Crunch Fitness - South Austin — Attraction in Austin

Concern Regarding Unhealthy Nutrition Advice in Fitness Program

I want to express my concern regarding a recurring issue I have noticed in your 6- to 8-week fitness program. I have participated in this program multiple times and appreciate the supportive environment it aims to create. However, I have serious concerns about one of your trainers and the messages she is promoting about nutrition and weight loss.

Unfortunately, she has repeatedly promoted dangerously rapid weight loss strategies, which could have harmful consequences for class participants.

On multiple occasions, she has shared that some of her clients have lost 10 pounds in a week. Today during class, she stated that she had recently completed an 88-hour fast and lost 8 pounds as a result. As a social worker, I find this horrifying. Promoting extreme fasting and rapid weight loss, particularly in a gym setting where individuals may already be struggling with body image or their relationship with food, is highly irresponsible. While she may follow up these comments with laughter and vague mentions of doctors, I have a hard time believing that any medical professional would recommend such an extreme fasting period. Even if this is something she personally chooses to do, it is inappropriate to promote in a general fitness class.

Research has shown that extreme dieting and fasting can significantly increase the risk of developing eating disorders, particularly among individuals who already struggle with body image concerns. According to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), plenty of people who engage in extreme dieting develop a clinical eating disorder. Furthermore, fasting for extended periods can lead to muscle loss, slowed metabolism, heart complications, and electrolyte imbalances, all of which pose serious health risks, especially for older adults (which appears to be a large portion of these class participants).

I strongly urge the gym to address this issue with their team and ensure that all trainers are promoting safe, evidence-based nutrition and fitness practices. Encouraging healthy, sustainable habits should be the priority, rather than reinforcing harmful dieting behaviors that could negatively impact the physical and mental health of participants.

And trust me, I get it, this is her life and it has no impact on me. She’s not holding a gun to anyone’s head, forcing them to follow her dietary restrictions. I used to weigh 300 pounds and remember every trick in the book for the eating disorders. I got all the way down to 140 pounds. While I weighed less than half of my original weight, I was sicker than I had ever been in my life. It’s just sad to see how normalized these disordered eating patterns are. I hope trainers have loving and caring support...

Overcrowded. Not very sanitary. Constantly out of disinfectant spray and some of the mats or equipment smell like literal feces or mildew, so be VERY careful and wiping down equipment is a must if you don’t wanna get sick.

I did the math on the base membership and the mid-tier one, they are essentially the same thing and the mid-tier is only worth it if you plan on staying a year since they draft the annual fee a couple months after you sign up. So, the base membership charges more upfront—this is how they get you.⚠️Came to cancel since I just moved near Central Austin, my membership had just drafted and when I canceled, it pushed it another month because you must give 30 day notice.💀 Once you cancel, they also charge you for the following month immediately. So, basically I’m stuck here until the end of September—super sly.⚠️‼️

Some of the staff are cool, others were subtly rude to my friend who had the highest tier membership and would constantly question her about using the massage bed multiple times—so weird. Also, when trying to bring a friend in, they have to sign in and from there they will constantly text or email them trying to solicit. Moreover, their system doesn’t even work, because my friend had entered her info many times and when we come back there’s no record yet they have no issues sending her text and emails promoting themselves.💀

Like the other bad reviews said, there are only one of the most popular machines and people constantly linger on them for 20 minutes or more at a time. A lot of the treadmills are constantly out of order.

Multiple times I have seen women bringing their little boys in the bathroom to change them, which is uncomfortable for others in the locker room. However, the only available private bathroom often reeks. Furthermore, there have been times where the women’s locker room will have something needing repair and there are male workers in the locker room fixing things…while there are women going in and out.🤨 The locker room where women shower and change btw.🫩

The only reason I got a gym membership here is because I live 5 minutes away, it’s 24/7, there is a sauna and because it’s too hot to run...

Let me start off by saying this is a great gym for the price. It's brand new and has a lot of machines and free weights. I'm especially fond of the free weight room and the large turf. It has 7 squat/deadlift racks, which is much more than the neighboring Gold's gym. Of course, it comes with the usual drawbacks that come with a cheap large gym like this one. It's overcrowded and, at times, a bit messy. Even though there are many machines, they lack any type of specialty machines found in more expensive gyms. Although these are some drawbacks, I wouldn't factor them into the overall rating since they're expected in a cheap gym. I only have two real criticisms, one of which is the lack of clips. You can check themĺ out in the front, but you have to give them some type of collateral. This becomes a bigger issue when the gym is busy and all employees are busy helping other customers. It shouldn't be that hard to get clips in a large gym like this one. But even considering this, I would have still rated the gym 5 stars. The reason the rating is so low is due to the group classes. For the love of god, please lower the volume of the group classes. I kid you not, some times the volume is so high that I have to yell at my gym partner for them to hear me. And that's when they're standing a foot away. I literally have to blast my headphones to not hear the instructors yelling at their mic. I bet they can hear the group class from the Gold's gym accross the street. If you told me that my dead grandmother could hear it from heaven, I would believe you. Once they remedy this, the gym will be 5/5 ( for the price). If you're looking for a pricier gym, I recommend los campeones. On a side note, if you're a gym newbie, you should get the basic plan (unless group classes are your thing). The personal trainers at large commercial gyms will usually teach you what a youtube video could teach you. I know you think the spa bonuses are nice, but they get old, pretty fast. You'd be paying a premium for the same basic machines that everyone else...