Thread: Gyms and Health Clubs

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  1. #80
    The one I went to last year wasn't too bad. A better cardio place than for strength training, relatively speaking. Sport Club on Guatemala behind the Disco. I think the cross street is Gurruchaga.

  2. #79
    Senior Member


    Posts: 1043

    R

    Anybody have a current recommendation for a good gym in Palermo?

    Thanks.

    Moore.

  3. #78

    Avoid Megatlon

    Megatlon told me when I signed up for a pre-paid six-month membership that the money that I was paying up-front would be the only financial transaction that would occur. They said that after six month my membership would automatically expire. Yet, they kept charging me forty dollars a month for seven months thereafter, until I convinced VISA to block their charges. Be careful with these people-- I didn't authorize them to use my details for direct debit, yet apparently to them a foreign credit card was an invitation to steal funds. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THESE PEOPLE.

  4. #77
    Will be heading down to BA in a couple weeks and wanted to see if there is an update on gyms you all would recommend for a 2 week stay.

    Thanks

  5. #76

    La Parc Update

    An update from my visit here today. $250p a month if you go month to month. 150p a month if you do a year deal with a debit card and 120p a month for a year deal if you use a credit card. As best I can understand it.

  6. #75

    Smile Bulls Gym in Recoleta - French and Azcuenaga

    I've been working out at this place over the last couple of weeks and for what I want it suits me just fine. At 60 pesos a month (short term membership and no joining fee) you can't complain about the price. No medical certificate needed either - nor any preliminary instruction given on how to use the equipment when you first joint. After you've paid your money you just walk in a get on with it. Its the kind of place you'd expect to find in Abasto rather than Recoleta - a Mega-mile away from Megaton. Not the most modern equipment, badly marked and some poorly maintained. Lots of free weights, but hardly any safety clips - easy to drop a 20Kg weight on your foot if you loose your balance. Needless to say, a certain amount of improvisation is needed if you want to get the best out of the equipment. An assortment of other weight machines from a variety of local manufacturers. Very few treadmills or exercise bikes. No aircon, just ceiling fans. Even on a mild day like today it was a bit steamy in there. Attracts a youngish crowd of locals including some fit looking girls. Best avoided during busy times (after 5 on week days) when it gets overcrowded.

    In summary - just my kind of place. Reminds me of my old rowing club gym. Recommended, but not if you are in imminent danger of a cardiac arrest, or if you don't know how to organize your own training session.
    Last edited by Lysander; 03-18-08 at 22:55. Reason: Typo

  7. #74
    I found the free weight room to be tolerable, temperature-wise. It was the exercise room that was hot (it is directly above the pool) It could easily be that they did not turn the AC on until later in the day, and it makes perfect sense that the kids would be gone by late afternoon since they obviously came from some school or another. I don't think I was ever in the place after 2 PM, especially given that my theory was that it would get even hotter as the day went on. I do remember one gal telling me they did have AC and pointing to those pipes to which you refer but since I tested the temperature empirically I can safely say the place is an oven. Maybe I missed the third stair stepper but the one rowing machine never worked right either (slippage when pulling, leading to inconsistent tension, leading to potential for injury)

  8. #73
    Senior Member


    Posts: 552

    Venues: 8
    Quote Originally Posted by Dickhead
    I don't agree with El Queso's evaluation.
    Heh - I guess our posts show how different people can experience two different things in the same place

    The excercise rooms in what I am familiar with had air conditioning (from big pipes running the length of the machine room, blowing air in both directions from ducts spaced about 15 feet or so. They blew directly at the aerobic machines. When working on the weight machines I didn't notice much of a difference in temperature. In fact, I often felt chilled after I stopped to rest after sweating from the workout. I never worked with the free weights, which were in a different part of that floor and the air may not have distributed well in there. I am a profuse sweater - I can sweat to a soaking wet condition at 80 degrees if I have air movement at all. I didn't feel oppressed in there.

