I have to give D1 an overall very poor rating at this point.
That in no way reflects on my trainer, Randy Webb, who is the best there is as far as I am concerned. I have known and have worked out with Randy, off and on since 1985. My wife and I have been regulars for nearly the past year.
The problem is the management of the facility...or lack thereof in this case.
When D1 first began in Chattanooga, it was set up to train professional level athletes and any others who wanted that level of rigor. Oh, how things have changed.
Today, when you walk in during evening hours, you will likely see groups of twenty or more children being taught how to be a cheerleader or perhaps some low level workout routine or you might see some soccer or softball team doing some basic workouts, but you will not see any professional, collegiate or even high school level athletes being trained for maximum performance. It is a bit of a daycare rather than a serious athletic facility at this point. There may be as many as seventy five or a hundred children in the facility at one time....with their parents standing on the sidelines in support.
And then you will see Randy's dedicated group trying to find enough space in the facility to even workout because the owner seems to kick this business to the side to accommodate the larger groups of children. I guess ultimately it really is all about the money. I get that.
Now, I certainly have no problem with children receiving some type of athletic instruction. Good for them. That's great. Our schools are probably failing them in this arena, but this facility was not designed for mass training of elementary and middle school students, nor was the parking lot designed to accommodate dozens of adults who park in the lot but are not really customers themselves.
This brings me to make a few points about how the facility is managed.
My fellow workout friends have mentioned and even complained on several occasions about the type of music that is played on the loudspeakers, while children are present, and while others are working out. Without going in to detail, it is often very loud, the lyrics are just not suitable for children and/or young adults...or even adults in a civilized society. They are filled with sex, violence and other street language that you can probably imagine. This is what is being heard by these young people. It is simply not appropriate.
The parking lot has very limited capacity. When all the children have filled the facility and their parent are there to watch, there are no more spaces to be used by actual customers. If a car is parked on the street above the facility, leading to the AMC Theaters, it will be towed according to the signs, and they are serious. The main street is not wide enough to accommodate street parking so that is not an option. The only other option is to jump a curb and park in the grass.
Today it was raining heavily. My wife and I were scheduled to meet at the facility for Randy's 5:30p class. When I pulled in to the parking lot, there was not an empty parking space in the lot due to the situation I have described above. I backed up and carefully backed on to the grass to do as little damage as possible in the rain. I looked up and a gentleman was approaching me. I rolled down my window in the rain and it turned out to be the owner of D1. He advised me that he could not let me park there and told me to park on the street above, knowing full well that I would be towed. I objected. He then told me to park at Home Depot, two hundred yards away....and then walk in the pouring rain.
I told him he was not being very accommodating or courteous to a regular customer. I actually told him he was running business off. He could not have cared less. He wanted to protect his grass.
There are several other problems that I have observed with the overall management of the D1 facility but suffice it to say that, aside from fully recommending Randy Webb as a trainer, there is no way I could in good conscience, justify recommending the D1 facility to anyone who is serious about working out in a professional atmosphere.
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