"Esporta Health and Fitness Club" has been rapidly expanding recently into various new sites around the country and although the Oxford site is not new, it is new to me as only joined recently and so far I cannot recommend it highly enough. In brief, Esporta provides much more pleasant experience ... Read review
Advantages: Luxurious gym, friendly staff, great equipment Disadvantages: A bit more expensive than other gyms and exercise still hurts
...it highly enough. In brief, Esporta provides much more pleasant experience than all other gym's I've attended.
Location
The Oxford Esporta is on Banbury Road, one of the major trunk roads going from the roundabout of the A34 (which links to M40) into the centre of this beautiful historic city. Esporta is 2 miles from the centre of Oxford in the leafy suburbs of the expensive North Oxford area. The entrance is ... ...
According to the Esporta website, there is currently a one day free trial at all Esporta's (http://www.esporta.com) and I would highly recommend having a look around at the facilities whilst you can and try out some of the equipment (until 28th Feb, so be quick!)
Immediately through the main entrance is the reception desk with very helpful staff that seems to know what they are talking about and can sort out membership. Monthly ... more
"Esporta Health and Fitness Club" has been rapidly expanding recently into various new sites around the country and although the Oxford site is not new, it is new to me as only joined recently and so far I cannot recommend it highly enough. In brief, Esporta provides much more pleasant experience than all other gym's I've attended.
Location
The Oxford Esporta is on Banbury Road, one of the major trunk roads going from the roundabout of the A34 (which links to M40) into the centre of this beautiful historic city. Esporta is 2 miles from the centre of Oxford in the leafy suburbs of the expensive North Oxford area. The entrance is not particularly obviously, as the centre is located behind St Edwards School playing fields, but if you look out to the left when going out of Oxford the blue sign should be obvious enough. If you get to the roundabout, you have gone too far. Warning, due to proximity to the school some very severe speed bumps have been installed and they are really quite jarring. Once you get past this challenge the electric blue of the centre is apparent with ample parking at any time of day.
How much does it cost and when to go?
According to the Esporta website, there is currently a one day free trial at all Esporta's (http://www.esporta.com) and I would highly recommend having a look around at the facilities whilst you can and try out some of the equipment (until 28th Feb, so be quick!)
Immediately through the main entrance is the reception desk with very helpful staff that seems to know what they are talking about and can sort out membership. Monthly costs are comparatively higher than lesser gyms, however the cost does vary according to the type of membership (age and group membership). The cheapest membership I could find was £14, with the most expensive being £54, per a month and these memberships are for the basic facilities excluding a lot of extra's such as tennis courts and personal trainer.
The Oxford Esporta has a massive amount of cardiovascular equipment…. Probably 75 by my best estimate in front of a TV wall with 4 different channels (with headsets available). But even this amount of equipment (in addition to all the other machines, classes and courts) does get busy at peak times, so I would recommend avoiding the 5-7pm after-work rush unless you don't mind waiting for equipment, but this shouldn't be a problem seeing as Esporta is open 7am to 11pm.
Changing facilities
The changing areas are impressively luxurious, the lockers themselves (at least 150 of them) are polished wood and are elegantly designed, using a £1 coin for the locking mechanism, being big enough to fit your bags and clothes without crumpling them. There are central benches to each changing area (4 of these) so you can sit down and put your trainers on and there are TV's embedded into the walls showing BBC news 24. There are great showers, very powerful and hot, communal or single with great smelling lotions and potions to pamper yourself with if u are into that kind of stuff (shower gel is as far as I go personally). There are also hair driers and those spinning machines which dry your trunks for you and of course lots of mirrors for the mandatory meat-head to check himself out in, although there are a lot less of those types at Esporta. My friend (with a child) tells me the women's changing rooms are similarly furbished, with lots of space and that there are good facilities for her toddler.
