what a great place, the staff is quite nice and workouts are top notch, the price is what you would…read moreexpect for a quality 1 on 1 workout. the number 1 concern you need to remember is that if you are paying all this money, you better stick to your visits or you're just wasting time.

Mike is a great trainer--demonstrates, explains goal of exercise, and gives feedback. He takes…read morenotes and makes sure the exercises are progressive.

If you've got a knee brace collection and a favorite brand of Bengay, boy do I have the gym for…read moreyou! This place is basically the Avengers headquarters for the 50+ crowd. You won't find a single person under that age unless they wandered in looking for their grandparents. The classes? Elite. Like, 'OrangeTheory who?' Honestly, they should take notes--these folks are out here rewriting the fitness manual with sciatica. And the owner? I'm not saying he's related to Richard Simmons, but if the shorts get any shorter and the energy any higher, we might need to call Ancestry.com. Sparkles optional, enthusiasm mandatory.

Do you hate working out and have absolutely no motivation to ever do it on your own, despite…read moreknowing you really should? Then join Cardio High! They only host classes led by a trainer so you can just come, turn off your brain, go hard for an hour, and leave feeling proud that you are improving your health and getting into the best shape of your life. The classes only allow a maximum of 8 clients so everyone receives lots of personal attention from the trainer. Each trainer is very knowledgeable and will make sure you have good form handling the dumbbells during strength training. You can wear a Polar heart rate monitor and keep an eye on the big TV mounted on the wall that shows everyone's heart rates and calories burned. Pushing yourself to get as much yellow and red zone as you can will build endurance and burn more calories. If you have an injury, come to one of Mark's classes where he will guide you through physical therapy exercises that can strengthen shoulders, knees, elbows, etc.

Peter Helmes has been my wonderful trainer for 6 years now, and he's kept me loose, moving, and…read moreinjury free all this time. Workouts are varied, interesting, and fun. They draw on his skills in martial arts, sports, weight training, massage and massage gun use, and his knowledge of body mechanics, what happens as we age and tighten, and how to loosen and get long unused tight muscles to work and move properly again. I am now able to do my many physical activities and hobbies without difficulty or injury. He is also a very nice, responsible, reliable person. I highly recommend Peter!

If you are a beginner or you are experienced, Peter is definitely great. He is probably one of the…read moreonly trainers I've worked with. I HATE exercising, but he always kept it fun. You def get the one on one attention, so no cheating!! He also gives great tips to do at home.

I have to admit that I was a little scared about going here with some co-workers, mostly because I…read moredidn't know what to expect. I was picturing a gym full of meat heads I guess, which is not my scene at all. This place is further from that picture than you could ever get. The atmosphere of the place is actually very chill/relaxing. It's a big open space with tons of interesting looking equipment. Josh is probably the most friendly and welcoming guy you could ever meet. We even talked running a bit, and he is full of helpful information! The class we took, Sweat Shop, was not at all what I was expecting. Josh makes the workout not only interesting, but fun and I got to use some of that interesting looking equipment. I had never used kettleballs or weighted bats (not sure what they are really called) before! I left a little sweaty, feeling like I had a very good workout, and I had fun on top of it. I'm a little sore the day after, which my body knows it means I had a great workout that was a full body workout! It's way better than the typical gym circut where you just go from dull machine to dull machine. I will defintely be coming back for more classes at Gymnasium. I'm paticularly interested in Yogabells and the fencing classes.

