Anonymous wrote:Are you looking for a pool? What about the Golds Gym in South Arlington? I belonged there for many years. The people are meatheads but they have great equipment.

This is what I use even though it’s not great perfect because the #1 thing I look for in a gym is convenience. It’s close, parking is generally fine, it’s never so crowded I can’t use what I want to use, and for swimming I plan on using the new aquatic center which is nicer than gym pools anyway. They have towers which aren’t as good as mine at home but all the other bonuses make up for it.

Are you looking for a pool? What about the Golds Gym in South Arlington? I belonged there for many years. The people are meatheads but they have great equipment.

Thanks for all the additional suggestions! I went to Sport and Health today for a test workout. Rower worked exactly as expected, which was nice. I totally forgot how much of a time suck just driving to and from a gym is!

So, that means I am really going to have to keep it within the sort of five mile range from national. Going to try the One Life in Ballston next, which comes with a parking headache, but its only $1.

Fairfax county rec centers.

Energy Club in Shirlington is really great, but I don't know if they have rowers, unfortunately.

The 24 Hour in Seven Corners has great equipment and easy parking (though half the lot is torn up now).

YMCA Alexandria has a pool. Not sure about the Arlington one. Expensive though.

Checked out xsport on King street just passed the interstate. Don’t think it’s for me. Their rowers are older without the updated monitor I would need and it really isn’t any better than one life just down the road. There is a pool area. Will now check out Vida.

I’ll check out vida and xsport then. Thanks for the tips!

Anonymous wrote:OneLife Skyline has a pool - or at least they did, before covid. Did something happen to it?

There's also OneLife alexandria, but no pool.

It closed around the time of the pandemic starting and hasn’t reopened. Before then they told us for years it was going to be renovated and it never was.

Anonymous wrote:The new Vida in Ballston is really nice

Vida is a fantastic gym and the new Ballston location is beautiful.

XSport used to be good / have a pool. I haven’t been for a few years though.

The new Vida in Ballston is really nice

OneLife Skyline has a pool - or at least they did, before covid. Did something happen to it?

There's also OneLife alexandria, but no pool.

I live in City of Alexandria and have been contemplating joining a gym to do some weight training. We have a peloton bike and tread, but I have sort of maxed out the circuit training on the peloton platform and feel the need to lift some heavier weights (without hurting myself, of course; I am not in college anymore ). I also want to do some rowing as another form of low impact cardio, and my wife has shut down the idea of buying a rower because of space issues.

We were previously members at Sport and Health, and One Life, so I went and re-checked out those locations at skyline (one life), Ballston (one life), and Crystal City (Sport and Health). They all have concept 2 rowers with the PM5 monitor I need to do the Regatta classes I want to do using my phone. I would rank them this way:

1. Sport and Health Crystal City (renovated, has a pool)
2. One Life Ballston (renovated, no pool, lots of weights and machines, but younger crowd (I am 40))
3. One Life Skyline (not renovated, totally from the 1990s, no pool)

Any other gyms I should consider in a circle 5 miles from say national airport? Main goal here is to lift free weight and use machines, and then do the concept 2 rowing classes for like 30 minutes after as the cardio part. I also know that Sport and Health and One Life seem to be one business now, so they have packages that allow overlap.

Any ideas appreciated. I don't expect to do any personal training. Seem to be doing just fine on my own.