A first rate urban gym run by a very good chain.
It is set up as if it was a sprawl city gym.
This is a huge huge plus.
Let me explain.
* * *
Most urban gyms don't have a whole lot of physical space.
They have to cram all the machines and facilities into a small footprint - generally a small footprint with multiple floors.
Nooks and crannies rule.
Funky? Yes.
Convenient if you are trying to do a workout?
No.
The space constraints mean that urban gyms are limited in the number of machines they can offer.
You don't have very much room.
You are sharing that room with an army of people.
You have to navigate complex geography to get to the machines you want.
* * *
In sprawl cities, such as Houston or Las Vegas, the strip malls have all the flat space a gym could need.
You are in one big enormous room with rows and rows and rows of machines going off in all directions.
Everything is easy to get to. You won't need a map to negotiate the maze.
From a practical standpoint, a sprawl city gym is the way to go.
* * *
Holmes Place simply spent the money to acquire a giant piece of real estate that would allow them to set up a sprawl city type gym.
I have not seen a lot of this elsewhere in Europe.
But for some reason, Berlin has a lot of these.
I pass giant mega-gyms all the time when I am on public transportation.
Holmes Place charges top dollar. Judging from the other Yelp reviews, they are relatively aggressive at getting their membership money out of you. Moving out of town or losing interest in physical fitness can be made to be very expensive.
However, I received nothing but saintly treatment from their business office.
They gave me an incredibly cheap price for a month of workouts - in one of the best gyms I have ever used.
* * *
No duh, because this is a German gym, it is mostly filled with German equipment.
German gym equipment rocks.
They have all sorts of advanced tech machines I have never seen in the U.S. I used some of the easier-to-understand ones. They were first rate.
Some 80% of the gym though is well engineered German versions of traditional machines, plus kettle bells, dumbbells, barbells, and medicine balls.
Their kettle bells are better than ours.
Same for the barbells.
Same for the traditional machines although there the difference is smaller.
Dumbbells are dumbbells and medicine balls are medicine balls.
On the exotic machines, there is no competition. German super-equipment rules.
* * *
Back to the sprawl concept though, everything is laid out on one giant floor that is easily three times bigger than the floor space available in any of the cramped urban gyms I have worked with.
Zillions of machines were in front of my eyes.
I wanted to play with all the toys.
I did play with all the toys.
It was wonderful.
* * *
Just for the record, because this is Yelp,
I have to talk about the food.
They have their own snack bar with an elaborate full menu.
Low carb lunches, protein shakes, salads and sandwiches of all types, hot plates of varying degrees of healthiness - and of course a fully stocked espresso bar.
A Yelper like me should have tried the cooked dishes.
But I got distracted by one particular culinary treat:
Nocca Energy Drinks.
This is a brand not sold in supermarkets but which is sold in gyms.
It comes in at 110 g of caffeine which is an ideal dose.
(I have no sympathy for caffeine freaks who want 300 g of caffeine in each can and then drink four cans.)
The flavors are wonderful. Orange Cola and Grapefruit-Apple were particular standouts.
Frankly, I was so eager to have another Nocca Energy drink that I could not bring myself to take the time to sample the goods from the cafe.
But a lot of other people eat at the cafe - or even bring their laptop and work in the cafe.
It is a good place to work and I suspect the coffee is okay.
* * *
Alright, I can not vouch for the exact quality of Holmes Place's cafe.
But I CAN vouch for the quality of Holmes Place's exercise floor.
It is one of the best.
Now - other sprawl gyms do exist in Berlin.
I have not checked these out.
Probably you would pick a gym based on nearness to where you live.
But if you live near Ostkreuz, which is a fine neighborhood with a lot of fine restaurants, Holmes Place is a very attractive choice.
Yes, it will cost you.
But you really do want to exercise regularly.
Especially if you want to stay slim and fit
While enjoying the amazing food options that are only a couple of blocks away. read more
