Best Gym In Chiang Mai

[wildpikey]

I have been told recently that the new shopping centre (when it opens) is going to have a Fitness first inside.

This is an expensive gym but a very good one and has clubs throughout the world. At least when they give you a price it is the same one they give to everyone that asks and that counts for a lot to me....

[cmbe]

WOW offer no more lifetime membership, I was good luck that could make it in that time. About the price I do not think that different between Thai and Foreigner because we paid in the same price for 3 peoples Thai and Farang.

I hear the gym at Hill side plaza 4 condo is good size, but still never try, I work hard enough more than go to gym for a few hours so I do not need it too much .

[wildpikey]

I went along to Fitness Thailand today for a look and it looked good, apart from we did notice that there are a hell of a lot of benches and machines that require free weights to be used, but didn't seem there was any where near enough free weight disks to go round even half of them?

Can anyone who goes there let me know if this is the case....

Mind you didn't lookm as if they need any more members it was mobbed !!!

[heybruce]

I went along to Fitness Thailand today for a look and it looked good, apart from we did notice that there are a hell of a lot of benches and machines that require free weights to be used, but didn't seem there was any where near enough free weight disks to go round even half of them?

Can anyone who goes there let me know if this is the case....

Mind you didn't lookm as if they need any more members it was mobbed !!!

I don't think there's a serious shortage of free weights, but since very few customers rack their weights they can be hard to find. Also, the place had become popular, it can get quite crowded Monday to Friday in the evening.

[wildpikey]

I went along to Fitness Thailand today for a look and it looked good, apart from we did notice that there are a hell of a lot of benches and machines that require free weights to be used, but didn't seem there was any where near enough free weight disks to go round even half of them?

Can anyone who goes there let me know if this is the case....

Mind you didn't lookm as if they need any more members it was mobbed !!!

I don't think there's a serious shortage of free weights, but since very few customers rack their weights they can be hard to find. Also, the place had become popular, it can get quite crowded Monday to Friday in the evening.

Thanks for that, I went to look at 20:00hrs, could you tell me what sort of time it gets busy? I take it that it's about 17:30 ish??

Because I also checked it at 14:00hrs and it was great, hardly anyone.

[Hillside4Phil]

I used the Gym at hillside 4 and for me it is everything I need

Before that went to WoW at Airport Plaza and after agreeing to one PT session just got sick of the sell sell sell and they did send on of the girls to make friends who I took out and she was giving me the story that they need to make sales targets or they ge tthe sack or get sent to another WoW for further training, it got all to much for me and in the end with a Thai friend of some status told thme if they contacted me again the Police would be called.

When I get back ti CM, if I stay at Hillside 4 will be there at the gym for sure

[uptheos]

I don't think there's a serious shortage of free weights, but since very few customers rack their weights they can be hard to find.

When I was there it surprised me how many people had the strength to take the weights off the rack in the first place........putting them back would have been a major task.

Oh well, as long as there are mirrors to look in to, who needs weights?

Edited June 12, 2012 by uptheos

[BlackArtemis]

I just recently paid for a 1 year membership at Fitness Thailand, my only complaint is that they only have 1 squat rack. Smith machines don't count IMHO.

[heybruce]

I went along to Fitness Thailand today for a look and it looked good, apart from we did notice that there are a hell of a lot of benches and machines that require free weights to be used, but didn't seem there was any where near enough free weight disks to go round even half of them?

Can anyone who goes there let me know if this is the case....

Mind you didn't lookm as if they need any more members it was mobbed !!!

I don't think there's a serious shortage of free weights, but since very few customers rack their weights they can be hard to find. Also, the place had become popular, it can get quite crowded Monday to Friday in the evening.

Thanks for that, I went to look at 20:00hrs, could you tell me what sort of time it gets busy? I take it that it's about 17:30 ish??

Because I also checked it at 14:00hrs and it was great, hardly anyone.

I don't know about morning or lunch time, but I assume it's very quiet before lunch. It's not perfectly predictable, but from Monday to Friday it's pretty quiet from 2:00 to 5:30 in the afternoon. People start trickling in around 4:30 but it's after 5:30 that it starts to really fill up, and stays that way until around 9:30. Even during the rush you can get in a workout, but often you will have to wait for some of the more popular equipment. The aerobic exercise machines in working order are the most difficult to use during the evening rush. Weekends aren't as busy, but even then usually there are more people in the evening than in the afternoon.

