This review of All in One Fitness and personal trainer Diane is very overdue - sorry Diane! My wife…read moreand I signed up for a series of "buddy" personal training sessions over 8 weeks starting in January 2025. It was an overwhelmingly positive experience. The Gym: the facility is small but clean, and the patrons range in age and fitness levels. Everyone is very welcoming and understanding of the sometimes tight quarters that can take place in a smaller place, and they do their best to keep out of the way or allow others to pass. It's a great place and I enjoyed it a lot. The Trainer: Diane is amazing!!! My wife and I wanted to learn how to safely carry out weight training with dumbbells and a variety of other equipment as we're getting to the age where it's important to maintain our muscle mass. Diane did a great job developing a program that we felt like we could tackle, and over the course of eight weeks we saw massive improvements in strength and balance. She's also very sweet and fun to hang out with as you sweat your way through your hour. We highly recommend her!!

I've been meaning to write this for a while, but life has been busy. I'm 74, and have never been as…read morefit as I should be, but I got into really bad condition during the pandemic, way too much sitting. I started having severe back pain and found that walking with hiking poles helped this. I thought it was due to my spinal curvature (but it turns out it was due to weakened muscles!). I used to be a member of the Berkeley YMCA, but didn't like it as much when I returned after the pandemic, with the women's fitness center gone. So I was mainly walking at the Marina. But last summer I had 2 falls there, both stupid things, tripping on my pole and on the edge of a raised surface. The second fall caused a fracture in my ring finger and I had to get my wedding rings cut off, as they quickly became tourniquets on my swollen finger. So I decided to look for another gym, where I could hold on to the handles on the treadmill. I asked my kids for recommendations. One of them mentioned All in One Fitness in Albany, a few blocks from his house, where he'd seen a sign welcoming people over 40. So I went and checked it out, and this is what I found: To start, it's easy to get to from my West Berkeley home, easy free parking, comfortable and friendly atmosphere, wonderful and friendly trainers, all the equipment one could need in a small space. My trainer, Diane, who is also the manager, is not only excellent as a trainer, but her enthusiasm and support has been really been encouraging. I feel comfortable there with everyone; I don't feel out of place at all. This place, and in particular Diane, my trainer, has truly changed my life! Diane said at the beginning that she wanted to make it fun for me to come to the gym. I thought, "Oh, right!" (in a skeptical, eyeball rolling way). But it happened - it is fun! And I feel so much better! And I can walk without my poles and carry grocery bags! I have personal training twice a week, which has been wonderful for learning new things and keeping up the variety and fun. I have so many things I can do now, not just the treadmill and bicycle, and I can do them on my own between training days. I think it's been 5 months now, and I'm getting stronger and feeling so much better! As I said, it's changed my life! I highly recommend this gym!

I have been working out at the Fuse Fitness for nearly a decade. I am in my late 50s and I've never…read morefelt better about my fitness. The trainers there are incredibly friendly, knowledgeable, and accommodating. It's welcoming and supportive community. Come join us!

This is the best gym on the planet. Yes, it's small and the class offerings are limited, but the…read morequality is way beyond anything I found in many years of looking. If you want a positive environment to get your health where you want it, look no further.

Javier is a beast! Can a workout also be cathartic soul cleansing? It can here, seriously though…read morehe's very good, nice calisthenics group class.

Over 10 years now! Still training at HHF x 5 classes each week ranging from Core, Bosu to Spin…read more I used to be at a self-training studio that had timed circuits with a repetitive bell to move you to the next machine, or person waiting at your machine - that studio was not be a good fit for me. The high energy intense workouts that challenge me physically and mentally are at HHF. Over the past decade, we know each other's names, support one another in/out of class, and encourage one another to be at the next class. No class is the same!

I was looking to build strength and improve my technique and found both at Bay Strength. I also got…read morethe added bonus of increased confidence and community. I came to Bay Strength after many years of on and off weight training with self-coaching using primarily the Starting Strength book and video resources. My form was "good enough" that when I tried getting coaching at other gyms I was always disappointed because they would say, "looks good," although I knew I needed some fine tuning. At Bay Strength I did the "Learn to Lift" package and while my form actually was pretty good, Kelly had plenty of specific feedback to make it better. Then I joined Gwyn's weekly class and get programming based on my needs and goals, and valuable feedback in every session. I love the group coaching format because it allows for the coaches to provide more attention to people who need it but still give plenty of attention to people who need less. It's a super-efficient model that gives you access to a coach during your session but you don't end up paying for a coach to watch you warm up, after you've properly learned how. They can just focus their attention on your work sets. Then as things come up (i.e. technique, loading, programming questions, weird pains, etc.) it's great to be able to talk with an expert who can help. Aside from the expert coaching and high-quality equipment, there are two benefits I think are unique to Bay Strength: 1. Outdoor workouts: From a Covid19 perspective this is an extremely low risk environment, which is one reason I started here. I then grew to really enjoy lifting outside, especially during a rainstorm! 2. Inclusive community: I really like training with a group of people who are quite diverse, but all there for a similar purpose. I go to lift first, but it's great to have the social connection and support of other lifters without that "gym bro" vibe.