It's a few minutes before my first class and I am nervous. I hear a cool 80's song as I open the…read moredoor. Immediately I am greeted by the owner, Josh Conway. I see him peering over a desk flanked by tall plants, smiling at me. It looks like he is briefing one of his coaches for the upcoming class. I take off my shoes, briefly speak with him and then proceed to the changing room. I noticed behind him was a lighted library of books ranging from Chinese breathing techniques to the history of European sword fighting. What a nice collection of varied interests I thought. As I grab a cup of water from the bubbler Josh informs me that although optional, I needn't to keep my socks on for the workout --part of the strength training involves training the feet, naturally. As I stretch out before class I see an older couple finishing up their kettle bell routine. They chalk up their personal best on one of the chalkboards on the wall. I see that one chalkboard is filled with quotations, comments and words of encouragement written by various members. Another board describes what 'theme' it is for the day. 'Stamina.' Today's theme is stamina I thought. Yesterday was 'Power.' Tomorrow is 'Strength.' The couple comes over and says hello to me and we introduce ourselves. This is pretty cool I thought. As I look around I see that Gymnasium is a nicely designed, large two section studio with cozy lighting, wooden floors, floor to ceiling mirrors along one wall and a huge Gymnasium logo emblazoned against another. Thick and heavy ropes hang from the ceiling, next to a row of pull-up bars. There are many tires stacked like a wall in one corner. A large variety of kettlebells and Indian Clubs line the back wall. There are also hurdles, metal stands, rope, straps, foam bricks, sandbags, fitness ladders, a peg climb and many other tools for circuit use. Intimidated, but curious. A coach comes over to me, extends a hand and says hello to me. 'Hello, my name is Marlon" I reply. 'My first day here.' Several more members fill the room as the clock winds to 5pm. The coach instructs us to get into a circle. The mild chatter quiets down as the coach-led group begins with a twisting and breathing exercise as 'Simple Minds' softly gets us into the mood over the gym's sound system. It's been a hair over two months since I've joined Gymnasium. I clocked in at 228 pounds the day I signed up. Today I am 202 pounds. I can't believe it. Twice the results, half the time. At first I was skeptical because there weren't any 45 pound plates, barbells and ellipticals which are usual staple found at regular gyms. At the risk of sounding cliché, this isn't a regular gym. After a few workouts I found myself crawling on all fours, doing planks, swinging kettlebells, hurling sandbags and performing an endless variety of floor work. The exercises are always changing weekly too. No chance for my muscles to become accustomed to anything. What is key, is that since the classes are small you get a lot of attention from the coach. There are always two or three alternatives to each type of exercise. An experienced member might perform a more difficult version of a pushup exercise while a new member might do them inclined along a wall. Gymnasium recognizes that each person is different. Another thing which is cool is that the community at Gymnasium is very fun, social and lively. There are tables and couches to sit and read from the library, sip tea or coffee which Gymnasium provides, or just to hang out. Josh organizes many other fun events such as evening runs, a variety of seminars, kettlebell challenges and a 60 Day Food Challenge in which I am currently involved. There is a great deal of personalization and interaction which is seldom if ever found at other gyms. I am simply flabbergasted as to why I don't see a lot more people doing natural movement exercises like the kind found at Gymnasium. However, I do know that this style of training is increasing in popularity. Also this type of training isn't as 'sexy' as pushing 10 pound plates on a machine. But for the record, given by my results I would never step back into a 'regular' gym--not if being strong and balanced, moving optimally and losing weight was my goal. 2/25/13 Sincerely, Marlon V

I've dropped in a few times over the years just to see how the Box is evolving, as I also do with…read moreother local Crossfits, just to compare them all over time. These are just my observations of the current experience. 1. Rusted/Old Bars - Most of the lifting bars (Men/Women) are in bad shape. Some have rust on them. I've been to many places that take care of their bars and lots of the time have all the same brand. There are numerous brands of bars in various levels of disrepair. 2. Rowers in Disrepair - They have a limited number of rowers (5?) of which are in really bad condition. One didn't register me rowing while another's chain was loose in the chamber with no tension, essentially not a functioning rower. 3. Assault Bikes in Disrepair - They also have limited Assault Bikes that are also in various levels of disrepair from broken foot pedals to unmaintained chains which is evident when pedaling. 4. Dirty/Separated Floor Tiles - The floor doesn't seem to have been cleaned in a long time, there were patches of mold in the area nearest the kettlebells. There was significant dirt in a lot of places as well as old tape for marking lines. The floor tiles have significantly come apart in many places. The widest I noticed was enough to place my hand inside and touch the concrete below. 5. Slated/Uneven Floor - The floor is uneven nearest the two side bay doors which has about 4 workout spots. So uneven that when I put my barbell down, the barbell rolled away from me pretty fast. 6. Filthy Bathrooms - Has to have the filthiest bathrooms of any CrossFit that I've visited and I've been to a lot! There were remnants of previous explosive visits to the toilet evident in the toilet and outside of it. 7. Unfriendly Coach - I went to a morning class and didn't receive the friendliest welcome. The Coach seemed as if they couldn't be bothered with me. This Coach teaches the early morning class at 5:30am. 8. Bad Wallballs - They are the cheap wallballs in which a lot of them have sand-like debris that falls out of them when you use them which gets in your eyes. Most are weight lopsided meaning that the weight isn't evenly distributed, common in the cheaper wallballs. 9. Bloody/Dirty Tapped Rigs - Some of the rigs have tape for a better grip. The tape grips have dried blood soaked into them. All were extremely dirty and hadn't been re-tapped in who knows how long. 10. Dirty Mats - The Box has the three-section folding mats as well as some larger black foam mats to lay out for HSPUs, for example, and they were all dirty. Didn't seem like they had been cleaned in a while. 11. Dumb Bells/Rubber Plates Broken - A lot of dumb bell heads are loose or the rubber coating is coming off due to wear and tear. Many of the rubber plates are in poor condition from the center metal ring being loose or the plate itself just being in poor condition or both. 12. Limited Class Times - There's a 5:30am, 9:30am, 12:30pm, 4:30 and 6:30am. You're out of luck if you want more flexibility for your schedule. Many of the area CrossFits have a more convenient morning class offering. Overall, I wouldn't recommend this Box. I've visited all the ones surrounding this one in the area and would recommend any of them over this Box. For instance, CrossFit Tilt and CrossFit City Line have state-of-the-art facilities with dedicated coaches. Everything is fairly clean and the Coaches are super friendly/experienced. The Drop-In fees are comparable and the entire communities at both are fantastic. The owners are all experienced CrossFitters that have made it to high-level competitions. They actually plan events together outside the Box frequently. There is a lot of parking at both places and they have doors to enter the facility. Oh, forgot to mention that CrossFit Newton doesn't have a dedicated front door, they have a bay door which you have to open and close in the colder weather. I also took some time and talked with some of the other members. There's a lot of drama and clicks in this Box. I will say that a lot of the members are fairly nice and pleasant. Most go because it's really close to them or because they are used to it.

