VIDA - Ballston — Local services in Arlington

I really wanted to like this gym. It has everything that I've come to expect in a gym before moving to this area - a variety of fitness classes included in membership fees and classes at various times during the day in a relatively clean environment. The majority of the people that I came into contact with at the gym were awful, they didn't follow-through on what they said they would do or were just generally uninformed about what was happening in the gym and offered no support.

When I came into the gym, the front desk staff almost never greeted me or acknowledged my presence. I signed up for a membership after coming through ClassPass and didn't receive a tour and overview of what my membership gave me access to so I attempted to set up a tour for myself several times with the front desk saying someone would contact me which never happened while I was a member there.

It was also disappointing to sign up for a membership under what I thought was a deal then I was required to purchase a service (either Pilates with reformers or sessions with a personal trainer) for $150. Honestly, didn't really want either of the services. I spent months trying to set up some of my free first sessions with the staff at the front desk.

The class offerings are also problematic for me in that they only offer a fraction of what other Vidas offer. There's one class that sounds amazing according to the description but because it's only offered at 11 am, I can't try it. The Pilates on reformers are a separate entity from Vida and you have to purchase packs or classes to attend which is unfortunate that it is not included in membership.

I didn't use a lot of the free weights area since I was never able to get a tour and learn how the machines work but the gym was pretty crowded after 5pm and Saturday mornings. No one ever tells you but you get tons of discounts with your membership and parking is validated for an hour. It would have been great to know these things.

A good chunk of the lockers don't lock and the sauna is constantly broken. The showers in the locker rooms weren't palatable for me but the ones on the bottom floor where you have an individual room worked better for me.

In terms of classes, for the strength and cardio classes many used the same routine or basic exercises again and again so it was easy to get bored and not be challenged during workouts. Overall, the management of the gym was the worst part of the gym. I've already requested to cancel my membership but unsure if I'll sign up at any of the other Vidas as management seems to be a problem with...

I’ve been a member of Vida Fitness since 2018, and I’ve regularly used the facilities at Ballston since April 2025, previously patronizing Vida Navy Yard, Vida U St, and Vida LC/Metropole most frequently. I also joined Golds Gym in Ballston in summer 2025.

In Ballston, I would recommend Golds over Vida for several reasons.

Despite really stellar efforts by a vast majority of the Vida Ballston Staff, there is one staff member who makes me uncomfortable ever since she aggressively poked me in the back and implied that I was holding her and her client up because I had been using a piece of gym equipment that they wanted to use.

At this point, I will reiterate that I’ve been a paying member of Vida since 2018, and I never paused my membership (which was an option during the pandemic) because I have always been aggressively supportive of Vida’s staff. In fact, I told Vida managers at LC and Navy Yard that they were not supportive enough of class instructors who needed help with things. Anyway, un-consented touching is never okay and I tried to “shake it off”, but the culpable party is now being featured on Vida’s internal advertising screens, and I just can’t tolerate it anymore. I canceled my membership this weekend.

Golds also has far better equipment.

Vida - at times - will have one stairclimber that works, while Golds has more than enough for anyone who needs one. Golds also has two Jacob’s Ladders for people like me with chronic lower back issues. Also, nobody has ever harassed me at Golds for using gym equipment that I need in order to deal with my chronic back pain (in contrast to Vida).

Vida has superior lighting and spa vibes, but I actually have realized that I need realistic lighting and top quality equipment, so the gym for me is Golds.

Since I’ve had overlapping memberships at both Vida and Golds for a few months, I’ve noticed that several other individuals seem to have memberships at both as well. At least one of those individuals agrees with me that the Golds equipment is better (but the shower situation is inferior to Vida’s).

Golds also has an enormous free parking lot. Golds will get crowded at times, but people are generally courteous (though I’ve encountered entitled people at both gyms).

I typically never leave a review if I would give less than 5 stars, but I’m making an exception here because health is essential, and I know I’m not the only person who goes to the gym to ameliorate stress, which has become an impossible task at...

My husband and I joined this gym with high hopes, and for the first six months, we genuinely enjoyed the facilities and the environment. Unfortunately, we ultimately decided to cancel our memberships due to a deeply upsetting and unprofessional incident involving a sales team member and management.

While working out with our friend, who is a frequent workout partner and has joined us at other gyms without any issues, a sales team member named Josh and later the manager on duty accused, not questioned, our friend of being a personal trainer and training my husband. This was an entirely baseless and unproven accusation, as they were simply two friends working out together, as many others do at this gym without incident. Not to mention gym rules around personal training at gyms are very common and not something we’ve ever done before. We’ve watched others spot each other, discuss form, and point out machines on nearly every occasion we’ve been to Vida.

The situation was handled terribly. The manager's confrontational approach included saying, "As far as I'm concerned he should never come to this gym again." After this interaction, we were promised that management would review camera footage and contact us. We were shocked to hear from management who, without an apology, stated our friend "looks, and fits the build of someone who would be a personal trainer." A quick Google search of our friend would disprove this narrative…… Would you believe they then offered a free personal training session as a solution.

This was not only unprofessional but also highlighted a deeply concerning issue. It gave us the strong impression that assumptions were made and our friend, who is a Black male, was profiled based on his appearance while working out with my white husband. That these two individuals couldn’t just be friends. My heart was honestly broken over the interaction, my husband said he felt harassed and had never experienced anything like that before. It's truly unfortunate that profiling like this still occurs, and while the gym itself is nice, I cannot in good conscience recommend...