Harbor Fitness — Attraction in New York

I love this gym, but PLEASE permanently sub Alexis Z. From 92nd location, she so clearly does not want to be here or care to prioritize giving her class a good experience.

This has been going on long enough that I feel this needs to be said. She has been late for every single class of hers that I take (I take the same class once a week.) She strolls in 3-5 minutes past the start of the class and gets situated. By the time she sets herself up, we are 7-10 minutes late to start. Even though she doesn’t have respect for our time (every single time) she will then condescendingly, in a fake nice tone shush anyone who might still be quietly talking, to start the class. Just start the class, and people will naturally quiet down. The rudeness, and underlying need to control the situation is so incredibly off-putting and just kills the whole vibe, especially in a YOGA class, and more so because it’s masked with fake nice persona. I can’t even explain how uncomfortable that is to witness let alone experience.

There were a few instances where members of the class made small, reasonable requests to Alexis, and her reaction to them was something… she would get “stuck” for a second. Not pause to think, or listen, but “stuck” the way people who love to be in control stop dead in their tracks when someone tries to undermine their authority. Except no one was “undermining” her, that’s just how she reacts to something she doesn’t want to do.

Every single time, without fail Alexis will complain about the facilities. Usually in multiple ways. “I know we are like in a fishbowl here and we can hear every noise from outside, but try to concentrate…” She calls the curtain that separates the workout room from the equipment a “hospital curtain,” she often points out that yoga is not supposed to be done in a room with mirrors. Many many many many times she mentioned that she prefers the room in the new 72nd location and so forth. Every time I come to yoga to relax and forget my worries I end up listening to Alexis’ complaints. It’s actually extremely stressful and annoying.

Alexis is not a particularly good teacher, or a talented yogi, she’s not hands on with her students. I think I’ve seen her go up to someone to correct their form only once. She doesn’t respect our time. She certainly does not care much for Harbor Fitness, especially for 92nd st location. And I found that I’m actually more stressed out after leaving her yoga classes than I am before. Lately, I’ve noticed getting anxiety just getting ready to go to class. That just isn’t right. I’m sure she can find a beautiful non-fishbowl, no mirror, noise free, hospital curtain free yoga space to exert her power.

We’ve had a WONDERFUL young yoga teacher sub for Alexis a few times (I can’t recall her name) and she was absolutely incredible. Everyone in the class was absolutely wowed by her. And of course Martine is an absolute treasure and the kindest,...

I’ll start by saying I don’t write a whole lot of reviews. I rarely feel compelled to. I looked up the hours just now and saw some poor reviews that did not reflect my experience at all so here I am adding my thoughts to the discussion.

I became a member of this location at the beginning of summer in my attempt to make my health a priority and lose the fair bit of weight I’d gained in the last few years. I had expected to maybe use the free classes to motivate and do some of the machine exercises I’d done in the past to build up some general fitness. I tried to sign up for a day pass online to check it out and no one got back to me soon enough so I visited in person to see for myself.

The front desk staff took all the time I needed to explain the facilities and give me a day pass and answer all of my questions patiently. I asked about payment plans, guest passes, facilities, club etiquette, classes, etc. I like to know everything and they were very helpful and nice. I’d love to single one person out but I dealt with several people and they were all helpful. And I, admittedly, can be cantankerous.

Great first impression so I joined for summer. It came with a free session with a personal trainer which I’d been considering so I scheduled the appointment and met with Mike L. Mike is a personable dude and I decided to give him a shot and got 5 one hour sessions with him. Working with Mike changed my relationship with resistance training and the gym itself.

In a one hour session, Mike leads me through an exercise routine that addresses my goals. While no time is wasted, he still manages to (1) teach me moves and make sure I’m using correct form (2) alternate activities so I’m learning with each new session (3) push me at my level (my favorite part) so I’m constantly improving and still finding time to (4) get to know me and make the time completely feel effortless.

Originally my plan was to join for summer and then work out from home once I’d gotten a routine down. But I have come to enjoy coming to Harbor (I remember seeing movies here as a kid) and putting in my time. I can always get my work out in over a brief time. I’ve never had issues with other people holding up machines or stations for too long. Knowing alternate exercises and techniques from Mike has also helped such that I know how to train a certain muscle various ways in the gym to skip a particular station if I need to. Our next session is our last and I fully intend to renew my membership (likely for the year commitment) and re-up with Mike to monitor growth and keep learning from him as I move towards better health and fitness.

My experience has been that my expectations were...

upgrading to 4 stars from 3

Solid place. Lots of friendly people. A few short fallings.

Men’s locker room is usually a bit crowded. It’s a tight space, but definitely workable. They have a sauna, sometimes under 160 degrees (not therapeutic) sometimes much hotter (the sensor is at the ceiling so it is inaccurate to what you feel sitting down. A proper sauna is one of my favorite things in life, and having enough heat (minimum 180 at seat level is necessary for therapeutic and all-cause-mortality benefits. Most people don’t follow rules about showering and not wearing gym shoes into sauna so it usually stinks, even though the cleaning staff are super hard working. In addition, the sinks are low pressure and usually filled with gunk. One small gripe, the water fountains have luke-warm water. Would love some cold water. Would also love to have a dimmer light in the sauna, difficult to relax with the 120 watt bulb.

floor space is largely dedicated to cardio equipment and at any given time, only half is being used (I’ve been at all times of day multiple times minus very early morning), whereas at most times the benches and free-weights (and a few particularly popular machines) are always being waited upon.

Everything else is manageable. But one thing I’d love to change is the music. This is probably something which separates me from 99% of the population, but the I usually cant listen to my own music/podcasts with my AirPod pro 2s. The music in the gym is too loud (except early in the morning until about midday) Afternoon and evening, the music they play is too loud for me to enjoy my own music. Their music sometimes sucks, sometimes it’s great; but 85% of people use their own headsets… Maybe just something soft and ambient in the background would be better. I realize the gum would be more sociable if we didn’t wear headsets, but I don’t think there is much hope of that changing.

Staff is super friendly.

They have lots of classes and stuff. Never used it yet.

They give a significant discount to military, and its bot too pricey to begin with. (more than planet fitness, but the people are more mature and respectful by and large).

If you live in Bay Ridge and want to walk to your gym, they have a few others. It’s definitely the best membership in town.

If they get cold water fountains, better sinks, enforce sauna hygiene etiquette, I would be happy to change...