers with arms the size of my legs and legs the size of my arms.
I think they're both a bit more pricey but anyone have any experience of those ones or can recommend anything near Lothbury?

jzed

There's an outfit called H2 gyms that have a "cycling friendly" gym in SoHo, they were meant to be opening a gym on London Wall but not sure when its due to open.

http://www.h2bikerun.co.uk/

el_presidente

The big one under the arches at Cannon St station is supposed to be very good

tordis

I'm a huge Gymbox fan, mostly because of their innovative, fun classes. I go to the one in Farringdon - brand new machines, clean and well maintained showers and changing areas, cheerful staff... I'm on a 12-month contract and pay £58 a month, but it's well worth it

Green Brompton

I've never been to the Oasis Gym in Holborn but it looks quite good. It even has an open air pool

http://www.camden.gov.uk/ccm/navigation ... 2A4CB3A46F

iPete

What do you need the gym for?

Gizmo_

I only know the Virgin Active on Bunhill Row. Very nice, but farkin' expensive and I never went.

dhope

If Gymbox is 'only' £58 then that's not too bad. For black label FF I pay £51 I think now. None of them have a pool worth going to (Cottons in LB too cluttered) and my local FF (Balham) is dire.

H2bikerun sounds interesting and would be really close to work, might see when 'Coming Soon' is.
The one by Cannon Street is a Nuffield one IIRL. It's certainly very plush, think it's around £90 quid a month though.

iPete - Cardio done on the bike, I'll use free weights at the gym though, if only for vanity's sake, I'd be too skinny otherwise.

iPete

Miss doing weights myself, good for my weak back but the vanity helped! I'd be tempted to look at getting a bar for home. Then I only ever needed to do dead lifts, shoulder press, bent over rows and maybe squats.

Headhuunter

Green Brompton wrote:

I've never been to the Oasis Gym in Holborn but it looks quite good. It even has an open air pool

http://www.camden.gov.uk/ccm/navigation ... 2A4CB3A46F

Oasis is big, as is usual with gyms they tend to overdo the cardio equipment with less in the way of weights stuff but it's alright. It's a little bit scruffy round the edges, it's an ex council run gym. I doubt it would suit dhope though as it's well out of the City. I just cycle to the gym on the way home or run to Jubilee Hall in Cov Gdn or Oasis at lunch.... It's about a mile. I use UK Fitness Network which costs me £30-35 per month for unlimited use of about 75 gyms across London. Sadly none in the City though

Green Brompton

Headhuunter wrote:

Green Brompton wrote:

I've never been to the Oasis Gym in Holborn but it looks quite good. It even has an open air pool

http://www.camden.gov.uk/ccm/navigation ... 2A4CB3A46F

Oasis is big, as is usual with gyms they tend to overdo the cardio equipment with less in the way of weights stuff but it's alright. It's a little bit scruffy round the edges, it's an ex council run gym. I doubt it would suit dhope though as it's well out of the City. I just cycle to the gym on the way home or run to Jubilee Hall in Cov Gdn or Oasis at lunch.... It's about a mile. I use UK Fitness Network which costs me £30-35 per month for unlimited use of about 75 gyms across London. Sadly none in the City though

I work over the road to JH, my old running coach was a personal trainer there. I used to use it for showers in the morning, occasionally used the gym a year or two ago, looks like a good gym for weight training... no air con if I remember correctly? Virgin on the Strand is nice as well. LA Fitness at Aldwych is hit and miss. But apart from JH I haven't been a member of V or LAF since 2007/08 due to cycling.

Headhuunter

Green Brompton wrote:

Headhuunter wrote:

Green Brompton wrote:

I've never been to the Oasis Gym in Holborn but it looks quite good. It even has an open air pool

http://www.camden.gov.uk/ccm/navigation ... 2A4CB3A46F

Oasis is big, as is usual with gyms they tend to overdo the cardio equipment with less in the way of weights stuff but it's alright. It's a little bit scruffy round the edges, it's an ex council run gym. I doubt it would suit dhope though as it's well out of the City. I just cycle to the gym on the way home or run to Jubilee Hall in Cov Gdn or Oasis at lunch.... It's about a mile. I use UK Fitness Network which costs me £30-35 per month for unlimited use of about 75 gyms across London. Sadly none in the City though

I work over the road to JH, my old running coach was a personal trainer there. I used to use it for showers in the morning, occasionally used the gym a year or two ago, looks like a good gym for weight training... no air con if I remember correctly? Virgin on the Strand is nice as well. LA Fitness at Aldwych is hit and miss. But apart from JH I haven't been a member of V or LAF since 2007/08 due to cycling.

Yeah JH is good for weights, it's the only gym I know which has more space given over to weight training than cardio machines. It has big air con units on the walls but not sure if they work... It never gets hot in there though as the ceiling is so high it's very airy, it also has massive fans on the wall

rebs

Not your usual Gym. But I've found these sessions to be really fun:
http://www.crossfitcentrallondon.co.uk

dhope

rebs wrote:

Not your usual Gym. But I've found these sessions to be really fun:
http://www.crossfitcentrallondon.co.uk

I like the look of these a lot. Quite pricey but maybe some one-off sessions would be a nice halfway between normal and personal training.