ONESWEAT — Local services in Houston

What a nightmare! First of all, it’s completely unclear where your station is supposed to be. No signage, no direction—just a chaotic room and an instructor who already starts counting reps before you’re even on the floor. And that’s just the beginning. The class moves at a breakneck pace with zero transition time. You’re expected to jump from treadmill to floor to weights with no explanation or prep. By the time you’re trying to understand what’s happening, the instructor is yelling out the next exercise. No cueing, no form checks—just yelling. It felt like chaos, not coaching. Then there’s the weight training. They offer dumbbells like 8s, 10s, and 20s—and immediately ask you to do slow, static movements that are meant to be controlled, with proper breathing and alignment. But the instructor? She’s bouncing around doing god-knows-what. Static strength training is not something you rush through. These movements target deep muscle groups and require neuromuscular control. Without that, you’re just flailing and risking injury—especially to your back, knees, and shoulders. It’s how people herniate discs and blow out joints. After that mess, you rotate to the treadmill. No one tells you what to do, and again—everything is drowned out by over-the-top cheering. Honestly, I love energy, but not when it replaces actual instruction. I started incline walking and light jogging (which, by the way, is a textbook way to prep muscles before resistance training). But then the instructor runs up and says, “We’re running.” No explanation, no options, just pressure. Sorry, no thanks. Then it’s back to the floor—this time apparently for upper body, though again, no one said that. Immediately she tells everyone to grab the heaviest weights. Are you kidding me? You’re supposed to warm up a muscle group before going heavy. Jumping into isolation work like elbow curls with 20 lb dumbbells is just absurd. Most people use 3–5 lbs for those movements with good reason: the rotator cuff and elbow joints aren’t built for explosive load under poor form. Everyone around me just froze or looked panicked while she yelled across the room. It was so bad, I walked out. I love a good workout. I live for that endorphin rush and a proper sweat session. But this? This was not it. It didn’t feel empowering or energizing—it felt anxiety-inducing and dangerous. There was no structure, no coaching, and zero respect for safe biomechanics. If you care about your joints, your progress, or even just understanding what’s going on in a class, I’d steer...

I wanted to like this place since I had great experiences with SWEAT1000 in the Heights. This place in Upper Kirby has some problems, though.

It has no lockers. None. It’s like a communal yoga studio. Even student gyms at A&M and Texas Tech have lockers.

Since it has no lockers, I have to bring my keys and wallet and cellphone into the studio, but compared to other studios’ treadmills, there’s no place to put your valuables, much less your drinking water.

Speaking of drinking water, I grabbed a bottle of their SWEAT-branded drinking water to purchase it, and it started leaking from the bottle cap. Did you get empty bottles from the landfill? No thanks.

Lastly, the guy and gal at the desk (11/25/22, 10:30 am) were totally disinterested. My first time in the studio, and no tour, no walkthrough of the equipment or workout. Empty studio, 15 min before class, and they were complaining they didn’t have many clients for their next class (gee I wonder why) and chatting with their friend.

The other issues are pet peeves of mine, but not problems per se.

No earplugs

Nowhere to sit in the locker room

The workout itself and the workout instructor was fine. Standard stuff.

My recommendations for this studio to fix 80% of its issues:

get lockers get essentia or fuji water and toss your branded leaky water bottles owner/manager of the studio ought to talk to the front desk people

I am comparing this studio to similar concepts like Barry’s and OTF, as well as boutique studios like BMF in DFW and HIIT...

This class will kick your a$$, so come ready to SWEAT. Have you been to Orange Theory? TRASH. Who wants to be on a tread for half the class - and let's be honest, the music sucks. At SWEAT you will rotate from the floor to the tread 4-5 times - enough time to get in a rhythm on the tread for sure, but not so long you get bored. There are accommodations offered on the tread, walkers, joggers, and runners - I'm warning you now, even the "walkers" level is intense so take it easy and listen to your body. Aside from alternating the tread and floor work, the music is always fire - nothing corporate chain here - the instructors create their own playlists and I have never been disappointed. Don't forget the sexy lighting - the room is dark with black lights so even at 5am, you look like a hot girl. The floor work is TOUGH - full body. Arms, legs, core -and weights offered are 8, 10, and 15 pounds. Need the 5s baby girl? They got you. Need something heavier than a 15 daddy? Got you covered too. The last part and best part - this is a community of straight winners and beasts - SWEAT Fam we call it. Everyone pushes each other and the instructors are always motivating you. Don't come to the owners class if you are a whiny baby because he will call you out if you are slacking - love that. Come ready to WORK because there is nothing like this and if it kicks your a$$ the first time, don't give up - I started going 1-2 times a week because it was so hard. Not...