Contributed by Mich C.
She shares on the experience of her friend who had an unpleasant experience with a fitness chain.
We do have many mega gyms in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, but honestly, most of the fitness instructors are not fully qualified. A colleague of mine who is in her 50s joined one of those mega gyms mainly to maintain healthy. The instructor assigned to her was totally unprofessional. He designed a workout routine for her that sent her seeking help from her doctor. When she explained to him that her heart couldn’t take it, he accused her of being lazy. Hence, she decided to quit the gym, but they refused to let her go and insisted that she continues paying even when she no longer uses the gym. Legally she must abide by the contract she signed but after the pain and headache caused by the staff and instructor, I believe that they should at least bargain with her. She’s still paying her monthly membership and warning everyone that THAT PARTICULAR gym is not even a good choice if you wished to join a gym.
I have heard many complaints about these mega gyms. No doubt that they have good fitness machines and fancy decor, but according to many gym goers, the equipments cannot accommodate the huge volume of members during peak hours.
In my friend’s case, that was one of the reasons why she wanted to quit the gym aside from the insensitive, poor-mannered and unprofessional treatment she received. When she pointed out to the management, they told her to visit the gym at 5.30am. She’s a mother with a full time job, I believe most women in her situation and age would agree that it’s a ridiculous suggestion.
Prior to signing the membership joining contract, they promised her everything. They would bend just to accommodate to her needs. Sadly, once the contract was signed and payment was made, everything changed to the worst. Now they advised her to wake up at the crack of dawn to accommodate to their failure of providing what they promised, they assigned an unprofessional trainer to her, ignored her complaints but constantly harassing her for payment for services they failed to provide to the satisfaction level they promised.
I think these mega gyms focus too much on recruiting members and ignored after-sales service/customer service. I understand most of these membership recruiters survive solely on commission with very low basic salary or none at all. I have conducted my research and I am confident to say that a number of employees attached with these gyms, be it in the management or frontline, are not into fitness. It’s merely a job. A general manager of one of the well-known gyms does not know the function of all the machines under her care and the club’s cardio class schedule. It’s difficult to manage and sell your gym if you do not have your company product knowledge.
Another ridiculous incident I heard involved a yoga studio and a very unfortunate lady. She signed up as a member with one of the yoga studios, then a while later she had to relocate to another country for business purpose. It was an unexpected business proposal. She requested to terminate her membership, but the studio rejected her request. She is still paying even though she is oceans away now.
I understand that we must all adhere to the rules and regulations in the contracts, but I seriously think they should have another look at the contract agreements they have created. Termination should be allowed if one had to move to another country, and/or when one’s health is in jeopardy due to the poor irresponsible training programme designed by the fitness instructor assigned to the member.
In my friend’s case, the instructor refused to acknowledge his fault and blamed her for doing the routine wrong. How could she be doing it wrong on a treadmill with him supervising her? Why didn’t he correct her?
Another reason why I dislike these mega gyms are because most of the members are there to stare (this does not involve the gym management) or be stared at. I dislike men staring at me when I workout. A pair or two is tolerable, but 4,5,6 or more, they are simply annoying. This could be due to the fact that mega gyms usually attract different type of crowd.
Don’t get me wrong, exercising is a good habit to pick up. I myself love going to gym, but after hearing all these complaints about these mega fitness centres, I rather just go to the gym at my condo and do weights at my own home.
*Please note that this is my personal opinion and gym goers with positive experiences are welcomed to disagree with me.
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
I agree with you that the PT in this mega gyms are not qualifed. Some dont even have a proper physique. Imagine the person training you has a big gut! That will instantly demotivate anyone having a trainer like this. I feel gyms should be simple. No fancy tv and etc just go there and train then head home to get your post workout meal. PERIOD!
also the mega gym sales also very fat. Do check out one of the sales girl in Menara standard chartered Cf. I walked away when last time she tried to sell me the membership
i totally agree and can identify with Mich C! mega gym is not about wanting to help people to lead a better lifestyle…it is all about money and recruitment! what do they care, if you make improvement or not! besides, how many group classes can u go to and how many body parts can u work on in a session! they offer all those fancy equipment and classes, but are they really effective! it is a shame! my suggestion, it is still best to stick to neighbourhood community gym, with not so many thrills and frill and yet, u will be working out with some serious people! i hv never been tempted to sign up and never will! i happened to work out in the most run-down gym and yet, still going back for more!
Gyms, whether they are one of the “mega gyms” or the humble “shop-office lot” neighbourhood gym all have their own plus and minuses. I go to one of the “mega gyms” myself and I agree with some of the drawbacks:
1. Expensive. Especially for me as I don’t use the steam room/sauna/yoga/group exercise classes.
2. Periodically contacted by sales personnel, who ask to arrange an appointment with you. When you see them, inevitably its to persuade you to buy some training packages or to upgrade your current membership.
The advantages of these mega gyms are however:
1. Usually air-conditioned (important for me as I have to get dressed to go to work after working out- I dont want to be sweating all over in my shirt/slacks & tie when I arrive at work)
2. Cleaner (esp toilets & showers).
3. Equipment are well maintained. And as there are many machines/weights there is less waiting around to use them compared to a smaller gym at peak hours.
As for personal trainers I was lucky I had a good one and after my sessions ended, he didn’t persuade me to take up extra sessions so he could get the commision( Some of my friends underwent this problem, tho). My trainer is a degree holder in sports science from a local university and had prior experience at other gyms. He advised me on diet, what routines I should do, etc and wished me all the best to achieve my goal.
As for being stared at, I am a guy (not exactly a good looking one at that), so I don’t have that problem. But when i am working out at the gym, i am usually concentrating on what I am doing, so I don’t really see or acknowledge anyone. Try ignoring the starers, there are sickos everywhere, maybe they’ll back off if you act uninterested?
I am someone who ignore sales pitch and resist being called to upgrade my membership unless I am really prepared to take on the extra financial burden myself.
Basically my point is, there are plus and minuses everywhere you go. It’s up to ourselves how we deal with the not so nice bits I guess.
amirfuadh: Hey thanks for a great writeup!
hmm, they stared huh while you lifting? what kind of stare? admiration stare, gay stare, first timer stare. maybe you are the best in shape there, heheh
hakim, u make me laugh lar .. haha ..
I heard that some of PT can gain more than RM15k/mth .. when too many clients, the qualities of training goes down .
hakim: Maybe it was a combo stare of everything u mentioned? Heh heh. And
Soul: That is true, they can earn up to that much - and more… and you hit the issue right on the spot - with that many clients… I’m pretty sure that the last client of the day will not get the full attention and focus of the PT - compared to the first client of the day. He won’t even have half the enthusiasm he had in the morning.. and who’s on the losing end? The poor client.
I didn’t analyse their stare. Maybe I should as that might just stopped them from staring.
Be it a gym or a bookstore, when the place is packed with customers and the “shopkeeper” has already had a long day, the big smile will find it hard to defy gravity. What they need to focus on improving is their customer service. All these falls under customer relationshop management (CRM).
i agree
most trainers in msia
are not fully qualified
but they are some good ones
yet mostly are monkey see monkey do :(
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