24 Hour Fitness — Local services in Castro Valley

My partner and I walked in to Castro Valley 24hr fitness on a Saturday afternoon and we were warmly greeted by Jennifer. We asked for a day pass and a tour since we had never been to this gym but wanted to try before we buy. Jennifer took us through the weight machines area, the cardio area, the classroom space, the personal training room and had us tour the individual locker rooms. We decided right there to become members as this gym was just what we were looking for. Jennifer helped us purchase a year membership and I added on a 3 month personal training package. Jennifer paired me with Elise as she said we would be perfect together.

It's now been one month and I'm so thankful to have this gym to call my own. I have been working with trainer Elise and she is amazing. She has taught me things in fitness I had no idea about. Her expertise in fitness is helpful and I appreciate her educating me as well as working me out head to toe!

The gym itself is comfortable and safe. I'm greeted every visit by staff at the front with warm friendly smiles. I do cardio and weights and there are always machines available to use. Everyone is there to work out but also very courteous and happy to take turns. The sanitizer stations are awesome with sprays and paper towels to wipe everything down as well as hand sanitizer. I've seen staff cleaning and sweeping every time I'm working out. There are some machines that need repair however I have seen technicians on site fixing things. Parking is plentiful and next door to shops and Safeway in case you need to grab anything after, very convenient.

I have to say the staff is the most friendly and welcoming start and finish to every workout. I really appreciate the motivation and kindness. I highly recommended...

Lets break it down:

Pros: Good if youre looking for a quick workout. Specific times of the day, you dont see as much people working out.

Cons: The place is small - cramped workout areas which allows few equipments for use. Only has 2 barbell benches, 1 barbell squat area, 1 powerlifting station, 1 smith machine, and the rest are dumbells, cables, and other isolation machines. They have a separate cardio area and a studio. Dont know about womens area, but the men's are quite dirty. Im sorry, the entire gym rather has cleanliness issues. Some equipments are old and are rotting (fyi the leg press machine esp). Lastly, the staff. Most of the ladies in the counter are very welcoming and light, yet the men are okay. Could easily smile, but seems like they need to have a vacation. What I would love to see a coach thats very nice. The PT (two men), have attitude issues. Both carry themselves high, which they both deserve with high praise, but forget that they're just like everyone else - people. I was thinking of getting one of the coaches to train me, but after an incident where the gym trainer just ignored me, I would rather watch chris elkin or matt ogus lol. The incident was, the asian coach was resting before his set, I asked if he was using the bench on the side of his area, and he stared me in the eye through the mirror in front of him and just went and did his workout. Like seriously - narcissist...

The staff is very friendly and the crowd in there is a good bunch but the facility is lacking. Dated equipment and restrooms. Only ONE squat rack which is an absolute joke. Expect long lines to use the rack. If you don't need a squat rack then everything else is fairly good you can come in and get a good lift in. The price is great and plenty of cardio machines for those that are incline to do cardio.

I joined mostly for the free weights. There are many serious lifters here in this confined space so their can be lines for flat bench (only 2) and squat rack (only 1) I can NEVER get on the squat rack no matter what time of the day I come in. 7 AM on a Saturday and there was already a line to use the squat rack. People are courteous to each other but it's hard to work in with someone when they are dead-lifting or hip thrusting and you want to squat instead.

Bathroom/locker room is a complete mess and i don't think it's because of the staff. It just very old and dated. Hard to keep something like that clean, men's toilet area is always in disgusting shape.. Never enough soap in hand-washing area or paper towels.

For the price and everything else it's a solid spot. However, I think trying one of the other 24 hours in the area might be the best move for now until some changes...