Lord, if you won't make me skinny, please make my friends fat...
Lord, if you won't make me skinny, please make my friends fat...
Member since:16.09.2006
Reviews:67
Members who trust:51
There’s a motto in Germany regarding sport and exercise and it’s “Sport ist Mord” which translates as “sport is murder” - but at least in German it rhymes.
Being German “Sport ist Mord” has always been my philosophy when it came to fitness clubs, organised exercise and sport in general. I had to do sport, or rather PE, at school but luck would have it that during my last two years at school I had a doctor’s letter excusing me from PE – well it should have been for two weeks only but he forgot to date it so I presented it over and over. That was the last time I participated in any kind of organised exercise or sport. Well, not quite. I had signed up to a Tai Chi course on a Saturday morning about 10 years ago but as it was early Saturday morning I quickly lost interested and didn’t bother to finish the course.
There are two health/fitness clubs in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, where I live. One is “The Venue”, past Elstree Studios, almost next to the local library. I only knew it as the local swimming pool, not so much as a fitness centre. And the other one is the old Holmes Place in the middle of Shenley Road, the main shopping street in Borehamwood. It shares the building with Gala Bingo and our local Reel Cinema.
I signed up to Virgin Active Borehamwood because I was on an assignment. But who would have thought that a someone who would never have voluntarily entered any sports centre suddenly got the fitness bug and decided to continue and stick with the programme? There’s nobody more surprised than myself.
Virgin Active offer two types of contract, the annual and monthly contract. If you are sure you can afford a 12 month stint at your local fitness club you can sign up to that. It’s cheaper than a month-by-month membership but you can’t get out of the contract for 12 months. Then there’s the month-by-month
contract where you renew you contract every month and only pay for the next month, not for the rest of the year. This option is more expensive but if you lose interest in keeping fit any time you just give them 30 days advance warning and they will cancel your membership. At Virgin Active Borehamwood the annual charge would boil down to £47 per month while a month by month membership will set you back £57 per month, a £10 difference per month but still better than being tied in to an annual contract you might not want after the initial bout of enthusiasm.
Other clubs might have different prices depending on where they are and what they have to offer. There are clubs that also offer beauty treatments and a crèche and you might have to pay extra to have these options. Basically, the bigger, more advanced and modern the club the more expensive it will be.
You are charged a signing up fee of between £20-£100 depending on the club you pick. You also pay part month fee depending on when you sign up. When I became a member I only had to pay the £20.00 signing up fee and the rest of the month was free. Payments are made by monthly direct debits to leave you account on or around the 1st of every month.
I was shown around the club before I had a chance to say whether or not I wanted to sign up for membership. Nothing was forced onto you, I could have walked out without signing up and I don’t think I would have been made to feel a traitor.
Oh, and I received a large red Virgin Active umbrella as a welcome gift (personally I would have preferred a backpack to put all my gym clothes in).
You will receive your membership card the next time you come to the club, usually for your set appointment, the Induction.
Losing your virginity:
Before you can actually use the gym you have to meet one of the personal trainers in the club who will go through your medical history, any problems you might have that stop you from enjoying the club to its full potential. You can book the Induction when you first sign up. You will be given a time and the name of the personal trainer you will see for your first gym session.
My personal trainer and I had a chat for about 30 minutes before he took me to the gym floor and let me train on some of the equipment. He put together a programme beneficial to me and assist achieving the goals I have, taking into account medical problems (Lateral Epicondylitis – RSI, tennis elbow). It meant that I am currently not allowed to do too many upper body exercises and we had to concentrate on lower body first. Hopefully when my arm gets better I can add more.
At the moment my exercise plan includes treadmill and cycle programmes, leg pushes and a number of other exercises helping to tone my lower body. I keep a record of my progress on a fold out chart where I tick of what I’ve done and on what day as well as log any changes – for example adding weights to the leg pushes, increasing the incline setting on the treadmill or similar.
On top of the exercise programme in the gym the club offers group sessions. These can be anything from Pilates and Yoga to Body Combat, Body Pump or Group Cycle. These group sessions take place in one of the two studios. There is a time table available to tell you what courses are on and what studio to find them in.
I fancied Tai Chi but with all the stretching and hand movements going decided to put it on the back burner for now. But I decided to turn up for the Aqua Aerobic lessons.
The Gym Floor:
Virgin Active Borehamwood is a relatively small gym compared to what I’ve seen in other gyms. But it has enough equipment to keep everyone happy. But it’s bright and loud and very friendly.
There are rows of treadmills and bikes as well as step machines, mainly from the Star Trac brand. Simple button pushing will get you to the programme you want, if you get lost then there will be instructors and personal trainers around to help you. There are more modern machines out there but the ones here do what you need them to do and why buy new things if the old ones will still do the job just fine.
If you prefer mediaeval torture instruments then there are plenty of machines to help you push weights with your legs, arms, there are barbells and a boxing ring as well as rowing machines.