The coaches and community at Bay Strength are exceptional and unlike any strength training gym I've…read moreever visited. If you're looking for a welcoming, supportive, and diverse place to learn to lift, hone your technique, and build strength, this is the best place to do it. My partner and I have been lifting for about a year, but did the Learn to Lift sessions with Jeremy to ensure our lifting technique was sound and to learn how to continue getting stronger. Jeremy not only shared great form, technique, programming, and injury prevention tips, but also did so with enthusiasm and positivity that made every moment enjoyable. Whether you're new or experienced, Bay Strength is the place to BE.

Super friendly and welcoming fitness continuity from the staff. The trainer to the work out…read moremembers. Jayson our trainer was great. Encouraging and very helpful We had a great time. My husband Shand jesse loves it and goes almost every day.

Thank you OT-Albany for keeping us fit so that we can enjoy hiking the fjords in Norway!read more

Ok it's nearly impossible to workout here between 5pm-9pm, packed to the gills…read more The biggest problem with this gym is they have too many strange machines that no one uses and very few of the ones people want. As a result during peak hours you have people waiting in line to use some machines while others are just taking up space. Why not survey your members or simply observe which machines are under utilized. Over half the equipment sits idle while the few heavily used ones (like the leg machines) are always out of order. Put in more leg and arm machines and ditch all the abductor and reverse fly ones. There is too much redundancy.

I've been a member at this location for years, and I'm finally at the point where I have to leave…read morean honest review. This gym has good equipment, but the men's locker room is one of the worst I've experienced. The smell is awful. Not every single day, but the majority of the time I come in, the locker room smells like sewage or mildew. For the amount members pay every month, it shouldn't smell like this. The biggest issue is the complete lack of enforcement in the sauna and steam room. There are signs everywhere that clearly say NO SHOES and NO ESSENTIAL OILS, yet people ignore them constantly. Members walk in wearing the same shoes they just wore throughout the gym, and people pour essential oils on the sauna heater, which repeatedly causes the sauna to be shut down. Everyone else ends up paying for one person's stupidity. Here's what I don't understand. There are security cameras throughout the gym, but there isn't one positioned outside the entrances to the sauna and steam room. I'm not saying put cameras inside--that would obviously be inappropriate--but put one outside the entrance. If someone walks in wearing shoes or damages the equipment, staff can review the footage, identify the member, document the violation, and hold them accountable. Instead of simply telling someone to leave that day, the gym should: * Issue a warning and document it on the member's account. * If it happens again, issue a final warning. * If they continue ignoring the rules, revoke their membership. * If the person is using a guest pass, the warning should also be attached to the member who brought them in. People only respect rules when there are actual consequences. This location has also been shut down multiple times over the years because of burst pipes and maintenance issues. Between that, the smell, and the constant sauna problems, it feels like this club is being neglected. What really blows my mind is that I also have a Planet Fitness membership that costs about $10 a month, and somehow their locker rooms and bathrooms are consistently cleaner than this gym that costs three times as much. I've also been to the 24 Hour Fitness in Walnut Creek, and it's like night and day. Their locker room actually smells clean, the sauna is usually working, and the entire facility feels much better maintained. That tells me this isn't a 24 Hour Fitness problem. It's an El Cerrito management problem. Corporate needs to invest more in this location by hiring additional cleaning staff, increasing how often the locker rooms are cleaned, and actually enforcing the rules that are already posted. Signs don't do anything if nobody enforces them. I genuinely want this location to improve because it's convenient and has a good selection of equipment. But until management starts taking cleanliness and accountability seriously, I can't recommend this gym.

Welp, this location is itty bitty. No parking. And limited equipment, but it'll get the job done…read more The staff was super nice. The lady answered all of my questions, and she was willing to show me around but I politely declined. The free weights go up to 60lb dumbbells. There's a dual cable machine near the 3 weight benches. There's a TRX band, sand bags, and twos sets of the small dumbbells. I just needed an hour bench workout, and I got it. The location is just off the main strip. A little walk around the area was nice. I found parking one street over in the residential area. The roads are tight and parking can be hard to find, but this place did good by me.

The Albany branch is very good: friendly and helpful staff, all the cardio and weight equipment you…read morecould want, a great air filtration system, and many classes offered in the gym. The not so good is about poor customer service from the East Bay central office. They're not accessible, transparent, responsive or professional. I submitted an inquiry about certain deliberate, repeated and disruptive member behaviors, including a question about what help other members could expect from desk staff. The central office agreed it was disruptive, said they'd do XYZ, and then....no action, and silence for over half a year, unresponsive to a few follow-up inquiries. Then recently the Y central office emailed me that, in their experience, my experience didn't exist, never mind their earlier acknowledgement, and that it was up to me to suck it up and somehow deal with it. I am so disappointed with the East Bay YMCA member "services" crew, and with the complete lack of effective communication and recourse channels.