Edited June 12, 2012 by heybruce

[heybruce]

I don't think there's a serious shortage of free weights, but since very few customers rack their weights they can be hard to find.

When I was there it surprised me how many people had the strength to take the weights off the rack in the first place........putting them back would have been a major task.

Oh well, as long as there are mirrors to look in to, who needs weights?

For some of them it's part of the reason they go to the gym: They do their last lift with a loud grunt, drop the weights on the floor with a big clang, then walk away doing their best "Terminator Strut", checking the mirrors out of the corner of their eyes to make sure people are looking.

[lannarose]

Do Powerhouse Thailand offer short-term memberships?

[kast]

Yes, Powerhouse has both short-term and long-term memberships.

[angelbat]

I need a female-friendly gym on the *east* side of town. Mainly I need free weights and Smith rack; some machines such as leg press, leg extension, calf raise, pec/rear delt, cable crossover would be nice. Don't care about pool, sauna, group classes, etc.

I would appreciate any recent first-hand info about gyms (hotel or otherwise) in the Changklan / Night Bazaar and Watkate areas.

Also, I haven't seen the Sports Association Sports Club (on Tung Hotel Road) mentioned here. I would appreciate any first-hand info about that as well.

Thanks!

[heybruce]

This is kind of an old thread but it does have some useful information, so I decided to add an update.

I made an evening trip to Fitness Thailand yesterday for the first time since they implemented their reduced hours--closing at 9:00 p.m. instead of 10:00 p.m. on Monday through Friday. I anticipated that reducing hours during the busiest part of the day would have bad results, but they were worse than I expected. At 7:30 the entire exercise floor was crowded and the free weight area was chaotic; every piece of equipment was in use with people milling around waiting for something to come available so they could use it.

In the past I've described Fitness Thailand as a best value choice for a gym in Chiang Mai, meaning it was the least bad of the bad options available. I'll qualify that description, if you're looking for a place to do an evening weight work-out, look somewhere besides Fitness Thailand. It's still an ok place for an afternoon work-out, but I don't know how much longer that will last.

There is clearly a demand for a well equipped, well maintained gym in Chiang Mai, why is it that no one is willing or able to profitably satisfy this demand?

[Waffle]

I need a female-friendly gym on the *east* side of town. Mainly I need free weights and Smith rack; some machines such as leg press, leg extension, calf raise, pec/rear delt, cable crossover would be nice. Don't care about pool, sauna, group classes, etc.

I would appreciate any recent first-hand info about gyms (hotel or otherwise) in the Changklan / Night Bazaar and Watkate areas.

Also, I haven't seen the Sports Association Sports Club (on Tung Hotel Road) mentioned here. I would appreciate any first-hand info about that as well.

Thanks!

Have you tried the DuangTawan (Centara) gym, thats in your area and has everything you re looking for, 1200 baht for 1 month or 10,000 baht for 1 year,

they also have a swimming pool and suana.

Regards.

[Baloo22]

I have been going to Powerhouse Gym on Soi 6, Nimmanhaemin Road, for about ten months now and am very satisfied. Clean with good setup of free weights and machines. The shower/locker facilities are good also. Staff is polite and helpful and I have had no problems with any of the other patrons. When something breaks, they are on it right away and get it fixed.

I signed up for a "mid-day" plan that allows me to train there from 10:00 to 16:00. It was 9500baht for one year. Since I am retired and have no "pressing engagements" during the day, that plan suited me fine. I'm sure they have monthly plans that allow full access at all open hours also. You can just walk in and they will give you a tour of the place and answer any questions. I'd recommend that you just stop by for a visit.

[WarProfiteer]

Agreed that there is definitely demand for a quality gym in town without all the BS sales tactics...

I've been at Thai Fitness now for some time. I have tried going at all times of the day... in the morning it's manageable, not too busy but definitely a fair amount of people. Around 11-12 it starts to taper off. From 1pm onward, it's a ghost town. Then around 5 it picks up sharply. At 8pm, it is still as someone described it earlier... every bench occupied, with someone waiting in the wings for it. If you just use machines and cardio, you should be ok though.