Crossfit Newton is one of the best communities that I have ever been a part of. This gym has such a…read moregreat environment and the workouts are great! The coaching is fantastic and the people are even better. Everyone is so welcoming and the workouts over the past few years have put me in the best shape of my life. If you are looking to try something new but are a bit intimidated, don't be! This place is fantastic and I would reccomend it to anyone who is thinking of trying it out.

I joined about 21 years ago when it was in Waltham. I quit at one point as one night a dude…read morerefused to leave the machine he was texting on. I was so mad I had to quit. Since I got back in about 3 years after the pandemic the Newton location is quite a different crowd now. Having limited parking has culled the herd. It's not quite the bargain it used to be. I get the top level membership as I need to do the yoga. The yoga classes could be expanded for sure to more classes and more difficult levels. Parking is the main bane of this gym. in warm weather months I try to bike over.

Love the gym and the cheap monthly fee. However they have not had air conditioning upstairs in the…read moreweight room for going on a month + and we are often working out in 92+ degree rooms.

Boston Underground Strength Training is a godsend in the sports fitness community. I spoke with…read moreAngel on the phone to discuss my goals, recovering from a multi-year shoulder injury and getting back onto the path to powerlifting, and we set up an in-person consultation. The consultation was quick and thorough and we set up a plan of action to get me back in shape to lift heavy again. It took a while but trusting Angel and the other trainers here was the best thing I have ever done. I want to say it took about 8 months of recovery based training with the semi-private training group but I no longer have the chronic shoulder pain that I first walked in with. Since coming to Boston Underground Strength Training and going through the recovery training I have competed in three powerlifting meets and have been performing better than I could ever imagined thanks to the excellent programming and coaching provided here. Without Boston Underground I would never have been able to recover from my shoulder injury and probably would have had to give up on my favorite hobby. I wish I could rate this higher than 5/5. -Kyle Campofiore

Tried calling them a few times. But every time I spoke to someone they said I would get a call back…read morefrom Angel who is the owner. It's been over 2 month and I haven't heard from anyone. So much for their stellar five-star reviews. Psh! Update: The fact that the owner was so quick to call my review 'petty' when he didn't return my calls for months goes to show the line he's ready to walk just for the sake of maintaining a false reputation on yelp. It also speaks volumes of how mindful he is of other's time. We all come from a different place in our respective lives Mr Owner and all I expected was an acknowledgement. P.S: Don't assume people are stupid enough to tell the different between a genuine apology and a snarky comment. I hope have a fabulous day!

Michael is so great! Super professional and friendly. Meets you where you are. It's a very woman…read morefriendly place. It's catered to all ages and abilities. The schedule is flexible and accessible. I highly recommend!

The best place to learn to lift and get strong!!! Unlike any other gym in the area. The coaches are…read moreextremely knowledgeable, professional and encouraging - they will teach you the basic barbell lifts properly and set you up for a lifetime of safe strength training. Although the equipment is top notch - I've never seen so many squat racks and barbells in a gym before - what makes this place truly exceptional is it's staff. They will get you stronger, I have been here for over two months and seen the numbers on my squat, deadlift, bench and press nearly double. I highly recommend this place to anyone of any age who is looking to improve their strength, health and well-being.

The staff is knowledgeable, skillful, and attentive. The small yet well-equipped studio has a very…read morefriendly supportive atmosphere. I am definitely making progress and feel like I am in good hands.

Brielle is just wonderful on River Street in Waltham. She understands the body and how it works and…read morewhat it needs. She has brought me forward tremendously.