The price, the preponderance of very skinny, beautiful people
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Holmes Place gave me the motivation to lose weight - partly it's because after paying sixty pounds a month (or half that on a corporate scheme) you feel you ought to get your money's worth. But it's also an incredibly luxurious environment, and you receive a high level of personal service for the original fee. Staff members design a personalised program for you, which they program into all the machines - this means that every time you get onto a machine you are told how long, and how intense, your workout should be. There are always attendants on the gym floor, who are friendly, supportive, and ready to discuss your progress with you. There are also free fitness tests and fat tests which they carry out in order to monitor your physical development. The timetable of classes is comprehensive, and instructors are of a uniformly high quality - I particularly enjoyed Pilates and yoga.
One of my favourite features is the music system - you simply plug in a pair of headphones to your exercise machines, and choose a TV or radio station to listen to. You can watch the TV channels on giant screens at the front of the gym. The great thing about this is that you can choose the music which distracts or motivates you most, rather than putting up with whatever the gym decides to play.
Even the changing rooms are an oasis of peace, with confortable benches, perfectly clean floors, spacious lockers, and piped music that just avoids being irritating. The showers and loos have cubicles twice the normal size. There are bottles of shampoo, conditioner and shower gel hanging on the shower walls, and fluffy white towels and dressing gowns so you don't have to lug an oversized gym bag around with you. There are also precise electrical scales to monitor your weight whenever you like (for free, naturally).
If you need more motivation and support than you can get from a diet book and a workout video, I would recommend Holmes Place - I usually can't be persuaded to get out of bed, but this gym persuaded me that working out three times a week was not only necessary but desirable.
More details
Price
Size
Evaluate this review
How helpful would this review be to someone making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