Maintenance flat out sucks. It often feels like a "make the best of it" situation. The vast majority of the tv's dont work, about half the floor fans dont work, when a treadmill or cross-trainer go down it's down for at least a week or two, the floor is cracked everywhere, several machines dont have the pins any more, so you have to take a pin out of another machine nearby, the level of english is basic at best (as in "you want membership?"), the floor is mopped with black water... the list of undesirable things about the place is just ridiculous.

That said, there are some good things... the dumbells do go up to 100 pounds, class choice is quite good with spinning, yoga and multiple kinds of aerobics, there is a squat rack, there's enough free weights to go around (in the daytime), and the biggest thing for me personally is that they will do month-to-month memberships. No long contract or big fees required. And I've never been pushed at all about a personal trainer. There is even both steam and sauna downstairs in the locker room (I dont use either, but they're there).

I am thinking about switching to Golds though... mostly because of the maintenance issue. It just wears on you when the fees keep going up (started at 1200, now at 1500/mo), but you see zero improvement in the equipment- or even just the basic upkeep of existing equipment. The owner was in there the other day, marking tiles to be replaced and a few people asked him "why would you use ceramic tile for a gym floor? It breaks. Wouldnt it be smarrter to make a rubber floor everywhere?"... he just nodded and smiled as if to say "foolish foreigner, you dont understand... it is cheaper for me to buy tiles and let them break". Short term thinking, but hey, it's his gym... let him use perpetually breaking tile if that's what he wants to use.

I already know of at least one big downside to Gold's from my visit there some time ago... the dumbells stop at 75 pounds. As I recall, it's also a little more expensive. Still, I think I need a change of pace and right now the options are pretty limited if you actually make use of a lot of free weights.

Just my thoughts. As usual, your mileage may vary...

Edited March 6, 2013 by WarProfiteer

[Joop50]

Will there not be a new gym in one of those malls which will open soon?

[Waffle]

Agreed that there is definitely demand for a quality gym in town without all the BS sales tactics...

I've been at Thai Fitness now for some time. I have tried going at all times of the day... in the morning it's manageable, not too busy but definitely a fair amount of people. Around 11-12 it starts to taper off. From 1pm onward, it's a ghost town. Then around 5 it picks up sharply. At 8pm, it is still as someone described it earlier... every bench occupied, with someone waiting in the wings for it. If you just use machines and cardio, you should be ok though.

Maintenance flat out sucks. It often feels like a "make the best of it" situation. The vast majority of the tv's dont work, about half the floor fans dont work, when a treadmill or cross-trainer go down it's down for at least a week or two, the floor is cracked everywhere, several machines dont have the pins any more, so you have to take a pin out of another machine nearby, the level of english is basic at best (as in "you want membership?"), the floor is mopped with black water... the list of undesirable things about the place is just ridiculous.

That said, there are some good things... the dumbells do go up to 100 pounds, class choice is quite good with spinning, yoga and multiple kinds of aerobics, there is a squat rack, there's enough free weights to go around (in the daytime), and the biggest thing for me personally is that they will do month-to-month memberships. No long contract or big fees required. And I've never been pushed at all about a personal trainer. There is even both steam and sauna downstairs in the locker room (I dont use either, but they're there).

I am thinking about switching to Golds though... mostly because of the maintenance issue. It just wears on you when the fees keep going up (started at 1200, now at 1500/mo), but you see zero improvement in the equipment- or even just the basic upkeep of existing equipment. The owner was in there the other day, marking tiles to be replaced and a few people asked him "why would you use ceramic tile for a gym floor? It breaks. Wouldnt it be smarrter to make a rubber floor everywhere?"... he just nodded and smiled as if to say "foolish foreigner, you dont understand... it is cheaper for me to buy tiles and let them break". Short term thinking, but hey, it's his gym... let him use perpetually breaking tile if that's what he wants to use.

I already know of at least one big downside to Gold's from my visit there some time ago... the dumbells stop at 75 pounds. As I recall, it's also a little more expensive. Still, I think I need a change of pace and right now the options are pretty limited if you actually make use of a lot of free weights.

Just my thoughts. As usual, your mileage may vary...

Check out the city gym, its got squat, power rack, olympic plates and barbells, you add as much weight to the dumbells, lots of benches, etc...

Been over there the last 6 months and I wouldn't train anywhere else, membership is 500 baht a year and 30 baht pay as you go...

