The Student Room Group

Fitness First

Apologies if there's been a thread on this, but I searched and couldn't find anything recent.

I'm pondering joining Fitness First next month for a 3-month period over the summer. Their site tells me they do a student rate, but neglects to tell me how much it costs per month...does anybody know?

Also, is Fitness First any good? Value for money, availability of equipment, classes etc?

Finally, what exactly happens when you go for your free trial with the one-day pass thing?

Thanks.

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Reply 1
Overpriced and overrated.
Reply 2
I worked there for work experience and the equipment at the place I was at was pretty good quality, a lot of it available and the staff seemed (on a whole) friendly enough. There were also regular classes in most things, mainly focussing on abs as far as I could see though.
I couldn't say anything about the pricing but after a week of going to a class a day there during my work time I can say I did feel a difference. And tired out.
It is about £35 a month here - I imagiena stduent woudl get it a few quid cheaper - maybe 25-30

Have a search for a thread I made o nFF trial day

You give your details on the net, they call you up for an appintment, the basically sit you down and give you a ****ing hard sell.

You DO NOT get soemsort of voucher that gives you a free go for a day - which is what I expected

I spose after the sales talk you could used the gym for free that day or another day but they try and sign you up as soon as you go in - thye quite literally gave me about 30 calls trying to sign me up - i didnt answer any of them - it was ridiculous.
A friend of mine joined Fitness First when she started Uni. She said it was something like 20-30 odd quid (i think), which I thought was pretty good for a student! However the catch was you had to sign up with the gym in Freshers Week in order to get the discount and as a lil thank you, they gave you a free gym bag, spots bottle and something else.
Reply 5
Student rate where i went (harrow) was £35 a month, but they only did a 12 month contract. I was told i could cancel it at any time by just cancelling the direct debit so I did, but then had to pay £150 in legal fees.

******s.

I really should complain.
Reply 6
Clubber Lang
It is about £35 a month here - I imagiena stduent woudl get it a few quid cheaper - maybe 25-30

Have a search for a thread I made o nFF trial day

You give your details on the net, they call you up for an appintment, the basically sit you down and give you a ****ing hard sell.

You DO NOT get soemsort of voucher that gives you a free go for a day - which is what I expected

I spose after the sales talk you could used the gym for free that day or another day but they try and sign you up as soon as you go in - thye quite literally gave me about 30 calls trying to sign me up - i didnt answer any of them - it was ridiculous.


You do have the right idea there about the hard sell, doing work experience there we spent some time in the sales department room and they basically have a script they use and a list of people they've harassed in the street and call them up until they join.

We spent forever out on the high street trying to hand out vouchers for free lessons whilst others tried to get numbers of people.
Reply 7
Hmm...well I'm getting the idea Fitness First wouldn't be the best place to go to then!

I thought they'd show you round the machines and stuff and test your fitness levels etc and work out a fitness plan...evidently not?!

Thanks for the replies guys...don't think I'm gonna be joining up! :P
they look to have pretty good facilities round my way tho - much better than the council run gym (we ahev 2 and oen of them is fairly decent i guess - FF is just much better)
Reply 9
if there's a virgin active near you then i would probably say thats the one to go for. i found it to be all fine, great facilities and no hard sell. well in my case anyway.
Reply 10
Ooooh I'm at fitness 1st :biggrin: £50 per month for 3 months too, will probably join for a year after it ends. It's pretty good, the classes are great.
Reply 11
i used to go to fitness first.
When i went in to visit they showed me around... so i dont get why for some people here that they didnt show you guys around. Ask if you could be shown around if they dont.
They did used to test your fitness levels around where i lived but i'm not sure if they still do it now.
I visited them again a year ago and decided not to join... but they didnt start chasing me up or anything.
It sounds like its different for different places.
I did slim down when I went there. I quite like fitness first :smile:
You get the bag and sports bottle etc student or not. :biggrin:

I pay a ridiculous amount ~ £50 cos I joined up at a Premier one, but barely go to that one now cos I've changed work places several times. The fact that I wherever I am I can find a gym usually pretty close and know most of the equipment is something I find really useful.

