Anyone tried these gyms? Looks like there are 5 in Taipei. Wondering rates or entrance fees?
Can visitors pay-as-you-go, pay by month or is yearly membership required?
Maybe itās time you go check it out.
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You pay monthly. In return you get a wireless fob that unlocks the door when its scanned. AF gyms are open 24/7/365. In the US they seem to succeed well if located in strip malls with strong anchor merchants.
AF is a franchise business. The model is the same worldwide. The downside is that AF gyms are usually small and not well equipped with free weights. For example, they may not have a dedicated squat rack, offering something like a pos Smith machine instead.
In the US the franchisee literally shops for his gymās equipment from a catalog of equipment that AF has worked out deals for; s/he then signs a lease on the equipment they choose to offer. How often the equipment is updated is up to the lease agreement the owner has signed with AF. The result is that AF usually has top-notch machine crap (treadmills, stationary bikes) the large footprint of which has taken over most of the space that could have been devoted to free weights instead, space that is already limited.
So if you like machines youāll probably be happy with AF. If youāre a lifter you probably wonāt, which is a shame because 24/7 is a great gym feature.
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I have a gym now, just curious. Hoping someone here will fill me in 
Great info thanks. The pictures look like itās mostly machines and treadmills. I may give it a try for a month.
Tell me what you intend to do, ie what your requirements like.
which branch you will go the most.
And I believe itās 1600 per month for a year, if I recall it right when I was discussing with the membership people.
So they require annual yearly membership contract?
Right now Iām just into trying different gyms. Iāve already been a member of World Gym and another that required a membership contract. Both cheated me.
Iām looking central Taipei for mostly free weights and/or some aerobics type classes at places that donāt require membership or contract past one month and pay as you go is better.
They do pay as you go. But since you donāt have a keyfob, you have to pay for that. Unlessā¦
you can give them a call and ask them if you know someone who has a keyfob, can they use that to activate and you donāt have to pay for it? If so, you can grab mine.
I paid NTD2688 for just one month (for the month of December last year). Not sure if this is still the price.
If you are doing aerobic class type - then Anytime Fitness is okay for you. If you have some other more requirements, ie specific equipmentā¦ I donāt recommend it lol
BTW - signing up for one month - you cannot use other AF gym except for your mother gym. They did not clarify this to me.
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Do not goto the Xinyi branch of Anytime fitness. The manager is a liar and rude. The gym is pretty useless as well and not particularly cheap. Fitness Factory is a much much better gym in Xinyi, especially if you want free weights.
A new gym will open next to Xinyi Anhe on Friday 25th. Its only 600 NTD per month and no contract. I had a look and they were still getting ready, but had free weights, machines and cardio stuff https://www.facebook.com/XareFit/posts_to_page/
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First thing you should ask when you walk into a gym is their sanitation SOP. If they canāt tell you or hesitate. Walk the hell out.
Is this the Xinyi Anhe? I actually prefer this gym over Xihu. This is also newly open. If the barometer is that Xinyi Anhe is ābadā, then donāt go to Xihu. lol. They donāt even have a straight bar for cables. One Smith Machine. One (multipurpose) Squat Rack.
I switched to Fitness Factory now and yes, I have to agree that FF of Xinyi is very good. However, it appears that OP @tango42 prefers aerobic classes, and I think TrueFitness do more of this, right?
I almost joined WG, but decided not to after seeing FF Xinyi.
I recommend the OP waiting till Friday until Xare fitness opens. The basic rate is 600 NTD and then you pay additionally for classes on a PAYG basis. There is no contract and the gym looks nice.
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World Gym on Xinyi Fushing used to have black mold growing in ceiling of the showers. We asked them about it and they said we donāt use cleaner for the showers because itās bad for the environment.
They just didnāt want to spend the money.
I donāt need an aerobics class, but an aerobic type class could be anything like Rumba, boxing, whatever. Looks like Fitness Factory has some variety of these.
Iāll try it.
World Gym cheating me because they didnāt tell me I need to send in NT$1000 every year on my lifetime membership. I went in one time and they wouldnāt let me enter or pay it. They said since I didnāt send it in by a certain date, I couldnāt pay it or catch it up or anything.
Alexander Gym accepted my 1 year membership and then they shut down 3 weeks later and the owner ran away to China.
Thereās a new gym called dynasty. Itās nice.
Honestly, not a good idea to get a lifetime membership. Ever. A one year contract is okay, and you can get out if you want to, but you might get penalize. A lifetime membership does not guarantee anything. You can be moved somewhere where the gym does not exist, and you are screwed - or they closed down like Alexander Gym. Go with a one year contract - and pay monthly. Thatās it. If they close down or run away, then you lose just the initiation fee or whatever the small amount.
I feel that. My gym opened late on New Yearās Eve. I peered in, no lights, nobody there, no signs explaining things, deserted. I thought āoh boy, here we go again.ā Iāve been through gym closings three times in the US and I never recovered a dime.
Guy showed up about ten minutes later. Heād just overslept. Whew.