Retro Fitness — Local services in Middletown Township

Equipment - 7/10 Layout - 7/10 Size - 8/10 Cleanliness - 7/10 Staff - 10/10 Crowd - 8/10 Price - 10/10

I've worked at several gyms and worked out at even more for the past 15 years. This is a good gym for the price you're paying. It has everything most people will need to make progress and get their workouts done. Good environment, great staff, laid back crowd. Overall I really have no complaints for a $20/mo pricepoint. But if you want details, feel free to peruse below.

Equipment 7/10 Essentially they have everything I need to get things done. Two stairmasters as well as a couple ergs too which is nice. Two squat racks, plenty of benches, good selection of dumbbells. They have a landmine press which instantly gets them cool points. No deadlift platform or bumper plates. No mat or turf area. Could use a few more Olympic bars on the weight floor, a trap bar, and the plates really need a cleaning on their center hole threading. Putting them on and pulling them off the weight trees/bars is like pulling teeth.

Layout 7/10 Did a good job with the limited space they had. Not too cramped like some smaller gyms feel (trying to cram every possibly piece of equipment in making the place a death trap) but still managing to get pretty much everything you could need. The dumbbell area is fantastic, plenty of room and benches, one of the better ones I've seen at a Retro location. Lighting creating some dark corners and the men's locker room are concerning though. The ab-centric machine room is in need of a remodeling. Very dark and not getting a lot of love maintenance wise.

Size 8/10 Not a big gym but not small either. Good medium size with stuff spaced out pretty well. Auxiliary classroom off to the side as well is nice. Nice and airy with plenty of space to move around in. Very few spots where you're turning sideways to get around people/machines.

Cleanliness 7/10 The weight floor has gotten a lot better since I started going. However, the men's locker room at times is still a disaster zone. It's also small, dark, and often times something is broke in there whether it be a urinal, toilet, lockers hanging off hinges, or the sink. Don't know if this is members abusing the facility or lack of cleaning crew or a bit of both. I usually change at the office to avoid using it

Staff 10/10 Staff is generally friendly and helpful. Most seem very laid back and genuine. Valerie the manager is fantastic with any questions or accommodations. Took care of all issues I had immediately. Damn good customer service.

Crowd 8/10 Most everyone is doing their own thing keeping to themselves. No big crowds coming in together. Worst offenders are the young guys taking 30 minutes on a squat rack or sitting on a machine with their faces in their phone oblivious to others waiting. Usually remedied quickly by asking to work in with them.

Price 10/10 $20 a month is the cheapest I have ever paid for a gym membership and I am getting everything I need here except a dry sauna....

This gym is well maintained except for some of the lockers in the men's changing room.

Music isn't too loud so you wont have to use noise isolating earbuds or noise canceling headphones to hear your own music.

The machines are very close to each other and I like it that way. There's only one good squat rack and it's usually taken. There's another one on the other side but it doesn't have safety bars to stop the bar from wrecking you if you fail your squat.

The workers there are all very classy and up beat people. Wonder if that's a retro rule that they have to smile or if they only hire good looking happy people.

The dumbbells are plenty and clean. The benches are colorful and sturdy. I didn't like the color scheme of retro at first but now it's grown on me. Although I do have the urge to eat at McDonalds after every work out.

There are lots of treadmills and cardio machines if that's your jam. I think there's a bounce to the treadmills too which makes it easier on the knees but feels weird running on it at first.

Now on to the topic of the fitness elites. There are some very strong people here but they're all friendly. There's this one girl who squats 135lb like it's a backpack and guys who max out the leg machines. No body grunts loudly but you might get the occasional "hurhhh" if they're really pushing themselves. Everyone has headphones/earbuds playing their favorite jams so you can "hurhhhh" away all you want.

Sometimes people bring their own bounce weights and start doing power cleans. This gym would be perfect if they removed the half squat rack in the corner and replaced it with an olympic lifting setup.

Anyways great gym. Writing this so my sister doesn't go to WoW, which is...

I asked them ( all the staff including the manager ) PLEASE fix this water Drinking Fountain we cannot do any work out, they don't care!!! They only care that you pay the money and they do nothing for you! Very bad manager ! I been with retro fitness more than 4 years it's a shame!

Aug/2018

Tonight after waiting 5 months ask several times from Manager, Staff, etc to take care of this place just because it was close to my house and I didn't want to change my gym I canceled my member.

When I start the price in this gym was higher than the other competition gym plus the ANNUAL FEE, which I didn't care because gym was always clean and good and it was close to my house.

But last year this gym start to go down and it was so bad for me and for Retro too.

Then I tried many times talk to all the staff to take care of this place because I really liked it.

But unfortunately nothing get done and more issue was adding up in the gym everyday such as no paper towels available in the gym, I have to go and ask for, most of the time not even randomly happened. Stretch room not good to use SO COLD. TVs stop working. No shampoo. and today NO WiFi !!!

I used to recommend this place 2 years ago to all my friend and family NOT ANY MORE.

I canceled my...