I have been a member of GymIt for 2 months and I absolutely love it. Here is my experience so far:
Equipment:
GymIt has a big cardio room. There are dozens of treadmills and ellipticals, plus elliptical-ish machines like AMT machines and Arc trainers. There are also stationary bikes and recumbent bikes. There are 20 HUGE televisions with a variety of channels playing. My favorite cardio spot is the row of treadmills facing the Commonwealth Ave windows.
There is a 30-minute strength circuit next to the cardio area, as well as many strength machines. The main weight room features some cable machines as well as two smith machines. It has an impressive collection of dumbbells ranging from 5 to well over 50 lbs. There are some straight barbells of preset weights ranging from 20-40 lbs, as well as ez-curl bars ranging from 20 to over 100 lbs. The only shortcoming I care about is that there are no olympic barbells or squat racks, so anyone who plans to lift heavy is either stuck with dumbbells or the smith machine. Adjacent to the strength room is an open space, half with hardwood flooring. Here, there are stability balls, bosu balls, foam cylinders, three box platforms, and miscellaneous items like jump ropes.
Staff and Personal Training:
I have never had a bad interaction with staff here. The desk staff are always somewhere between passively friendly and actively engaging. It is common for the front desk to be unmanned, but the glass-walled office is nearby so someone will usually come out right away if someone approaches the desk. The couple of times that I have interacted with desk staff more than in passing, they've always been responsive and nice. I have e-mailed the general manager with many questions, and he is always patient and helpful.
I have also worked with two different personal trainers at GymIt. I had my free 30-minute assessment with Jamal when I first joined. We talked about my current status and my goals; the remainder of the 30-minutes was spent figuring out benchmarks and going through a few exercises. Jamal was friendly, courteous, clear in his directions, and easy to work with. If your availability is primarily weekday evenings, you should not hesitate to get an assessment or personal training with him. He seems ideally suited to help those who are new to fitness, looking to lose weight, or otherwise unsure of how to develop a comprehensive exercise program for themselves.
I was looking for someone available on the weekends and wanted to do some more specific things like barbell work, so I check around and ended up booking sessions with Yuki. With him, I learned a TON about working with weights. He designed a very detailed and clear strength routine to help me achieve short- and long-term goals. His training style is very positive (not aggressive/angry like a Jillian Michaels type). He always pushed me to do my maximum effort, but never spoke a negative word to me. He praised me for hard work and gave me constructive feedback after each set. I cannot speak positively enough about my training with Yuki; I would seriously recommend him to anyone looking to incorporate strength training of any sort into their fitness routine.
Cleanliness and Other Notes:
One of the first things I noticed about GymIt is that it's genuinely clean. There is no funky smell, even in the locker room. The atmosphere at GymIt is usually pretty low-key. A variety of people seem to frequent the place, ranging from college students to the elderly. There are plenty of fatties like myself trying to shed some pounds, but there are just as many fit people training up. The lack of heavy barbells does mean that there is also a lack of humungous, grunting bodybuilders dropping weights and screaming every time they do a few reps. The weight room is pretty accessible for newbies and women.
Finally, a note on the crowds. I go weeknights around 5 and weekend mornings. The weekends, of course, are never crowded. Weeknights are interesting because the place is almost dead before five, and then slows down again after six, but 5-6 is usually pretty crazy. I have never had to wait to get a cardio machine, even when I arrive during the busiest times. Sometimes I have to rework the order of my lifting schedule to work around other people, but it's rarely an actual problem.
Bottom Line: For $20/month, GymIt would have to be pretty terrible not to be worth it. Thankfully, with GymIt you get a LOT more than you pay for. The machines are maintained well and the place is always clean. It's clear that the gym caters more to curl bros/n00bs than hardcore lifters, but even the most serious lifters have plenty to work with there. The staff are friendly and knowledgeable, and the two personal trainers I worked with are both superb. If you need a juice bar and a pool and a track and basketball courts (like BU's FitRec across the street), GymIt is not for you. But if you just want access to equipment and a locker room, this is a great option. read more