The gym floor
There are excessive numbers of cardiovascular machine and I have never seen all of a single type of machine used at any point, with normally only half of the machines being used. There are approximately 25 runners, 25 bikes, 25 cross trainers and 10 rowing machines. So you have no excuse to building up a sweat, unfortunately. The television selection in front of these machines includes eurosport, BBC news 24, MTV and something else normally and you will always be able to see the screen as they are massive (6 foot across each?) It really helps when you are prone to getting bored when doing the fitness work that burns off the weight, I like to watch (and listen with headphones available there) a TV programme or maybe even a film whilst I'm training as the elapse time on my bike screen seems to disappear so much quicker.
In addition to the CV area, there is a substantial stretching area, containing lot of mats, ab machines, fit balls, wobble cushions and small weights for those toning exercises.
I equipment I use most tho are the weights, both free-weights and levered (machines). The selection of levered weights to lift in Esporta is amazing, I have never seen so many machines and I have been to many gyms, most of them I need to check out the helpful plaque telling me how to use them and what muscles they work. Over my time there I have developed a selection of machine I like to use, but there are literally 10 I haven't even tried yet. I'm hence not going to list all the machines, but if u have the muscle, they have the machine to work it! There is also a card system that you insert into each machine and it records the repetitions you do and the weight…. This is all a bit complex for me (tho I intend to try it soon), so I have avoided asking the gym helpers about this, but they have been very helpful with helping me get to grips with all the machines. The free weights are generally pretty good, with ample dumb bells (2-46kg) and weighted bars (10-60kg) for the toning of those biceps that lots of people like to do. I do have one complaint about this section of the gym tho, as they only have 1 squat cage and 1 Olympic bar, meaning only 1 person in the entire gym can do squats/clean/ dead lift which are the exercise I tend to do most of… I don't mind waiting tho, especially as the gym is well ventilated and has chilled water and orange quarters available in the centre of the room.
The staff are very helpful in every regard, but I found them especially good with my training regime, which was devise with the help of a motivator who keeps an eye on what I'm doing. It really useful to have someone making sure you are ok and will push you on if you ask him to, giving some support with a friendly chat after your training.
Classes and other facilities at Esporta
I don't do the group classes that are offered as part of the membership fee, but I hear they are very well attended. Classes of various sorts (spin, boxercise, step, stretching, yoga etc etc) are perpetually going on in the club, with a wide variety of intensity so even the most hard-core athlete would still feel stretched at the hard classes. A wide variety of people go to these, there are many older males more than I had expected. You will need to book these classes by phone call or at the front desk, as they are very well attended and if u do not book you may well be disappointed.
I have swum only once there, although I know there is an indoor and an outdoors pool for the use of the members. The inside pool is a decent size, not massive but good enough o get some training doing lengths in the fast lanes, whilst others lounge in the other areas. The pool is probably too warm to do any serious training as you sweat so much (but you can use the outdoor pool) but this temperature is perfect for a splash around. There is an additional small pool for children that is shallow and a lifeguard is always nearby (with additional cameras) to make everything is safe and there is also a Jacuzzi for the bubbly fun and relaxation.
There is a decent steam room and sauna for those trying to clear their heads, or just relaxing after a long day at work when you do not fancy exercise. There are also relaxation areas around the pool that are a nice addition.
I've only seen the tennis courts, but there seems to be 5 or more indoor red court material and I believe there are more outside on grass and hard court. In addition there are squash courts.
There a kids club which my friend often uses when she is at the gym, which they seem to absolutely love and she has had problems getting them to leave on more than one occasion.
Just inside the front desk there is an entrance area, with a café and seating area complete with WiFi Internet access that impressed me and the food is pretty good, although I try to avoid all the good work I have done in training by buying the lovely pastries they have. I've read that the café has various nights, including a curry night occasionally that I may try at some point (£5 all u can eat, watch out!).
Recommendation
After writing all this, I will summarise by saying that Esporta is the best gym I've ever seen (including various 5* hotels) and think it represents good value for money. Go and try the 1-day free pass and be impressed!
