Retro Fitness — Attraction in Fort Lee

I took advantage of a wellness program provided by Fort Lee which partnered with this gym (Fort Lee Retro Fitness). I began attending this gym on April 9th 2022, and my 1st impression was how clean and orderly the facility is. I notice that the paper towel dispensers and disinfectant wipe-down sprays are always full and readily available, the staff rotates around the gym ensuring every piece of equipment is in its place, and from locker room to weight room it’s clean!

When I first started my journey at the gym, a gentleman by the name of Kenny introduced himself to me within a minute of walking to the front desk. He welcomed me, walked me though the entire facility, answered all my questions, and made me very comfortable. From there, the manager, Luis welcomed me and encouraged me to enroll into one of their many group classes, although I was hesitant, he gave me the confidence and the mental push I needed to try it out.

Fast forward 5 weeks later and I found myself attending all the classes provided:

Steve (Stice Boot camp), a killer circuit training experience which leaves you with that “hurts so good feeling” and he educates you as to the affectivity of the exercise and the proper form, while simultaneously motivating you (this is a must have class here). I wont lie, you must be mentally ready as he breaks down the body groups over four consecutive days (no circuit is ever the same). He’s like the Yoda of fitness.

Saeena and her Zumba & total body conditioning group classes – get ready to keep up, as this lady knows how to move and just doesn’t stop, but more importantly she makes the environment fun while promoting the importance of form, stance, and healthy choices. She’s a smart cookie! Erica and her Dumbbell Dancing (yes, I am currently the only guy in the class), I totally underestimated this class. For one hour, you’ll be dancing to some the best Latin playlists while shredding the entire body and right when you think its over, she surprises you with an insane AB workout, completing the entire body!

Renata and her HIIT classes, get ready for this one as you will be pushed to the limit. She combines mini group & individual circuits into the class and integrates her infamous treadmill routines (killer) into the mix. This is the type of class where you walk out accomplished as she will test you. What’s great about Renata’s HIIT classes, is that they are followed by her Yoga and Pilates class, so when she is done breaking you, she fixes you!

Jose has you covered with Boxing/kickboxing. You’re in luck, because here you have an instructor who is meticulous with form & conditioning as opposed to just hitting the bags. What I enjoy is the fact that his classes work off traditional boxing rounds (3min box or conditioning followed by a minute rest). You’ll always be on your toes (literally), best of all, you’ll burn off more than just the body fat – you’ll get rid of the stress beating that bag.

Bernice “B”, and SPIN. Get ready to bring a full change of clothes from shirt to socks, as you will have no dry area on any part of your clothing while on the bike. On the saddle, off the saddle no matter what - get ready to hustle. The environment is awesome, lights are off (there is dim ambient light) and every class has an amazing and fun new style playlist. I still haven’t figured out how she can talk and bike at the same time, as I find myself sucking wind giving her thumbs up gestures indicating that I’m ok, lol.

I can proudly say that I have lost 33lbs in 6 weeks! None of this would have been possible without Dave’s stellar team and the fitness experts who bring passion and genuine concern over their clients and students.

Do yourself a favor and just visit this facility, give the gym a try, try a group class. The diverse community that attends this gym are all after the same thing – improvement. Surround yourself around these people, coaches, instructors, staff – take it from my own personal experience - they are the best motivators.

So pick your chin up, be positive, and...

