Cambridge Athletic Club?

[xela]

Is anyone a Cambridge Athletic Club member? Or maybe more to the point, a former member? All of the horror stories I've heard about gyms involved trying to quit. (And indeed, I have one of those myself.) experience agrees. with gyms has been that their sleazy side really comes out when you try to quit. Their 600 Tech Square location is the closest gym to my office, which is their obvious immediate appeal. But they're also small, with just three locations — which feeds into a prejudice of mine, but one which has proven to be well-founded. In addition, all three of their locations are in the MIT/Lechmere Tech cluster, suggesting that they cater to customers like me. But once bitten twice shy, so I want to check whether anyone I know personally has anything to say about them. (There's another gym in the same building, but it's just been acquired by Boston Sports Clubs, with which I've done business in the past and don't plan to again.)

Comments

[noire.livejournal.com]

J joined CAC back in October, I think, and he likes it a lot. Mostly because it's super convenient for him from work, and much much nicer than the previous gym(s)--Bally's, which became WOW in Porter Square, and then Rockin' Fitness, also in Porter, both of which were awful. He says it's clean, has the equipment he wants and he never has to wait for machines. He's very happy there.

But I can't tell you anything about getting OUT of a contract because he hasn't tried and isn't planning on it.

IME, I just assume that getting out of a contract with ANY gym is going to be insane. The one way you can get out is to get your doctor to write you a note, if s/he will do it...

[yakshaver.livejournal.com]

Oh! That's about as good an endorsement as I could want for a gym. And while the doctor's note suggestion is brilliant, in the Damn, why didn't I think of that? way. Thank you!

[noire.livejournal.com]

So I'll tell you one more thing about CAC, something J doesn't do. I've joined Evolve in Fresh Pond, which is less expensive, but very nice and works well for me. Anyway, like CAC, they have a series of classes called "Les Mills Body Combat" that I ADORE. It turns out that one of the instructors for these classes who teaches at my gym--whose class I go to regularly, also teaches at CAC on Saturday at I think 11 am.

These classes are KILLER, I swear. I'm in pretty good shape and they're HARD, but they're fun, too. I enjoy the martial arts/boxing aspect, and they use peppy rock music (most of it pretty decent--only a few songs bother me, and I'm very picky) that I tend to like. The CX-Works Core class is also great, and not nearly so hard. Only half an hour of core work, again with fun music and innovative moves.

The thing about the Les Mills classes is: There are multiple levels for every class, so you work at your own level and you don't have to try things that are beyond you. The instructors are professional, knowledgeable and supportive. The music is fun. The movements constantly change, which is very important--your body adjusts to any exercise routine rather quickly and you need to keep changing it up.

Understand that I've been a hardcore gym rat for eight years now, and I've hated all group exercise (known as group ex) classes until I hit these. They also have something called "body pump" which is a light lifting class that a lot of people love. I don't do that because I work with a personal trainer and I lift heavy. But I hated hated hated all aerobics classes totally before I tried these. And there are people at every fitness level taking them. You don't have to be a gym rat to do them!

And if you join there, you may run into J some time after work! I think it's AWESOME that you're starting an exercise program.