East Bank Athletic & Social — Local services in Milwaukee

I did a 7 day trial. It was a successful week. Visited 5 of my 7 days. I'll try to be as concise but comprehensive as I can about my experience, because there's a lot to consider here, and I really tried to go for as much variety as possible to make sure I knew every inch of this place by the end..

First I'll say, I don't believe in docking points over covid policy and how well it may or may not be practiced. I imagine nobody at this location really has much of a choice in the matter, and it would be unfair to chip away at the reputation of this long standing gym over temporary measures.

I lost my hotel job in the city (covid) and deeeeply regret not checking this place out during that time, because I was 2 blocks away, and would have joined without hesitation. Unfortunately now I have to commute out of the city for my seasonal full-time job, so I sadly can't logically join for that reason, but absolutely will if my life were to turn fully urban again.

With all that out of the way, simply as a facility to gain access to, this is undoubtely the most unique option in town. As a unique guy, I dig that a lot.

The stacked format with 5 floors is very cool and offers a lot of natural light, especially for cardio, because there are two separate cardio floors with views overlooking the mke river, which I'm a total sucker for, and makes for a beautiful post-workout run (I just have a weakness for elevated gyms. The higher the better 🙃).

The place was a bit labyrinthian to navigate at first, took me two days to find the whirlpool (more on that later).. but despite this, my first couple days of pretending to know where everything is, got me familiar enough to feel good about the layout, which overall could handle a decent number of people at a time doing resistance machines, without feeling overcrowded. Like if things did get too crazy on the lifting deck for example, then you can find alternative ways, using cable machines on the 2nd floor, to work similar muscles in peace. Only downside being some stuff is a bit dilapidated just from the age of the gym. Plus there's a whole separate set of lighter dumbells down there, which can come in handy during peak hours... Lots of options that simply don't exist at PF, which is my basis for comparison at this point, and has an overcrowding problem of its own.

It's worth noting that I don't park here because I still live close by, so consult other reviews if that's important to you.

The rest of the review is nothing against the location. They gotta do what corporate wants. I want this review to be seen as an objective one. If I went to another gold's that sucked, I wouldn't give that one 4 stars. With all that said, I do want to mention covid things that make no sense in my opinion. Since that's what a review is, so please just take it as such.

The whirlpool.. I said I'd come back to it... Not gonna lie, I was very excited to find out there's a hot tub downtown accessible to me, because they're even hard to find at hotels around here (Pfister doesn't have one, fun fact, just hampton and nothing else from what my old boss and I searched, although idk about the new 2020 hotels)... Anyway, when I finally found the hot tub, it was next to the 3 lane pool, which at the moment only allows two people in the entire space as a whole. You are in water that is half composed of a cleaning chemical, how does that make sense?

I was equally bummed to see the sauna shut down. But I at least understand that, since it's pretty small. But I loooove saunas and was too excited to even see the sign, and accidentally walked in to a cold room ☹️. oops.

One last unique luxury I was actually considering experimenting with but couldn't, is the indoor basketball court. Another hard to come by commodity in town, mostly existing within rich apartment complexes from what I know of. Anyway, again, the ~15 foot wide hallway with functioning equipment is kosher, yet the much less confined space right on the other side of the glass door is apparently too dangerous.... 🤔 Idunno, I'm outta...

I was a member at Gold's for 3 years and there are many pros and cons, but mainly cons...

PROs: -Great selection of equipment and cardio space! They are well placed among all 5 floors. My favorite was the cardio cinema because I work out early in the morning before work and it's nice to run in the dark. -The locker room has a nice layout and plenty of space and more private areas so you aren't all exposed. -Good selection of protein bars, smoothies, and apparel. -Good selection of fitness classes at good time slots.

