The Fitness Factory of Charlotte — Local services in Charlotte

This is the BEST gym in Charlotte by miles, it is not even remotely close. I am born and raised in Charlotte and 20+ years in competitive bodybuilding and powerlifting, played sports my whole life. I have trained for at least a few weeks/months at every gym in the area some for years and it has been so awesome to see gyms come up and stick around in Charlotte. There are even some brand new ones that are good. Fitness Factory of Charlotte truly blows every gym here and elsewhere out of the water, might be a top gym in the country tbh. some of the newer ones are more expensive and get you way less

CLEAN - cleanest gym ive ever been to and this is so important for everyone no matter how you train

Equipment - literally they have something like over 200 pieces, 20+ power racks you might think they were actually an equipment seller if you didnt see people in there serious about their health and pumping iron. not only do they have a lot but they have some of the most rare and coveted pieces in training, they have something for every body type and muscle group plus TWO turf areas and one is massive and very nice. cannot believe how many leg and back pieces they have

Atmosphere - incredible, lots of nice people who are just doing their thing, lots of different training styles not just bodybuilding or powerlifting some really cool strongman dudes in there super nice. promise you if you are reading this and you have never stepped foot in a gym do not be worried it is the most welcoming gym. music is also not bad although i wish they would turn it up a bit. huge space with the garage doors open especially at golden hour the place is just magic

Service - no secret service has been bad everywhere around charlotte as people dont want to do those jobs but it seems like they have somehow survived that as they have a lot of staff that are constantly cleaning and always nice. owner is super nice and has a cool great dane you might get some pets in. if you are one of those people that just want to get in and out they are 24/7 with a door access app and they also have these self checkout tablets that you can buy your stuff and move on so that is cool if you are introverted.

Price - am still shocked at how low their pricing is for what they offer, it might seem like a lot if you are comparing to some $10/month gym like planet fitness but that is apples and oranges, the place is like over 40,000 sq ft or something and if you are on the fence def get the...

After being here for about a year, I've given a lot of thought about the quality of this gym.

PROS: -Lots of equipment, but there are caveats -24 hr access -Generally chill environment, with lots of cool folk

CONS: -Price... $59 a month for one person, $99 for two FOR HALF THE GYM. This price is insanity. There are powerlifting gyms I have been to that cost 1/2 the price for the same if not better quality equipment -A lot of the equipment is old, and generally bad quality. I get the aesthetic, being "rustic" or whatever... But for the cost of access, it is absolutely inexcusable to have hand-me-down 40 yr old equipment. -You are excluded from half the gym unless you pay premium. This is the most egregious part of this gym. $59 gets you essentially the SAME amount of equipment as your run of the mill Fitness Connection, for 4x the price. If you want better bars, better equipment, more benches etc, you will have to pay premium -Selling illegal/questionable products? For a good couple months there were SARMS for sale at the front desk. There are teenagers that frequent the gym. Thankfully they removed it, but c'mon.

My suggestion. Unless you are competing in Strongman(not even powerlifting/bodybuilding), do yourself a favor and go to a cheaper gym, youll get essentially the same equipment for a massive fraction...

2 years in. While the staff is still friendly, it's still 24 hours, there is a lot to be desired at the price you have to pay (and that price is about to increase for new members). Walking into the gym, you feel like it's the perfect place to get your pump. With so many pieces of equipment, solid specialty bar variations, it looks great. Then you get into the nitty gritty... There is absolutely no rhyme or reason for half of the equipment, the placement of everything is rather awful unless you like being crowded with no flow, and most of the equipment is hand-me-downs that haven't been kept up with. The place tends to lean on the dirtier side, probably because it's a cluttered mess. "New" equipment that comes in is hardly vetted and it doesn't take long to realize that there is better out there. It seems like this place survives and can get away with the prices because there isn't any competition. Hopefully, with the expansion, they take existing equipment and actually have a plan in place on where it should go, they no longer haphazardly place things in "open" spaces, and create a gym dynamic that makes sense. There is hope for a good gym yet, but the ever-increasing price is...