Crunch Fitness — Local services in San Francisco

Pros: Atmosphere. It’s a pretty unique gym and can have a nice ambiance on the very rare occasion it’s not at full capacity.

Equipment functionality. There isn’t a bunch of equipment, especially for how busy it is, but I do appreciate that things rarely break. Even when a piece of equipment is under maintenance, it usually is back to being usable pretty soon. I've had other gyms that will leave things as out of order for a couple weeks.

Cons: Incredibly busy. You’ll rarely find a time where this gym doesn’t feel like it’s hitting peak capacity.

Dark. Although the ambiance is cool, it can be hard on the eyes and can make it difficult to see the number of pounds weights are with the black on black in the dark. Also if you care about form, there are some spots with poor lighting in front of mirrors so it can be hard to judge form sometimes.

Internet. This one is pretty big for me because I enjoy listening to music while I workout and doing ab workouts I find on YouTube. This place is a black hole for cellular service (at least with my major provider) so I have to rely on their WiFi. And boy does this thing not work. It’s worked maybe 4% of all of 2024. If you’ve ever forgotten your headphones when you go to the gym, imagine that but consistently every time you go. I don’t exclusively workout at this location so it’s always frustrating to return to this one and suffer through their chosen music or the silence of my headphones while trying to stay motivated for a workout. I’ve brought this up to them months ago and they said they knew about it and were working on it but nothing has changed.

Price. The price is pretty high. I get it’s San Francisco so it’s more on par with some of the other gyms around but I’ve told people from other areas what I pay (with a discount) and they’re dumbfounded at how expensive the crunch membership is here. With all these other cons, it’s really disappointing they continue to gouge...

Member for 2.5 years. Great classes and very nice staff. I am writing this to go over some of the complaints I have read below.

1: the locker rooms: this is a landmark building. They cannot tear down walls or significantly change the design of the building. Just to make plumbing repairs to the locker rooms took months of waiting for permits to go through. Perk: bath towels are big and fluffy!

2: equipment: they have a bit of everything. Yes, it gets crowded during peak hours. So does every gym in the city. Also, if someone is using a piece of weight equipment that you are interested in, politely ask if you can work in with them.

3: staff: always pleasant, even when I have seen members be a pain. Classes do fill up...you can sign up on line. Don't complain at the desk if you arrive 5 minutes before a class, and don't get a spot.

4: trainers: yes, if you are 'fresh meat', they can be a little aggressive (in a nice way) because, it's their job. Do use the introductory session to get some tips. If you are in your 30's and you are doing the same stuff that you did in College, it might be time for a change. And guys, please train your legs once in a while. To me there is nothing weirder than a buff upper body and two sticks for legs.

All in all, I have...

I’ve been coming to this Crunch location for a several months now and have some thoughts.

First, I ONLY come here for the spin classes. You can’t beat the price. Spin studios in the area are at least three times the cost. What’s better is the classes are great quality. I’ve spun with Rally, Samantha, Charlotte, and Shermineh, and they each bring a uniquely fun energy to every class, so it never feels repetitive. I hope the GM reads this because they need to know they have a killer group of instructors on staff. (I only wish the clocks in the spin room were in a different location, like on a side wall. When you can see the time it feels like the class goes by slower and you want to die. Lol.)

Second, and it’s the only reason I’ve knocked off a star as well as being the reason I only do spin classes here… this gym is CROWDED. I don’t even attempt to do full body workouts because it’s packed almost all the time, EXCEPT in the early morning. It’s not the gyms fault really, and it’s a wonderful thing for them, but it leaves me wanting to return to FitnessSF or consider Equinox. If either of those gyms were closer I’d pay more money to go to them because they never felt claustrophobic like this Crunch does.

I do recommend this gym, though! The classes are...