Fitness First

Heyyy Everyone!!! Come Come Come to Fitness First in South London on Balham High Road. The BEST GYM ❤️❤️ ever!!! Very well managed by Norman and his fabulous team!!! All classes are AMAZING as well as all the instructors. For example, I have attended James’ classes and they are amazing…much energy, enthusiasm and professionalism!!! Come and have FUN while exercising!!! Ana-Paula

I've been coming here for a couple of years now and feel the need to share a few things for those looking to join. There needs to be more lower weight dumbbells - there is only one set of everything up to 12kg, but more than one set of the really high weights which seemingly don't get used much - or at least I never see them used. The steam room breaks way too much, seems to be every 2-3 months and fixing it seems to take at least two weeks. The sauna and steam room switches off at 5pm on a Sunday now - it used to stay open to 5:30pm, to it now being 5pm. I'm paying just short of £60 a month for the facilities to either be broken or shut off earlier and earlier. What's next, it closing at 4:30pm? A lot of people use those facilities on a Sunday and it gets quite busy. For some reason there's no clock on the wall in there now? Obviously they will rely on the contract which says 'facilities may not always be in use' Likewise, there is no signage to say at the front desk to say if the facilities are out of use upon arrival. There have been a few times I have turned up specifically to use those facilities to find they're not working, sometimes after I've got changed - bit of a waste of my time if I want to go in to relax and I shouldn't have to ask if they are working or not when I turn up. Classes take place on the gym floor at peak times on a Monday which seems to be when the gym is busiest. I avoid going on Mondays now as I normally will need to use the gym floor around that time but can't with there being no space. It would be good if there were towels, and a small spin drier for swimming shorts and towels - I have seen them in Virgin Actives and I think that would be a great addition to the changing rooms. Every gym I have been to in London offers this, this is the first one that doesn't. Staff are nice though and it's pretty clean as far as gyms go. But there is definitely a need for a lot of improvement.

Gym closes earlier and earlier without prior notice. The steamroom and sauna also now close 1 hour before closing time: this was also a policy that until today many customers are not aware of (they just wonder what’s happening when they’re already in the steamroom) and I had to find out the hard way (taking off clothes, seeing the steamroom is closed and then asking staff at the front desk); bear in mind, the steamroom and sauna closed 1 hour early before the official policy was put in place, and apparently this was always due to a mistake or break down. Cleaning now takes place during gym hours. The shower facilities were recently undergoing maintenance until “Saturday morning” but upon arrival on Saturday, the sign outside the showers had been replaced to say “Sunday morning” - no notice to customers. Overall, there is a lot of lack of transparency around policies and a significant lowering to service standards as the gym closes earlier and earlier in the last two years. I would understand the need to cover increasing operational costs and potential losses from the covid period to a certain extent, but there is now a decreased value for money on subscription to this gym, especially when compared to other gyms in the area. I would prefer a higher subscription fee (and perhaps add a towel service and fix the steamroom/sauna quicker when they break) to this.