I moved from Clarendon to Falls Church City and can't justify making the 15-20 min. drive to my old gym, so I'm looking at the three in Seven Corners (24 Hour, Planet Fitness, and Golds). So far I've only done a guest pass at 24 Hour. It was absolutely packed with college-age people who were doing more socializing than working out, but this was on a Monday evening so perhaps it isn't as crowded at other times. Interested in people's experiences with the three gyms. |
24 Hour, Planet Fitness, and Golds are neither very good gyms nor clean. You should join Equinox in Tyson Corner. It is the best gym out there. They eye candies at Equinox are also very good. |
The hours at Equinox are awful and it's far too expensive. |
And it’s not convenient to Seven Corners. It’s like pp went out of their way to post the least helpful comment possible. |
I’ve gone to 24 Hour for six years and always found it clean. It’s only crowded on evenings after work. I go in the mornings and it is pretty empty - and those who are there are serious about working out and not gooding off. Before 24 Hour, I went to the old Planet Fitness that was in the Eden Center basement. That was dirty with terrible ventilation. I assume that the new location is better but have not been there. |
You're not far from Tyson Corner Equinox if you are in Falls Church City, as OP stated above. As far as "expensive", it depends on your income. |
24 hour fitness is your best bet. The newer Golds is further out in baileys and I don’t not recommend the one in Merrifield. I joined Merrifield after Covid when 24 took a while to reopen. It was fine but not even half as nice as 24. The weigh area is small and the layout just didn’t work for my workout. I was so happy when 24 opened back up. I’ve been a member there since they opened 10 years ago. It definitely gets crowded in the evenings but I go in the early morning Andy is never crowded. I will say I liked the people at golds better. In the 3 months I was there lots of people talked to me in the weight room where no one ever talk to me at 24.
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I go during the day to 24 hour, usually around 9am, and it’s empty. |
I was just at 24 Hr today and usually go at around lunch time. It's always clean and not crowded when I go. I have gone after work a couple of times, and it was much more crowded with a younger crowd. I do like 24 Hr because, even though it's in FCC, I rarely run into anyone I know there. Most people I know do OTF, Cycle Bar, etc. Very few go to the gym anymore. |
Planet fitness at the Eden Center was so gross! Good to hear they moved into the old golds gym. |
For me it is more about value than affordability. We have a 500k HHI and I can’t justify paying for equinox when Golds gives me all I need for about 15% of the price. I don’t care about classes, pool or towels with a mint scent though. All I care about is the weight room. This was a real choice I was making as they are equally convenient to me though in a different location. |
The most important thing for me is availability, cleanliness of the facility, and quiet when I workout. At Equinox, I get all three. I work out between 5-7pm @Equinox and there are always space and equipment available. Can't say that about Gold Gym and PF. I've been to PF, gold gym and they are gross. If you've been to PF in Eden Center, you know what I mean. YMMV. |
I go to 24 hour before work and it is quite empty. |
The new golds gym location is pretty nice. It doesn’t smell bad like the old BC location. I don’t go there all that often so I don’t know how busy it gets. Maybe you could get a week’s trial membership and check it at various times, keeping in mind that august is a slow time for all gyms. (September is busier and January is the seventh circle of hell pretty much everywhere.) |
I used to belong to 24 Hour and really enjoyed it. My priorities were a variety of fitness classes and the pool. I used the upstairs equipment a couple times and it was never unbearably crowded or unclean, even in the evenings. Like another PP said, despite its popularity, I also liked the fact I didn’t run into people I know, even though it was minutes from my house. |