I've been to several gyms and on the whole I'd say they're pretty good - they serve their purpose. CV machines, freeweights and machines as well. Also found a 24 hour gym near my work which serves me well right now.

Most of the staff are pretty cool, at the one I'm actually a member of the receptionists make me laugh, I had a few sessions with a personal trainer and he made a huge difference to me and also the other instructors are pretty cool - like I was using the cable, and one of them showed me how to get a better technique and etc. And the guy who did my induction occasionally comes and has a chat and pep talk with me and congratulates me. Miss that gym. :frown:

They get pretty busy during peak hours - about half 5 - 7 though.

I think they're okay. Wish they had a punch bag though rather than the stand up ones.
Reply 13
i go to fitness first for a student price of 26.95 a month :smile: its good, all the equiptment, machines, weights, tvs, free drinks, aromatherapy room, sauna, steam room, free dvd/video rental, free newspapers, sunbeds. Its always nice and clean worth the money :biggrin:
Reply 14
abc101
Apologies if there's been a thread on this, but I searched and couldn't find anything recent.

I'm pondering joining Fitness First next month for a 3-month period over the summer. Their site tells me they do a student rate, but neglects to tell me how much it costs per month...does anybody know?

Also, is Fitness First any good? Value for money, availability of equipment, classes etc?

Finally, what exactly happens when you go for your free trial with the one-day pass thing?

Thanks.


I'm on the student rate apparently and it's £34.95 for a 3 month contract and £29.95 for a 12 month contract however me thinks they make the prices up on the day so it might be more/less when you go in to sign up.

abc101
Hmm...well I'm getting the idea Fitness First wouldn't be the best place to go to then!

I thought they'd show you round the machines and stuff and test your fitness levels etc and work out a fitness plan...evidently not?!

Thanks for the replies guys...don't think I'm gonna be joining up! :P


If you're interested in signing up then they will show you around as part of the sales talk. They're hardly going to waste their time giving you a fitness plan if you haven't even signed up yet! You can get them once you've signed up though.
Cortez
I'm on the student rate apparently and it's £34.95 for a 3 month contract and £29.95 for a 12 month contract however me thinks they make the prices up on the day so it might be more/less when you go in to sign up.

Is that a London rate? I'm fairly sure they've got fixed rates for monthly membership, and that seems very expensive for a student membership (which I'm on for £26.95 per month - even though I'm not a student any more... :wink:)
Reply 16
Illusionary
Is that a London rate? I'm fairly sure they've got fixed rates for monthly membership, and that seems very expensive for a student membership (which I'm on for £26.95 per month - even though I'm not a student any more... :wink:)

Nah that's not London, I'm in Devon .. :p:

The guy said to us when we signed up "if anyone asks you're both students as I've put you on the student rate" but that could have been bull**** :dontknow:
Reply 17
I was at Brighton FF and it was £40 (student rate apparantly) a month and also there was a joining fee of about £40 which no one's mentioned yet.

You get all the free bag etc and they show you around and give you an induction where they show you everything and give you a fitness plan.
Reply 18
I didn't mention the joining fee because I didn't have to pay one. I thought they always used that as an incentive to get you to sign up on the day e.g. "There's usually a joining fee of £50 but for today only it's FREE"
Expose
I was at Brighton FF and it was £40 (student rate apparantly) a month and also there was a joining fee of about £40 which no one's mentioned yet.

You get all the free bag etc and they show you around and give you an induction where they show you everything and give you a fitness plan.

I had to pay the joining fee as well - I think that's a standard thing, though occasionally they seem to have promotions that reduce / waive the fee.

Anyone who does decide to join - do so at the end of a month, as there are usually offers on, as the clubs want to try to hit sign-up targets. The offers can be initial periods of reduced monthly money off, fee waivers, free kit (like the bag Expose mentioned above), to give a few examples that I've seen.

I'm a member in Manchester (that's where I joined), btw, though I also use the Runcorn club.