I went to this gym to try it out and was told I can’t return. After about 1.5hrs of working out at this gym, I went into the weight room to military press. I took my shirt off and as soon as I did, the trainer I’ve attached a photo of named kyle asked me if I could put my shirt on. At first I thought he was joking to be friendly and but he was being serious. I was surprised so I asked him why we need a shirt on since it’s a gym and his response was "dude it’s retro fitness”. So even though I didn’t agree with him, I started walking back towards my shirt to get it when a random guy turned around and said "he would really appreciate it and that it would make him feel a lot better if I put a shirt on. So I stopped to respond to what he said and told him "if he feels that way, those are his own insecurities”. He responded by saying "you know what, you’re right”. At that point, the other trainer pictured (renaldo) rudely jumped in and aggressively said "if you don’t put you’re shirt on, I’m going to have you removed from the gym”. At that point I told him I was on the way to get my shirt and the insecure man interrupted me and now you’re starting a conversation, which is why I haven’t made it to the shirt yet. Am I supposed to ignore these people or treat them with respect and stop when they’re talking to me? renaldo wasn’t even wearing a trainer shirt at that point, he was wearing a tank top and tries to jumped in and make himself feel big inside and act like a complete hypocrite. I told kyle and renaldo that there are pictures of them flexing SHIRTLESS posted in the gym and they are threatening to kick me out because I took my shirt off? They both said "that’s only a picture”. Who in their right mind tries to justify something like this? These guys are literally trainers at this gym, gloating in their SHIRTLESS pics, everyone sees them flexing and here they are trying to kick a guy out of the gym who is minding his own business trying to military press with headphones on. I put the shirt on and they both went about their business. I was at the gym for a couple more hours after that, during which renaldo kept chatting with different people and kept looking over at me with the people he was chatting with and smiling and laughing because was telling them all about what happened. So this guy renaldo threatens to kick me out over a shirt because it makes people feel "uncomfortable” yet he goes out to different groups of people and talks smack about me and continues to turn around with these people and tries to make me feel uncomfortable. What an absolute hypocrite and low life to do this. As I’m leaving the gym, the employee in the front stops me and says "you can no longer return to this gym”. I asked him "do you even know what happened and how wrong it is to kick someone of a gym based on one hypocrites attitude”? I showed him the photos of the guys shirtless and brought him over to renaldo to ask renaldo why he felt the need to do all this and he said because it’s not gonna affect me if I just put a shirt on to make strangers feel better. Again, what a hypocrite. With that logic he should tell himself that it’s not going to affect insecure strangers either if someone has their shirt off and if it does, they should seek help. What a society this is where people are shamed and kicked out of gyms for not wanting to wear a shirt to make insecure people more comfortable. Then again, these gyms know this and condone it to create an artificial safe space for the insecure. Instead of having people strengthen themselves mentally while they do physically as well they would rather do contradictory things like this and literally treat others the way they don’t want to be treated. THE PHOTOS OF THE TRAINERS SHIRTLESS IS POSTED IN THIS REVIEW. THIS IS THE ACTUAL PHOTO IN THE GYM. PUT A SHIRT ON GUYS. ESPECIALLY kyle and renaldo, YOU DON’T WANT TO MAKE PEOPLE FEEL INSECURE AND...

The gym is good, clean and well equipped. However that only gets you so far when customer service is terrible. I quit my membership today for reasons due to changes in my life. Prior to the last month, I have a 5 star opinion of this place. However like so many other places, it's great until you have any small issue and then it's terrible. Had this not happened, I wouldn't have bothered, but the terrible customer service needs to be known.

For the TL:DR; version. The general manager is a nightmare. If her employees make a mistake, it doesn't matter, and telling her that her employees made a mistake and she should retrain them on a policy on which they made a that mistake is an insult to her ability to train employees. She also has difficulty with the concept of a year and how calendars work. To avoid that issue don't join any later than the 28th of the month.

When looking to cancel I checked online and saw horror stories of needing to submit certified letters to cancel retro. I called. I was told I would have to come in. I don't live close to this place anymore and asked if there was any other way. I was told only the manager could help and she wasn't in that day, but she would be given the message and call me. No call came.

I'm busy so I hadn't had time to check back. I finally make time to call and I find out that the proper way to cancel is to send an email. The previous employee gave out the wrong information and didn't deliver my message. I ask to talk to the manager, but I'm told she's in a meeting, but later in the conversation the employee lets it slip that her meeting is checking her emails and dealing with a large amount of cancellations of memberships. I sent the email, but figure based on the rest of that conversation, I'm going to need to come in and talk to the manager.

I make it in a few hours later and ask to see the manager. I ask her to cancel it and she explains to me that I still have another month on my contract but she'll cancel it after that month. I joined January 31,2019. It took 3 tries to explain to her that they system has been billing me on the 28th of each month because the first auto payment came out on February 28,2019 and my membership was actually over, and the fact that the system wanted to bill me one more time before my year was over was a computer glitch.

After that ordeal is when I tell her that she needs to retrain her employees on the cancellation procedure because 50% of them that I talked to didn't know it. At this point she gets offended. She insists that what I told her was the same as she doesn't know how to train her employees. With how upset she was, I'm figuring she's been told that multiple times and she connected the dots on her own. I again explain that I was told I would be called back and not told to email, and her employee needed to be trained not to give that incorrect information, because I never got the phone call I was promised. She then snipes back at me that she is not responsible for messages she wasn't given and she doesn't respond to phone calls anyway, only emails. At this point she claims she has canceled my membership and submitted that I shouldn't be billed, but that it's already being processed so there is likely nothing she can do.

At this point I stop arguing and leave. I pray you never have to deal with Suzanne, General Manager of Retro Fitness Fort Lee. She does not have the character traits to be in a customer based industry. She deflects, passes blame, and hides from issues by simply not answering the phone. I have dealt with the General Managers of several gyms and all of them are customer service oriented and while they will defend their employees will also admit when mistakes are made

Don't come here unless you plan to have your membership for life. If you are in the Fort Lee area, go to PRX or Cycle Bar, or drive a town over to Anytime, Snap, or even 24 Hour. You'll be happier in...