Forget the address but you can google city gym chiang mai and print off the map, thats how I found it.

Regards.

[heybruce]

Agreed that there is definitely demand for a quality gym in town without all the BS sales tactics...

I've been at Thai Fitness now for some time. I have tried going at all times of the day... in the morning it's manageable, not too busy but definitely a fair amount of people. Around 11-12 it starts to taper off. From 1pm onward, it's a ghost town. Then around 5 it picks up sharply. At 8pm, it is still as someone described it earlier... every bench occupied, with someone waiting in the wings for it. If you just use machines and cardio, you should be ok though.

Maintenance flat out sucks. It often feels like a "make the best of it" situation. The vast majority of the tv's dont work, about half the floor fans dont work, when a treadmill or cross-trainer go down it's down for at least a week or two, the floor is cracked everywhere, several machines dont have the pins any more, so you have to take a pin out of another machine nearby, the level of english is basic at best (as in "you want membership?"), the floor is mopped with black water... the list of undesirable things about the place is just ridiculous.

That said, there are some good things... the dumbells do go up to 100 pounds, class choice is quite good with spinning, yoga and multiple kinds of aerobics, there is a squat rack, there's enough free weights to go around (in the daytime), and the biggest thing for me personally is that they will do month-to-month memberships. No long contract or big fees required. And I've never been pushed at all about a personal trainer. There is even both steam and sauna downstairs in the locker room (I dont use either, but they're there).

I am thinking about switching to Golds though... mostly because of the maintenance issue. It just wears on you when the fees keep going up (started at 1200, now at 1500/mo), but you see zero improvement in the equipment- or even just the basic upkeep of existing equipment. The owner was in there the other day, marking tiles to be replaced and a few people asked him "why would you use ceramic tile for a gym floor? It breaks. Wouldnt it be smarrter to make a rubber floor everywhere?"... he just nodded and smiled as if to say "foolish foreigner, you dont understand... it is cheaper for me to buy tiles and let them break". Short term thinking, but hey, it's his gym... let him use perpetually breaking tile if that's what he wants to use.

I already know of at least one big downside to Gold's from my visit there some time ago... the dumbells stop at 75 pounds. As I recall, it's also a little more expensive. Still, I think I need a change of pace and right now the options are pretty limited if you actually make use of a lot of free weights.

Just my thoughts. As usual, your mileage may vary...

Is there a Gold's Gym somewhere in Chiang Mai?

[Waffle]

Agreed that there is definitely demand for a quality gym in town without all the BS sales tactics...

I've been at Thai Fitness now for some time. I have tried going at all times of the day... in the morning it's manageable, not too busy but definitely a fair amount of people. Around 11-12 it starts to taper off. From 1pm onward, it's a ghost town. Then around 5 it picks up sharply. At 8pm, it is still as someone described it earlier... every bench occupied, with someone waiting in the wings for it. If you just use machines and cardio, you should be ok though.

Maintenance flat out sucks. It often feels like a "make the best of it" situation. The vast majority of the tv's dont work, about half the floor fans dont work, when a treadmill or cross-trainer go down it's down for at least a week or two, the floor is cracked everywhere, several machines dont have the pins any more, so you have to take a pin out of another machine nearby, the level of english is basic at best (as in "you want membership?"), the floor is mopped with black water... the list of undesirable things about the place is just ridiculous.

That said, there are some good things... the dumbells do go up to 100 pounds, class choice is quite good with spinning, yoga and multiple kinds of aerobics, there is a squat rack, there's enough free weights to go around (in the daytime), and the biggest thing for me personally is that they will do month-to-month memberships. No long contract or big fees required. And I've never been pushed at all about a personal trainer. There is even both steam and sauna downstairs in the locker room (I dont use either, but they're there).

I am thinking about switching to Golds though... mostly because of the maintenance issue. It just wears on you when the fees keep going up (started at 1200, now at 1500/mo), but you see zero improvement in the equipment- or even just the basic upkeep of existing equipment. The owner was in there the other day, marking tiles to be replaced and a few people asked him "why would you use ceramic tile for a gym floor? It breaks. Wouldnt it be smarrter to make a rubber floor everywhere?"... he just nodded and smiled as if to say "foolish foreigner, you dont understand... it is cheaper for me to buy tiles and let them break". Short term thinking, but hey, it's his gym... let him use perpetually breaking tile if that's what he wants to use.