    I never saw the broken stair-steppers - they were always functioning when I was there, but there were 3 ellipticals, and one of them was always broken - it always seemed to have a problem with the band that drove the wheel / magneto. Two ellipticals together with one of those broken, and the other elliptical on the other side of two stair-steppers, between the third stair stepper.

    I never saw any of the treadmills broken, and the treadmills were almost always completely utilized when I was there. As to whether or not they needed oil or wouldn't incline I can't say, because I prefer the bikes and ellipticals - less damage to the joints.

    As to the showers, perhaps I mispoke. They seemed clean to me (having only seen them once - I used the locker room once to change for the pool) but I never showered there - I lived about half a block from there and didn't bother. I don't like showering in public places anyway for exactly the reason of mold and other crap. I can see how I might have missed how bad they were.

    My normal workout time was between 3:00 and 6:00 in the afternoon. It would get more crowded the later I was in there, but I don't recall at all seeing kids in there in general, except for the day I had my doctor's exam, there was a swim class being taught that afternoon and there were 4 or 5 kids about 10-14 in the lesson, all very well behaved.

    And my god, there were a couple of really gorgeous chicks that would come in and do stretch routines between the two rows of weight machines.

    So far I have had no problem at all with my charges. I pay for three people including myself and every month I get charged properly.

    Now, I haven't been to the Checcina location since the beginning of December because I had to got he States and then moved in January. Maybe things were really bad after I went?

  9. #72
    I don't agree with El Queso's evaluation. I was a member of Sport Club Cecchina on be. Mitre from Feb. 2007 to Jan. 2008. They offered me a year membership at 80 pesos per month but then mysteriously began to charge 90 pesos about halfway through the contract. They do not have 3 stair machines. They have two and one was broken most of the time. They do not have 10 stationary bikes, more like 7. The place is brutally, brutally, brutally hot, partially due to the pool but mostly due not having any AC and silly fans that are too high up in the air. It is at least 80 F in the winter in the workout room and well over 90 F in the summer (I checked this with a portable thermometer)

    Also the showers are full of mold and at any given time about 70% have shower heads. There are no toilet seats anywhere. There is no water cooler in the aerobic room. The water cooler by the locker room is frequently empty. They do have a decent number of treadmills but 1 of 4 is broken on average and another 1 of 4 needs lubrication or the incline does not work, etc. The butterfly press broke around May and was still broken in January. I had to make three visits just to cancel my membership. The place is often overrun with kids from the private high school next door and even worse, the locker room is full of screaming, uncontrolled, minimally supervised 4-9 year old kids who use the swimming pool. They sit on the stairs coming down to the locker room and on the floor in front of the locker room and seem petulant when kicked.

    It got the job done but I don't recommend this particular branch. If it had not been two blocks from my apartment I never would have put up with it. I will say I did not ever use the pool. Nor did I ever avail myself of the classes, of which they did seem to have plenty. They have plenty of free weights so that is a strong point if that is your thing.

    Did I mention that it is extremely hot in the exercise room? Also most of the women there (at least the time of day I went there, normally between 11 and 2) are older and not doing anything but walking on the treadmills and talking on their cell phones.

    Also it is very hot in this fucking place.

  10. #71
    Senior Member


    Posts: 552

    Venues: 8
    Saw this a bit late.

    I joined SportClub at their "Checcina" location, which is on Bartoleme Mitre, between Montevideo and Rodriguez Pena. When I joined (October 2007) they had a deal for an 8 month contract for 95 pesos per month for the first member, 80 pesos for the second and 65 pesos for any additional. They have a pool, decent-sized room for free weights and machines (with a number of duplicated stations) a large number of treadmills, abut 10 bike machines, three stair-steppers and two ellipticals. All in fairly decent state of repair, or even recently new. A couple of good-sized rooms for aerobics and karate classes. The building was fairly clean and they had temporary lockers on a couple of floors, as wells as lockers for rent in the shower rooms (which were fairly clean)

    I moved recently to Barrio Norte and the SportClub membership included the location (as Thomaso describes) at 2000 Paraguay (there are SportClub locations that the membership did not include, but I don't remember now which ones they were)

    The building is a little older, but not bad at all. I found that the bicycle machines and treadmills are in even better repair and newness than the other location. The weight rooms are about the same, fairly nice. I haven't seen the pool yet, but the shower room is a little smaller than the other building. They don't have any temporary lockers, but in the shower rooms they have a corner fenced off with an attendant where you can leave things in exchange for a ticket.

