City Fitness-Fairmount — Local services in Philadelphia

I wish I could leave negative stars with this review. The only reason this has a star is because I literally can't submit my review without it.

I have been to this gym several times as a guest and was met with opposition with each visit. Which is extremely odd when I've been to Logan square and the staff there go out of their way to ensure the experience I have at their location is top tier.

I have never been to a gym where the employees literally look miserable never smile, are rude and lack solution orientated skills. During my several visits as a prospect I was told I couldn't use specific equipment that was needed for my workout and given no solutions or alternatives. I won't hone in on my experience while not being a member this will easily turn into a book so I'll spare the details and just leave the review based on my last 2 experiences.

I decided to join the gym and go from prospect to member thinking maybe if I changed the status of my account I wouldn't be met with opposition when simply just trying to get through workout. I paid $25 for the membership and immediately cancelled my account on my way out of the door. Here's why.......

During my last 2 visits Laurel who is apparently in a leadership position went out of her way to be rude and nasty to me and my friend who has been a member of the gym for about 4 years. My training plan requires me to use a wall ball and sandbags during our workout. The last time I was there prior to today I went to grab the wall ball to use in the room next door Laurel stopped me and said I couldn't use the wall ball that no one was using and gave ZERO SOLUTIONS OR ALTERNATIVES. Cool I chalked it to maybe she was having a terrible day so I gave her a pass. However I have never been to a gym where the membership is NOT cheap and been told I can't use equipment the membership pays for.

Today was the last straw I went to go grab UNUSED sandbag that didn't even have sand in it clearly no one was planning to use the bag so I grabbed it and went into the room literally next door.

Laurel who was on her way down the steps hit a U turn when she saw me to literally come get the sand bag from us and did not provide a solution or any alternatives. Sis went out of her way just be be nasty for no reason. I'm. not sure how she even got a leadership position bit that's neither here nor there.

This treatment left me feeling unwelcome and unsupported, and unfortunately, it led to three memberships being canceled due to interactions with Laurel. I hope my experience can be used as a teaching moment to encourage staff to provide solutions and a more inclusive, respectful environment for members.

Thank you for your time, and I trust City Fitness will take steps to ensure better experiences for others...

This is a good chain gym. Very spacious, clean, offers many options for recovery (sauna, steam room, hyperice, massage chairs and red light therapy), staff is friendly, and they offer various group classes from boxing to yoga.

While these amenities and offerings are great, I'm docking a couple stars for a couple reasons:

extra recovery options (such a hyperice and red light therapy) are not available at all the locations.

the classes and the extra recovery options like the hyperice and red light therapy are only included in the studio plus and performance memberships.

there are no parking lots, period. Inconvenient for those who only drive and don't want to or can't walk, bike, rideshare or take the public transportation in the city for whatever reason.

the MOST frustrating, at least for me personally, is the fact that the functional training area is nearly ALWAYS occupied by THRIVE group sessions. The THRIVE area has a great variety of functional training equipment such as sand bags, kettlebells, pull up bars, step up boxes, med balls, more barbells, etc. Unfortunately, you can't access this equipment because the area is off limits during the gym's busiest hours - before 9 am and after 5 pm - which are the times when most people go to the gym.

These are the reasons why City Fitness is a good chain gym and not a great one. If members are paying $100+/month we should be able to access all the equipment at all times. That's literally what we are paying for.

I hope the City Fitness team will change this in the future because once my membership is over, I won't...

I have been going to the City Fitness Fairmount location for a week, and everything has been great. I tend to work out in the evening/night, and I can complete my workout without waiting long for equipment. They have a good variety of equipment (free weights, cables, and machines) and various cardio equipment. I would love to see them add a standing calf-raise machine or something similar to use with the Smith machine.

They have many fitness classes to try. So far, I’ve only done their group fitness class, Thrive, where you follow a program with a trainer 2-4 times a week. I plan on trying others, like Yoga or Cycling, in the coming weeks.

If you want to have a shake after your workout, they have a smoothie bar where you can grab one, as well as some supplements and other misc items.

Overall, I would recommend City...