Anytime Fitness — Local services in Houston

I’ve been coming to this Anytime Fitness for the last 2 years. Outside of the limited parking and busyness, I’ve never had an issue until recently. For context, this is a gym equipped with a power rack room, deadlifting barbells, bumper plates, belts & straps available to use, Even videos on their TV’s advertise their coaches teaching their clients to deadlift. I’ve been deadlifting here with no issue for 2 years weekly.

So I was quite surprised when I was confronted recently by who I assume is Matt, the owner, while I was deadlifting. As I’m walking to add more weights to my bar, he steps in my path to block me and, in an accusational tone, tells me I am slamming the weights and being too loud. He did not introduce himself as the owner of the gym nor was he wearing any clothing that insinuated that he worked there. Instead, he jumped straight to confrontation. I tell him that 315lbs is going to make some noise even when being set down slowly, but that I am indeed setting the weights down with a slow 2 second negative. I invited him to watch my next set to see for himself, but he was not interested and returned to his office, so I continued.

He returns shortly after, accusing me of intentionally slamming the weights again, and that I am going to damage the floor and the barbells. I ask if it would be better if I deadlifted out on the rubber mats, and he says, verbatim, “If you want to deadlift, go find another gym.” Very unprofessional, but I stop deadlifting and go do another exercise. I was not happy with the confrontation, but I was willing to let it be water under the bridge and not deadlift at this location anymore.

What happened next was quite shocking. I arrive the next day to workout only to find my key has been deactivated without my knowledge. Matt locked me out of the gym with no phone call, text, or notification following a very tame disagreement between us the previous day. I would expect a business owner to, at minimum, reach out to discuss the issue with me so we could resolve it together in a professional manner. Instead, the decision was made to act in a dramatic and unprofessional fashion by deactivating my key without notice.

Because of the unprofessionalism, I’m going to share some information that Anytime Fitness doesn’t publicly share, because I’ve worked at an AF in the past. This is why they deactivated my key: As a current healthcare worker, I am part of a program called Active & Fit through my work. which covers my membership for the gym, just like Silver Sneakers and Renew Active. AF Owners, to put it lightly, are not very fond of members who sign up through these specialized programs, because instead of paying the $27.99 bi-weekly fee + $100 enrollment + $50 Key Fob Fee + $35 biannual club fee, individuals on these plans pay a flat $28 a month. It’s corporate mandated that they accept these plans, but owners of AF franchises dislike it because it reduces their profits. When AF locations like the Heights start nearing their max capacity, they begin either cutting members who are on these plans or force them to sign up for a regular membership. This is why he deactivated my key without notice. God forbid somebody who works in healthcare has benefits when it comes to supporting their own health.

And now, as AF tells staff to do when given a negative review, they will begin bugging their current members to write 5 star reviews to drown out this negative one. So if you are a member of this gym and you have any specialized plan, you can expect them to either deactivate your membership without your knowledge, force you to switch to their normal membership, or they will treat you like garbage and use the smallest perceived slight to lock you out, just like Matt did to me.

I’m appalled and disappointed in this location and the unprofessionalism. So just as Matt passionately suggested I do, I have indeed found another gym. I will be escalating my experience with the Houston Heights AF to AF Corporate to ensure they cannot treat their members as poorly as they did me...

I moved to Houston a little over three months ago and compared a few gyms in the area. I settled on this location after an employee of LA Fitness quietly told me Anytime Fitness was much better, and I have been coming here three to four days per week ever since. This Anytime Fitness has great staff and no broken equipment (something I can't say for everywhere). The variety of equipment is good too. My only stretch request would be for 12.5-pound, 17.5, and 22.5-pound dumbells and arranging the dumbbell rack to that it loops from the top row to bottom (instead of left to right for both the top and bottom row), but even while I've been there they've tweaked the floor layout and invested in a new lifting rack, so they care about feedback and keeping the place nice. Everything else is great and they have enough equipment that I usually don't have to wait for anything during my workouts.

I'm a very hobby-grade bodybuilder, and when I started working out, I wanted to find a trainer that could support my goals. When I saw Dylan, who's built pretty much like a mountain, I asked if he'd work with me. He exceeded my expectations as well as my evaluation of my previous trainers with both his expertise and attention to detail. He studies myology, sports science, and more in significant depth even compared to other trainers I've worked with, which affords me a great opportunity to ask technical questions. He also remains highly engaged in his work the entire workout. The focus and attention he gives combined with his technical depth enabled him to spot muscular imbalances, determine likely causes, and provide corresponding corrections. Anyone, regardless of ability level, would be able to elevate their practice to a new level under his guidance and coaching. Finally, I found Dylan to be a great personality fit for me. I am not terribly competitive, so I respond well to his friendly demeanor and coaching style of affirmative...

I visit this Anytime Fitness location twice a year when I’m in town visiting family, and overall, it’s one of the best Anytime Fitness gyms I’ve been to. The facility is spotless, well-maintained, and has a great selection of equipment compared to other locations. I also appreciate the extra touches, like offering massage guns for members to use.

The only downside is the barbell area. It’s pretty cramped, and there’s no deadlift platform, which makes it very easy to create noise during heavy lifts. They use Kevlar plates instead of rubber bumper plates, which aren’t ideal for deadlifting without a platform — a swap to rubber plates would be a vast improvement here.

While deadlifting during my visit, the owner asked me to keep the noise down. I asked if there were mats or any other way to better pad the floor, but no solution was offered. Even while deadlifting with controlled form, it was nearly impossible to stay quiet unless I slowed the negative phase of the lift to around three seconds, which isn’t practical when lifting above 80%of your max.

Later, I noticed another squat rack in a different area of the gym, where the floor seemed a bit more durable. In the future, I would choose that spot for deadlifting instead.

Despite the challenges in the barbell area, this gym is excellent overall, and I would absolutely recommend it for most types...