SCAM ALERT - This gym advertises a Challenge which is supposed to be free if you succeed, however,…read morethey have no intentions to ever give you your money back. I did this challenge as well as my friend Miranda. She signed up in April 2019 and completed and succeeded at the 6 week challenge in May 2019. She asked for her deposit back of $399, as per the advertisement, the challenge is free: if you succeed you get your deposit back. However, they refused to refund her her deposit and they only tried to force her into becoming a member and signing a 1 year membership which starts at over $2000/year. She did not accept and to this day she has not received her money back.
Unfortunately for me, I only found this info out about my friend Miranda recently. I myself joined the 6 Week Challenge in November 2019. I was extremely dedicated to succeed and lose a lot more than the 6% body fat needed to succeed at the challenge. In the first 2 weeks, I attended 10 classes at the gym, started a Keto diet and counted calories, went biking 4 times losing over 1000 calories each time and went to 4 hot yoga classes. I lost 10 lbs in the first 2 weeks. My body was already transformed and I no longer was embarrassed of my body. I already lost about 6% by then.
After 1 week, their machine to measure body fat said I only lost 0.8%. This was not possible, but since it was the 1st week I didn't make a big deal about it. I was told that if I were dehydrated, the machine could indicated a bit of a higher body fat than the truth. I drink a ton of water daily.
The following week, I made sure to drink even more water so that this excuse couldn't be used again. Their machine said I was now fatter than when I started. This is after 2 weeks, when I had lost 10 lbs of fat and was no longer embarrassed to take my shirt off. The machine obviously was defective. It is now a fact.
I went to play beach volleyball with friends the next day and took my shirt off for the first time. I was very proud. I hurt my left wrist and my right shoulder. This alone was reason to abandon the challenge. I kept going. I couldn't work out anymore but I kept on with the diet. I went to the gym twice for a class that improves mobility. I still lost a bit of fat that week. Their machine said I was as fat as when I started. This time they admitted there was something wrong with their machine, finally, and that we will now measure my body fat manually with a caliper, the skin fold method. To come back on Monday, 2 days later, for the measurement.
That monday, I got sick. Reason again to abandon the challenge, I was now injured and sick. I persisted on. I kept on with the diet and 5 days later I was back in the gym for 2 classes and they measured my body fat again with their machine, just for fun. It was now saying that I was fatter than when I started. I started at 23.5% body fat. I told them I know myself, having done body building and trained for a competition when I was 20, and I should be at around 15% body fat. Michael, an owner, measured my body fat manually and said I was at 14.5%. Finally! That was accurate and made sense.
The following week I was just doing the minimum to continue the challenge as I was still injured and kept on with the diet. After 5 weeks I was at 14.2% body fat, measured manually by Michael. To succeed at the challenge I needed to lose 6% and drop down to 17.5%. So I had already succeeded at the challenge but not officially yet.
Four days before the final weigh in, Ryan, another owner, texted me. He kept on about the final weigh in would be Friday, I needed an appointment and they will use their machine and nothing else to determine if I succeeded or failed at the challenge. My deposit was $499 and I definitely wanted my money back. Because of traveling for work, I couldn't sign up to be a member of the gym quite yet, but maybe in the future I would have considered it. I went on to explain that in my case, at least, we cannot use their machine to determine my body fat as it failed at least 3 times in a row and has now proven to be defective. They know this, which is why and only why we started measuring my body fat manually. Ryan just reiterated that only the machine would be used to determine my success and ignored completely anything I said about my considerations about this and my concerns. I even told him they also have my before pictures and this could be used. Even the third owner, Sylvia, had said after week 4 that we could always use my Before pictures. But Ryan did not address this nor respond to this. He simply reiterated the same thing again.
After threatening to sue them if they scammed me, and talking to Michael and emailing Sylvia for help, they decided to cancel my challenge and refund me. It took over a month for me to get my money back. This whole experience was a complete nightmare and I do not recommend this gym to anyone. If they were honest, fair, had integrity, why cancel my challenge?