    I like SportClub quite a bit. Reasonable price, the people are friendly and the facilities are not that much lower than what I was used to in the States when I went regularly 10 years ago or so.

  11. #70

    Megatlon Alto Palmero and Recoleta

    I checked out these two Megatlons last month. At Alto Palmero, next to the shopping mall, they wanted $300 pesos (all prices will be in pesos) per month plus $30 for the membership card plus $30 for a cardio test. A nice facility, all new LiteFitness equipment. I do not recall the selection of free weights. No pool. Air conditioned as I recall. I don't recall the hours but I do recall that they are open 7 days a week.

    At Recoleta (on Arenales between Riobamba and Ayacucho) they wanted $240 per month, no fee for a membership card (no membership card either, I just use my receipt) and no mention of a cardio exam. A nice facility, all new LifeFitness equipment, an adequate selection of free weights (although I do not use them) No pool. Air conditioned. CLOSED Sunday.

    In both cases you can use only the one you join. I know that there's a pool at the one on Rodriguez Peņa but I was told that it, and I am not sure if "it" meant only the pool or the whole facaility, is being remodeled.

    Feel the Burn, Bob

  12. #69

    New Gym on Viamonte 800 block

    Thomaso,

    Did you check-out the new gym on Viamonte 800 block?

    Inexpensive, all the weights are new and the dumbells have a nicely padded grip.

    Take Care,

    RG.

    P. S - airconditioned too!

  13. #68
    Senior Member


    Posts: 1657
    Thomaso,.

    Let me know if this works out. I tried something similar at the Alto Palermo branch and they wouldn't budge. I tried to get one membership at a discount if I purchased and paid for both up front and they said no. So let me know if it works.

    Thanks in advance,

    Bad
    Quote Originally Posted by Thomaso276
    We are going to make an offer to the manager next week about renewing two memberships.

  14. #67
    Yes, the cash price can be higher than a credit card!

    Anyhow today we went to Meg. On Reconquista and it was pretty good. Lots of free weights and machines. Saturday is very slow so no problem waiting. They tell me it is very crowded during the week around 6pm due to office workers. Just as well, I prefer around 4pm. I will check it out. We are going to make an offer to the manager next week about renewing two memberships.

  15. #66
    Senior Member


    Posts: 547
    Quote Originally Posted by Facundo
    One year membership AR$1,925 or $160 per month if they charge your local credit card over a one year period. However, if you pay in cash or one payment, now this is absurd, the annual membersip is $2,100.
    You don't pay a whole payment when charged to the credit card, you are charged monthly. Also, if you are 2 people the rates reduces, I believe they have a kind of deal with the credit cards companies or something, since it's as you said, absurd that cost more when paying in advance.

    Quote Originally Posted by Facundo
    By the way, if one joins one of the other Megatlon gyms that have less expensive memberships you cannot use La Imprenta gym, however, if you join La Imprenta you can use all the other Megatlon gyms.
    Yes, and this structure repeats, as if you get a membership in the congreso megatlon, you should pay an extra fee to get to the one in rodriguez pena.

    Quote Originally Posted by Facundo
    I believe they get these prices because the place is always frequented by local models like Liz Solari, or television and movie stars, or historians like Felipe Pigna.
    Yes, La Imprenta it's a very nice neighborhood, and it's amazing "la imprenta" gym which it's located one block away, just next to persicco it's only 70 pesos per month, but you don't have this beauty close to you. (the attached pic is Liz Solari)
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails liz_solari.jpg‎  

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