I'm not sure what you call Drive. A gym is the place you enthusiastically strut to on the first of…read moreevery January for a few weeks towards an hour long elliptical routine, and then only attend sporadically during the year to check-in so your Facebook friends can be jealous that you are "working out" and they are at home on Facebook.
Drive is not a gym. Drive is family. Drive is community, coming together for the common goal of living healthier lives in my opinion.
My husband Frank and I have been members for over a year after being referred by a friend (thank you Karen!) and previously waisting money on countless gyms throughout our lives. We are both highly motivated people living busy lives who made time for the gym, but that was only half the battle. We needed a place that would set us up for success and push us to our limits on day 1, and drive us past them on day 2.
While you can certainly come and workout on the cardio machines alone, nearly everyone takes full advantage of the classes which is what makes this place so special. We've done hot yoga, power yoga, deep stretch and a few of the many other yoga classes. We've taken classes with Jake, Becky and Taylor and they are fantastic. As newbies, it was great having instructors that tailor classes to support newbies as well as all-stars. They remind you that there is no perfect way of doing yoga, it's a practice and you have to do what feels right for your body.
The other classes each have a unique focus. Whether you want to build muscle, focus on core areas, or burn calories and fat. Synergy and Fuel with Matt and Tony are two of my favorite since you often do 40 or so exercises (and then you do them all over again). So when you feel like you can't do another rep, you are onto the next exercise that focuses on another muscle group allowing you to workout harder than I personally ever thought I could. They offer classes as early as 4:30am and into the evening which helps meet everyone's different schedules. Though personally, hell will probably freeze over before you catch me at a 4:30am.
As someone who is notoriously terrible at remembering names, I'm mesmerized at the ability of all the trainers and staff to know everyone's name. I've even see people brand new to the gym who all the team members already call by name from day one. It makes such a difference, since when you're in class in your zone, and you hear a trainer call out your name with direction and guidance or a personable hello or goodbye from Joan and the rest of the staff.
If your budget allows, I recommend trying out their personal trainers, whether small group or one-on-one. In particular, I highly recommend Matt, who my husband and I and friends have loved working out with. He's supportive of your goals, and holds your accountable to meet those goals. Before Matt, I settled for the idea, that I would never be able to do certain exercises or lift certain amounts of weights. He has pushed me farther than I thought possible and the classes are a great compliment to holistic training.
The owner's are incredibly personable and welcoming. Tony and Jake are very active in the local community as well as the fitness community. From training high school sports teams to Salem's Fire Department, they are becoming and integral member of the community. Along with running the successful business and giving back to the community, they somehow also find time to teach countless classes throughout the week without breaking a sweat. Well, strike that, we all break a massive sweat at Drive, but it adds to the ambiance. Tony has been known for saying, "It doesn't get easier, you get stronger." It may sound like lip service, until that day in class when you find yourself saying, "Wow, this is finally getting easier," but then you look at the number of weights and realize it's actually getting harder, and you are getting stronger.
They have a brand new location is unbelievable. The last location was good, and overall we could have worked out anywhere because it was the trainers and fellow Drivers who made it so successful. Everyone made the best of it, though it became clearer that while we were being worked out to our extremes the location was also limiting potential, space wise.
While I think we all would have been happy with just minor improvements, Drive instead built a brand new location that feels like it belongs in Boston. But fortunately you don't have to worry about the typical snooty people that fill up some high end Boston gyms, because at Drive in my experience everyone who steps in there is there to work, and far too busy to have an attitude. Also, where most gyms are full of strangers, since Drive is more like a family, I find people treat each other more like one, since they know they will be seeing those same people day and in and out.
Whether you call it a gym, a wellness center, or jokingly a cult, all I can say is, call it, because your body and soul deserves it.
