New Branding, New Year, New Review... With a new, simpler branding (they've changed from Blue to Red and employed thugenomics to KFC-erise their name from Fitness First to FF) and the deployment of a spiffy new parallax website, you get the idea that the Fitness First franchise is out to change their image... But why? Fitness First's are generally huge gyms. Their size has helped them all but wipe out the competition because they offer every machine under the sun. Times 50. Can't find a treadmill free at your gym? Come to ours, we've got 50 of them! Not content with 10 spin bikes to choose from? Come to ours, we've got 50 of them! Ever wanted to use the bench press? Come to ours, we've got ... errr... 2 of them! I've trained at half a dozen of these places and Hornsby actually offers one of the better incarnations of FF. I almost exclusively come here to do spin cycle. Whilst they managed to lose 3 of the best spin cycle instructors in Dwayne, and the 2 Andrews - they have retained Michael, whose managed to maintain the biggest class for a couple of years now, and they've also adopted raw talent in Anthony, a wiry cyclist whose class is an absolute beast to get through. Tim's back for the weekend warriors that want a heart attack too. My gripe with Fitness First is this. Despite obviously spending a squillion in rebranding themselves, they haven't managed to upgrade or maintain any of the equipment they have at the place. But wait Dan, we just stuck new bikes in there at the end of last year... and... we painted the place!!! So what they did was remove the solar system paint job on the walls and replace it with stark black. Wow. Awesome. Then they took out the older model of spin bikes (which are really good) and replace them with newer model bikes - So Dan, they put new bikes in, why the whinge? Well the bikes aren't new, they are the new model... (ahhh lightbulbs!) They are heavily used (you can see the rust), and the bikes themselves are atrocious. The newer model spin bikes are diabolical to setup, and they are so chunky they don't resemble a road bike at all... The whole point of spin cycle is that it is used as a training device for what road cycling would be like, minus the conditions. The fact that FF posted on their Facebook that they had obtained new bikes, was very misleading, since most people would consider "new" to mean they've replaced the used bikes, with brand new bikes (Oh, well). The rest of the gym has pretty much stayed the same. They do offer a few more group classes now, which appear to be pretty successful, however, they still have a gigantic cardio section with a billion treadmills and silly bikes, that are barely used, whilst the free weights section is crammed to the max every day. The very top of the cardio section has a large space with a row of bikes and ellipticals that are kind of redundant. If they removed those and used that section for the cable machines and a couple of extra benches for free weights, they'd probably find that they could gain some extra memberships by having that availability. On to maintenance, they really need to look at this. I understand that they probably work on a very low cost model for gyms and in order to maximise profits they need to keep their payroll light. The issue here is that the equipment is what drives their business. If the equipment sux, then people via word of mouth, kill the potential for them to gain new business. If they kept their equipment well maintained, and their gym clean, I'd be more inclined to tell people how great it is, and in turn I became a business generator for them (as many of their patrons would). They were right to downsize managers and senior staff across all the Fitness Firsts. That expense doesn't provide any value. The people in those roles wander around the gym, doing very little, and supervising staff who are answering phones... They removed the entry barriers, and placed a "swipe yourself in" card reader next to the front desk, so they've even taken that responsibility away from staff... They are right to do so. They need less staff running the gym and more staff maintaining and cleaning equipment. read more

Fitness First Hornsby - Cycle station, Fitness First Hornsby - Active Life Near Me - Hornsby, NSW

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This is a huge gym, built into the south end of the Hornsby Westfield. I go there on the weekends, mostly. I have never seen more then a third of the treadmills and steppers in use at any one time. There is a surplus. The resistance machines are plentiful, and you shouldn't have any trouble getting on the machine of your choice to complete your workout without hanging around. The free weights area is the most cramped, despite it being the most popular area (by numbers) in the gym. In this whole gym with the apparent floor area of a football field, there is only one (count it) incline bench and two flat benches for bench press. They're usually all in use. I know this is a grumble about FF fit out, so I'll move on. The gym is clean, modern, friendly and weights aside, has plenty of room for punters. It has the usual FF problem of people leaving newspapers, drink bottles and other rubbish in the male changing rooms, but I guess that's a function of the people who go there. It's a shame though, because it really undermines the whole 'clean, friendly' thing when you find protein powder all over the basin tops. As long as you're prepared to go along with the whole FF franchise vision and not expect anything else (and plenty are), the Hornsby gym is as good as any FF gym I've visited. read more

Fitness First Hornsby - Almost Empty - Active Life Near Me - Hornsby, NSW

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