I joined Esporta because I wanted a gym that would let me use its clubs all over the country, as I was doing a lot of travelling at the time. So Esportas Freeway membership seemed like a good idea. They have clubs all over the country which you can use at no extra cost and they're in nearly every big city. Gloucester was my 'home' club.
The gym is spacious and the equipment is all top-of-the-range. They seem to have just about everything, steppers, runners, x-country, rowers, cyclers and all the weights machines too. There's also cardio theatre so you can workout whilst watching the tv and listening on headphones. They have about 6 different channels such as MTV, Sky One, Sky News, Sky Sports, ITV, BBC1. Very good if you like to watch Eastenders and get a workout. You can also get a programme set up for you by the staff that means when you enter your pin number into one of the cardio machines it tells you how long / how hard you should be working. It also keeps track of what you do on a computer so at the end of your workout you can see how well you did.
The pool isn't really olympic standard at 25m but is nice and clean and has a separate childrens splash zone. There's also a sunbed, spa, sauna & steam room off the pool.
The changing rooms are all wood-and-mirrors and are well looked after. There seems to be a hair-dryer for everyone and there's also seperate parent-and-child space. There are well stocked drinks machines. The showers are very good quality, far nicer than mine at home!
There is a good range of classes for all fitnesses (various aerobics classes, bodybalance, bodypump, tai chi for example), however popular classes like yoga and spin get booked out very quickly - sometimes you would need to be on the phone at 9am the week before the class just to get on the reserve list. There are 2 studios, both are air conditioned well.
The club also boasts, toning tables (no idea what those do but i think they wobble you about), a health and beauty Salon (never used it but the prices are slightly subsidised by your membership), sports massage room, children's activity club and creche (i've no children, so can't comment on this i'm afraid), teenagers active zone & a bar and brasserie with separate adults only lounge and children's playroom - the brasserie food seemed very reasonably priced (£6-7 a meal) and good quality. I'm not sure about having a bar in a health club though as it seems to defy the object!
The Club Opens @ 07:00 and although it closes @ 23:00 in the weekdays it is adults only from 8pm. For more information on opening hours you can check out their website http://www.esporta.com/gloucester/ .
Ok, that's all the good bits, now here's my main gripe. I was member at the club for 6 months until I moved out of the area. The whole time I felt little more than a membership number. The club is too big for you to get to know any of the staff and feels very impersonal. It's almost too 'corporate'. I also had a lot of problems with the cancelling of my membership (the contract is for a year and if you move house you have to be more than 30 miles away to cancel! I was also told I had 'motivational issues' because I didn't want to drive that distance! So be warned.)
It's pricey c. £50 a month membership. For the money you pay you have to be a dedicated gym-body, to get your moneys worth you need to go 3-4 times a week.
Since joining a smaller local gym i've decided that customer service is just as important as how fancy the machines are.
More details
Price
c.£50
Size
Big
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