CONs: -There were quite a few times where I showed up and no one arrived to work and the front desk was gated off. They open at 4:30 AM on weekdays and I always arrived between 4:45-5 AM and still no one present. So I couldn't get a towel but luckily the whole gym isn't gated off so I could still access the stairwell to the locker room and gym, but you would hope that someone is working for security reasons because anyone can walk in without swiping their card. -The parking situation is very frustrating. There are two options of parking garages depending on the day/time, so you had to keep track of which one to park at. I wish the only option was to use just the garage on Water St considering the one on Mason (which I used 95% of the time) is extremely sketchy and very difficult to maneuver through. If you have a long car or a large SUV, you're better off finding street parking a couple of blocks away. -Canceling your membership is beyond painful. You have to email Taft Services (a 3rd party) just to be left in the dark with no responses. After numerous attempts to follow up with Taft, I called Gold's to understand the status of my cancellation and they said it takes 30 days to process, which they failed to tell me from the start. So I went to the gym one last time for a workout and approached the front desk asking about my cancellation status to which they said they can't access that info, meanwhile a manager at one of the back desks overheard my frustration and called me over for my info to look up in the system. She was able to give me the date that my membership will be terminated, but she did not seem pleased to help me with my troubles. So I ended up getting stuck with an extra month of payments. I believe this process applies to all Gold's through corporate, but you would think that corporate would use a 3rd party that comes with excellent customer service where they respond to your email with a date of the last day of your membership just so you feel better knowing that they received the request and that it is pending/processing... -The gym is not clean or well kept whatsoever. The disinfecting wipes were empty most of the time (which you would think if I come in right when the gym opens in the morning, that some one would check and refill all those stations either when they close or right when they open). The soap dispensers were empty in the locker room for weeks! Toilet paper all over the locker room bathroom stalls that would be there for days.There are dust bunnies and dirty old equipment hidden in some corners.

NEUTRAL: -The wifi used to be terrible to the point you couldn't even connect, and there is barely to no cell service, so if you stream your music it kinda ruined the vibe. But they eventually upgraded the wifi and it works well now! Although, they have a 2 hour time limit on it. So if you plan on doing a long workout, or utilizing most amenities that will take up lots of time (tanning, showering, back-to-back classes, etc.), or even just in the area and not at the gym but you are still connected, just ensure you disconnect from the wifi.

OVERALL, I stuck with this gym because I liked the location while I was living in downtown and the overall layout of the space worked very well with my routine. I achieved a lot of goals at this gym and I appreciate the ability to utilize this facility. But now that I moved to Tosa, I'm glad I left and joined a WAC and now wish I tried the WAC in downtown so I could have...

This review is for the personal trainer Mary Bender. I recommend her services as a trainer to anyone interested in personal training. I have been lifting since high school and I'm 28 now, so I wasn't sure if a trainer could offer me much, but I decided to give it a try and I was pleased to say the least. She is very knowledgeable and communicates that knowledge clearly and understandably, she's taught me a ton of useful information. She knows how to design a great program for whatever your goals are and if you have an issue or limitation she will find a solution. Mary is also very personable and encouraging/motivating throughout the workout, which really helps you get the most out of your session. I didn't think 1 hour would be enough time as I'm used to being there for 2 or more, but I was dead wrong, and very tired after.

In talking to her it became apparent that she is extremely passionate about her job and helping people reach their fitness goals. So much so that she is constantly trying to learn new things herself that she can then apply to clients; she's currently learning Olympic lifting for example.

For myself I wanted to emphasize power and losing weight, she devised some workout elements that I had never considered doing before and absolutely loved as I can see how they directly relate to those goals. Also, my knee and low back hurt whenever I would squat. She immediately saw the cause (tight hips causing my low back to round and I wasn't bracing my core properly) and showed me some mobility exercises to help with this, she also recorded me squatting both before and after her assistance so I could see what I was doing wrong and how my form improved with just a few initial adjustments. I also can not do a proper front squat hold, so after our first session she did some thinking/research on her own time and was able to determine the cause of my limitations there as well (tight rear delts and lats) and she gave me mobility exercises and stretches to help with that also. Continuing the mobility exercises and stretches while correcting my form has alleviated the knee and low back pain and I'm getting closer and closer to being able to front squat properly the more mobility work and stretches I do.

Overall, Mary goes above and beyond to help people reach their fitness goals and I'd highly recommend her services to anyone...