I already know of at least one big downside to Gold's from my visit there some time ago... the dumbells stop at 75 pounds. As I recall, it's also a little more expensive. Still, I think I need a change of pace and right now the options are pretty limited if you actually make use of a lot of free weights.

Just my thoughts. As usual, your mileage may vary...

Is there a Gold's Gym somewhere in Chiang Mai?

I think he might be talking about Powerhouse gym over on nimmanhemin rd?

I don't think theres a golds in CM

Edited March 6, 2013 by Waffle

[Hillside4Phil]

Fitness Thailand have got some brand new dumbbells in but the gym Etiquette is so poor on most occassions you may need a tracker dog to hunt them down, most people are so dam lazy to return any of the equipment to its right place

[in the sky]

Harris Gym, 6th floor in the hotel behind Kad Suan Keow. Small, privately owned, good equipment with use of hotel pool.

[Rancid]

Just read You are Your own Gym by a US Special Forces trainer. He makes a good physiological argument for not using weights at all, personally I usually end up injured when I do. Just started some of the evercises, amazing how using your own body weight can be so horendously difficult, free too, however admitedly no opportunity to pose your wrinkled and decrepid carcase in latex.

[tornado24]

Anyone knows something about centara gym? How is? Crowded? Clean? Cheers

[WarProfiteer]

Is there a Gold's Gym somewhere in Chiang Mai?

Sorry... I meant Powerhouse.

[WarProfiteer]

So I visited Golds... err, Powerhouse... haha... again.

Their choice of cardio equipment is quite good... Thai Fitness pretty much has old crappy treadmills, old crappy cross trainers, or spin bikes. That's it. In Powerhouse their stuff looks like new... and there's an upright bike, a recumbent bike (use this if you have back issues), a stair stepper, about 8 treadmills, and a few others that I've forgotten.

Their classroom upstairs is pretty small... looked pretty cramped for the class I witnessed. If you were just learning, you'd definitely bump into people if you stepped in the wrong direction. Conversely, the room at TF is pretty large and even the popular classes dont fill the space. They have a separate room downstairs just for the Yoga, which is as big as the entire room at Powerhouse.

Thai Fitness did get some new dumbells in, which has been nice. You actually know exactly how much weight you're using now. The previous ones were fairly un-marked and you kinda just went by feel- is this too heavy or not? So it's nice that they now have a new set of 20-50 pound dumbells, increasing by 5 pound increments. There is one problem however... if you need a 55 pound dumbell for something, too bad... after 50, they only increase by 10 pounds.

Now the main issue I think a lot of people will probably base their decision on... price. Powerhouse is literally twice the cost of Thai Fitness. A month with TF will cost 1500 baht... a month at Powerhouse is 3000. Only you can decide if it's worth it to have a much cleaner place with great maintenance and fairly new equipment all around. Seems a bit steep to me, but I would like to try it just for a month and see how I feel about it after actually working out there.

Edited March 13, 2013 by WarProfiteer

[Sicarius]

Anyone have any tips for a decent gym on the southside of town?

[slipperylobster]

Not the biggest, but certainly the best service/with infinity swimming pool. Last year I joined the gym at the 5 star Rattilana Hotel. Wow. Private Cable with headphones on each Running/Cycling machine. Not many free weights though...and a bit small. Beautiful and relaxing pool made up for that. They made me feel like I was a high paying guest. Beautiful wash room/great showers, towels, stuff for you hair (if you still have some), 5 star service. I paid 1800 a month but felt I was getting a good deal. My buddies/gal were shocked when they dropped me off at the front door. Nice Buffet at the Holiday Inn (across the river) neutralized all my gym time. I do not know if they raised the prices, but the gym is downstairs from the pool area. Quiet..Quiet place. No loud music/annoyances.

[hellodolly]

Anyone knows something about centara gym? How is? Crowded? Clean? Cheers

Been a while the crowd depended on the time of day. The maintenance was some thing you could tell them needed doing. Didn't help I never saw a problem with the free weights but there could be wait time on the equipment.It was a waste of time trying to talk to the trainers unless you were a good looking women. Never tried the saunas they looked OK to me the swimming pool is really nice. Went there for two years and never saw the hot tub in use.

Could be improved now if they brought in New Management. All most forgot they supplied you with two big towels.