UXL Fitness — Local services in Brunswick

This is one of the better gyms in NE Ohio, however with some simple improvements it could be the best for a large audience of members. I’ve been coming here for several years now and occasionally workout at OSI and my local recreation center (mostly for the pool), and this is my preference.

Pros: lots of cardio equipment by number and a good variety of types. Lots of different areas to use dumbbells and barbells, along with a nice amount of machines and duplicate of popular options. Hours are quite broad and are open a portion of the day on government holidays. Good lighting, mostly air conditioned and big fans, and friendly younger staff. Machines that break or need maintenance are tended to very quickly and back in commission timely. Price is reasonable and they allow day passes. Good amount of dumbbells, some need replaced (commonly used ones) from being beat up, lots of squat racks and a rig in the back, 4 functional working TRX hooked up, and a nice mix of pin and plate loaded machines. The teens and HS/college aged kids that come here are almost all well-behaved and focused on working on, the local rec center is like a daycare instead of a gym. There’s people from general health improvements up through sports specific training and gym rats. Price is reasonable for members and appreciate they haven’t raised the rate for existing members, while new member price has risen.

Areas of opportunity: Barbells: there’s not a single barbell that has any center knurling. IMO this is not just a preference, but overall a safety issue doing back squats and other barbell movements across the rear shoulders either high or low. Every squat rack should have a bar with center knurling and just overall 2-4 additional barbells would help reduce “barbell misplacement” when they walk away from a rack. Weekdays 5-630pm is busy, but not overpacked and can still move semi-easily.

Cable attachments: there’s not a single attachment bar for the lat pull-down that has any knurling or grip of any kind. Most all of the other attachments lack any grip and all the ropes are severely frayed and pretty gross. #1 and #2 could easily be addressed with the incoming annual membership fees that are extra revenue and a portion of should be used for improvements. I’ve witnessed people bringing in their own attachments, which should be a sign they need addressed.

PM exercises class: they block off about 1/5 to 1/6 of the gym from 5pm-6:45pm for a 5:30 exercises class that has 2-12 participants on average, that those class participants do not pay extra for. It wouldn’t as big of an annoyance if ALL of the instructors didn’t attempt to start setting up the equipment well before 5pm. I’ve observed the Monday instructor, from the cardio equipment, start at 4:30-something numerous times. That respect of having that area clear for setup and tear down is a two way street and 30 minutes is more than sufficient time for the class area to be setup for interval based training. If they put up a sign to remind members to finish by 5pm, all the instructors should be adhering to the timeline and not setting up 30 minutes before 5pm, working out, and then teaching their class.

Women’s locker room: there’s not nearly enough large size lockers (big enough for a gym bag). There could easily be another set of 12 lockers on the West or East wall. A bench would be nice instead of two mismatched chairs and signage that taking photos or video in an area that there’s a reasonable expectation of privacy, for both patrons and employees, isn’t permitted. The floor is often dirty and full of hair and earlier this year had clearly not been vacuumed and swept for days, seeing the same .25$ size piece of trash. Granted there’s not a female employee in the evenings, but the gym is closed overnight and could be addressed after hours each night. Capital improvements for new toilets would be nice.

Overall, I’d give this gym an 8/10 rating, it’s good, but could be phenomenal if there was more attention to the “smaller” details that would positively impact...

Women and men pay $30 for membership. However only men have a sauna and Only men have gotten a locker room update. Meanwhile the women’s room doesn’t even have legitimate toilet paper holders. I spoke with the owner regarding the discrepancy after being ignored for several months regarding the matter. He told me “I’ll refund your entire membership so you can find a gym that will make you happy or we can continue with no change”. Him and I both know that UXL is the only commercial gym in the city so leaving isn’t really an option if you plan on getting a legitimate workout in without having to drive 15 + minutes or deal with planet fitness stupidity. During our conversation he told me I was bold and unreasonable for suggesting that women pay a fair price since we have less benefits and are clearly not treated the same as male members. Mark told me I was the only one to complain about this, which after speaking with multiple other members, I found was untrue-in fact the women I spoke to 100% shared my pov but voiced that they knew someone whos request fell on deaf ears or they were afraid they would be unheard in their complaint. Every time I asked him “why are women expected to pay the same amount despite men having access to a wider range of amenities?”he would claim “I was just gonna be unhappy no matter what” or “he wasn’t on that page with me” or generally would just avoid giving a straight up answer. Because he knew as well as I did that it’s a bad business practice. I was treated like I was asking for the sacrifice of someone first born child for simply asking for prices to be fair and he repeatedly tried to make attack my character by suggesting that I was going to be unhappy no matter what which is untrue considering I gave him several valid options of recourse (increase the cost of membership for men, decrease the cost for women, or implement a small or occasional service for female members at no additional cost) it’s also strange considering that I repeatedly told him that this gym has been my favorite gym for years in spite of this one thing. But alas apparently uxl is fine treating female attendants like 3/5ths of a member. I have been attending this gym on and off for 13 years and I have watched the benefits for women continually shrink. They took away childcare, gave us purse hooks for tp dispensers, women have no access to saunas, and the locker room is chronically in shambles. Meanwhile my membership cost has risen and men have had their locker room redone and have access to a sauna as well. So it appears that male members reap the full benefits of membership while women get skimped-all the while female membership cost still rises so that we bear the cost of improvement…while seeing no improvement for ourselves. Watching the legacy of this gym evolve into “this is the good ole boys club and if you don’t like it you can get out” is truly saddening. I’m embarrassed for Bruce that this is the narrative of UXL in the year 2023. Actuall body builders used to go to this gym and many of those men are the ones who taught me the foundational skills I know today, but now it’s become a boys club where women are viewed as subhuman and as a lifelong athlete that’s truly sad to see play out.

Uxl cancelled my agreement for this review. So apparently you really aren’t allowed to speak up if you have an issue. Especially if you...

Been going there for about 14 months. They have something for just about anyone looking to exercise. I always see staff members walking around cleaning and replenishing sanitizers. Its a pretty serious type of atmosphere, I would say 99 percent of the people there are pretty serious about lifting/getting fit. Everyone from the staff to the people working out are helpful when you need a spot or some advice.

It can be a little over crowded at times but that's to be expected because this honestly is one of the better gyms in the...