I've been attending PDXFIT regularly for three weeks, and am genuinely thrilled to write a review…read morefor this wonderful neighborhood gym. I've passed it for over a year, but dismissed it as it seemed too expensive. However, it being a four minute walk from my house and feeling my body slowly loose all fitness from being sedentary, it felt worth it to try the one week pass. After a week, I immediately signed up as a member, and it feels completely worth the cost.
I've worked out at several gyms, ranging from 24 hour fitness types to similar boutique gyms like PDXFIT. PDXFIT has the ideal balance of friendliness, a relaxed environment, community orientation, with excellent and stringent teaching with a high level of focus on form and safety. It's also spotlessly clean, which is a pretty remarkable feat for a gym. Marco, the owner, and Halden, the other coach, are both wonderful, kind teachers who don't let you get away with poor form. Leslie, the co-owner, is also one of the friendliest and kindest people I've ever met. I particularly appreciate Marco's consistent focus on explaining the reasoning behind a particular exercise or way of doing something.
Here are some questions I had before I came in that have been answered and will hopefully help others:
1) What do you get for the money? The membership covers small-group workouts six days per week. Classes are capped at 10 people so there's always plenty of room as well as access to coaching when needed. M,W,F,S are a combination of coached classes and open gym, T,Th are just open gym. The intangibles are that I've been a member for three weeks and have already been invited to three gym events that are either parties or supplemental workouts that include a social hour.
2) What kind of workouts are there? There are 3 different "tracks" you can take (not sure if it's actually called that) - one that is cardio focused, one weights focused, and one that is a blend of both. The workouts include for all a blend of free weights, barbells, kettlebells, and cardio (rowing, ski machine, or a horrible horrible hands and legs bike that is the meanest workout machine I've ever met), in different percentages depending on the track. The workouts are modifiable but I find myself very well challenged here. I also appreciate that the focus isn't on speed workouts outside of sprinting, and that timed rest is built into every workout, so I feel more able to focus on keeping my form than in crossfit or similar metcon type workouts. Each workout includes a warm-up, cool-down is on your own.
3) What level of fitness or knowledge do you have to have to be comfortable? I would say I personally have a medium level of knowledge and a currently low level of fitness, and I feel very comfortable there. There are people working out who are more "beginner" in terms of knowledge/fitness, as well as badasses who can apparently do one armed pull-ups and similar nonsense :D Everyone across the board has been very welcoming.
4) Is it welcoming to queer folks? This was a personal question to me as one never knows when going into a fitness space and I've had bad experiences with microagressions and similar trash. The answer is absolutely yes. I am a visibly queer, non-binary person who can't shut up about my wife, and I have been completely welcomed by both the owners and other members, and have met several queer attendees. That might be my only suggestion to the gym - a sign indicating "all are welcome here" for folks with various identities would have likely gotten me to come by earlier!
This review is already far too long, but I am hopeful that it encourages folks to give PDXFIT a try. It's a great gym and I hope to be a member for a very long time.
