Fresh Start Fitness — Local services in Algoma Township

WORST GYM I’VE BEEN TO! Don’t waste your money. I’ve been lifting for over 13 years now and this is by far the most disgusting and worthless gym I’ve ever been to.

Cleaning? Seems to be optional. Equipment repair? HA!! Working sauna? You wish. Staff? What staff?

The locker rooms are disgusting. The counters are covered in a white streaky substance. Even after freshly wiped they still look horrendous. The toilets get cleaned maybe once a month and when they do they still look disgusting. The bowls are caked in yellow. And the toilet stalls are so tiny your knees touch the door when you’re sitting down. There’s no room to even move to get seated.

The water is toxic. Can’t drink it have to always remember to bring my own or give them more money to buy it. Forget washing your hands. The one and only time I did my hands smelled so bad I had to go to my car for lotion to cover it up. At least they seem to realize how disgusting the water is because they do keep hand sanitizer in the bathroom. But ya know maybe a filter so we could drink it would be nice too.

Have a question for the staff? Good luck! No one knows anything. It’s all a bunch of young kids set up to fail because they clearly don’t get any kind of training and are left here by themselves day in and day out. No matter what time of day I come in there is never more than 1 person working here. Recently I actually saw an older woman at the desk and tried asking her a question and she said “idk it’s my first day” and she was the only staff member here. I saw her again a week later and tried asking her again and she once again said “idk it’s my first day” and wasn’t exactly friendly about it. The rotation of staff is so fast I don’t think I’ve seen anyone last 6 months. And I don’t blame them because they are set up to fail.

Rumor is this place is relocating. When? Well any time I ask I get a different answer. “Fall” “early fall” “near future” “maybe sometime next year” “I’m not really sure”. So I finally asked “who can I ask that will know then?” Get given a name and a phone number for someone who I’ve already asked and they had no clue. Not the name of a manager but a fellow employee who is left just as in the dark as the rest of them.

Equipment is in rough shape and crammed in so tight in certain areas you can’t even re-rack the weights properly. I’ve had to resort to keeping my own oil in my gym bag because the rails the weight stacks ride on are so dry or so caked up with gunk they won’t move. Many of the spots to hold the dumbbells are broken so they don’t even sit in the rack properly. The leg extension has lost tension in the belt to where it’s useless if you’re trying for any heavier weights.

The sauna was broken for over 4 months. After it had just been broken for over a month. Barely worked for a month and was down again. They finally got a new one. And it sat in the box for over a month. And once again whenever I would ask no one knew a darn thing about it.

Don’t get too excited about the kids area either. Nice selling point but looks more like an adult "casting" area than a kids area. And you can’t even see it from anywhere in the gym except the cardio section so don’t plan on being able to keep an eye on those kiddos easily either!

I honestly hate having to post this review like this. But I’m so exhausted with this place I don’t know what else to do. It seems the only way to get to talk to a manager or anyone that’s been working here more than a week is to post a review and hope...

Me and wife did not fit in. If ur not a jock or meathead u definitely get bad vibes being there. Aside from that, we felt the same from the Staff "who' is most likely buddys" with the meathead possies, i say that however i mean this 1 guy in particular. We went just over 5 month's of our year and stopped going. After that year they automatically rolled us over for a second year.... tryed to explan to them, however no refunds! Lotta money if u can imagine. Wife said they basically just said we are insure lol..... no thanks! It was like being in cedar springs h.s. and visiting rockford school all over again... little to high class for average Joe's like us in my opinion. I give it 2 start because it has...

The small size, location, and 24 hour acces is nice, and I appreciate that they use washcloths instead of paper towel. But the maintenance of equipment is terrible. Been going for years and it's a steady decline. Nearly every piece of cardio equipment has a structural or software issue, if it is even functional And there is never new cardio equipment. The lay down tanning bed has been out of order for more than six months. Requests for repairs haven't been acted on. I'm really disappointed since I 'd prefer to support a local business and the ambience is better than other gyms, but I also need to get a...