The gym is mirrored so you can watch yourself work out (or try and look away embarrassed). There is always music playing and a row of TV
Pictures of Virgin Active Fitness Club, Borehamwood
Virgin Active Swipe Card
screens show a variety of programmes. In Borehamwood you normally get SKY News, one of the SKY Sports channels, BBC1, MTV and either Channel 4 or ITV1, depending on what time of day and what programmes are on. You will always have the first three channels, the other two vary as well as the number of TVs tuned into each channel. I suggest you bring your own headphones and plug yourself in and pick the TV channel you want at a volume comfortable for you. If you don’t then you may get the picture but have to do with the music that’s playing at the time.
Ladies Only Zone:
If there are females out there who are a little shy working out in a mixed gym, there is a small area set aside where only females are allowed. It contains a small number of machines (and smaller TV screens to watch – but it will show soaps instead of news or sport if you prefer).
Changing Rooms and Showers:
Virgin Active Borehamwood has quite a large changing room area, divided into three (ladies) with the one furthest being a family changing room. Only boys under 8 are allowed to change in the same area as their mothers, older boys have to change in their own changing rooms.
There are plenty of lockers but you should bring your own padlocks as they are not provided. You can either buy a lock from reception or hire one if you forget yours. I bought a number padlock and keep it in my gym bag at all times.
There are about 10 showers, each with complimentary shampoo/body wash and conditioner but I prefer to take my own as I am not keen on generic stuff.
From the shower area you are in easy reach of the sauna and steam room as well as the 17 metre swimming pool. There is no life guard on duty at any time and you are welcome to swim whenever you wish but pick up a time table for the swimming pool as classes take place during the day or early evening as well as family and female only swimming sessions.
Collapsing in a crumpled heap:
If, like me, you are not actually exercising too often you will be out of shape and the first thing you will notice is muscle ache. I had no adverse reactions when I started my gym exercises but it was a totally different story when it came to my Aqua Aerobics. I was fine the next day but the day after that I didn’t know how to get out of bed, how to move, every muscle in my body was aching – even the ones I never knew I had. It took almost a week before I was pain free again. Luckily I was away for a week visiting family and friends in Germany and didn’t do any exercises at all.
So if you don’t exercise often, don’t be surprised when you suddenly feel aches and pains all over. But rest assured, once you’re over the initial pain, it’s gets better and you will not even notice. But watch out for signs that you’re overdoing it. You could do more harm than good.
“Exercise is bad for you”*
Listen to you own body. If you think that you should stop, do it. It’s not worth continuing and damaging your muscles and ligaments. It will only set you back and will not do you any favours.
I have never overdone it but still there was a point when I noticed that ‘feel the burn’ turned into ‘oops, I did myself some damage here’. I have to take it easy now as I also suffered from an inflamed Achilles tendon and my doctor told me to stop exercising for a week or two – resulting in me stepping it up even further.
I am pain free now with both, my tennis elbow and Achilles tendon, and my personal trainer has revised the training schedule to make sure I don’t damage my tendon further.
(* confirmed by my GP)
Virgin Active Borehamwood is one of the smaller gyms in the group (currently 72 in the UK and some abroad, Spain and Italy). There is no crèche for children or beauty spa, it’s just not big enough. But who knows, there is room upstairs and in time there may be expansion into the beauty area.
If you are serious about working out and don’t need a fancy gym with always open café, crèche or spa then this one will be good for you. I surprised myself how much I enjoyed working out after doing virtually nothing for ages. I am glad I took the plunge and joined up and although I will not get tied into an annual contract, the option of paying month by month and being able to cancel with just two weeks notice is great for me. It means that if I lose interest or run out of money I can always cancel – or freeze the membership and pay only about £10.00 to keep the membership going, an option if you are away for a long time during the month and won’t have time to go to the gym. If you terminate your contract you will have to pay a rejoining fee and start from scratch.
Virgin Active Borehamwood is undergoing some refurbishment at the moment so expect a little bit of disruption in the form of ladders, paint pots and the like. I’m glad they are actually doing something as some parts of the interior look old and dated.
Until the other day all signs still said Holmes Place but much to my surprise, everything’s changed now and all signs now say Virgin Active. The refurbishment is coming on leaps and bounces and should be finished soon.
Details for Virgin Active Borehamwood
The Point 84 Shenley Road Borehamwood WD6 1EH
Tel:020 8207 0020 or 0845 207 4110
Opening hours (normal hours) Mo – Thu 6.30am –10.30pm Fr 6.30am – 9.00pm Sat – Sun 8am – 8pm
There are off peak hours at the club (most of them actually) but so far I have not encountered the place so packed that I couldn’t exercise on the equipment I wanted.
For more information on any particular Virgin Active Health Club, address, telephone number and opening hours as well as what is available in individual clubs please refer to the Virgin Active website http://www.virginactive.co.uk/VA/ and chose a club via the drop down menu.
Due to the close proximity of both BBC Elstree where they film “EastEnders” and “Holby City" and Elstree Film Studios, home of the infamous Big Brother house, you never know who you are working out next to. Yes, I have found myself working out next to people I recognised from the small screen. And it showed me how unfit I really am.
But the good news is that I not only lost inches on my legs, hips and bum, I also lost quite a bit of weight.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
exceptional by (15%):
very helpful by (81%):
helpful by (4%):
