FitRepublik Fitness Center

The gym is slightly north of being mediocre with regard to gym equipment. There is a bumper-plate area with barbells and such (4-5 stations) with large outward looking windows but no mirrors, a central area populated by various machines and cable stations, with an admittedly good selection of about a dozen different handles for those, a spin studio (although I have no proof if it exists, see below) and an upstairs cardio section which I did not visit. It has a hack squat, and that’s a full star on the review, as far as I’m concerned.
The whole place feels like I’m back in kindergarten, where I once again must ask the teacher if I may visit the toilet or go literally anywhere inside. Changing rooms and spin studio are walled off with access barriers; the former would just open when you get to it — why even have barriers? — but the latter remained a mystery whether it exists at all because the doors remained tightly shut and the cleaning staff would not even let me peek in there. I didn’t even attempt to enter the CrossFit area; it seemingly had no access from the “pleb” gym. It was surrounded by glass walls, however, supposedly for a good view of “snap city”.
Very interesting access control approach for a place whose motto is “Power to the people”.
The whole place felt quite pretentious for a gym. The cleaning staff wouldn’t even let me wipe down my own equipment with the provided wet wipes, insisting I call them every time. I suspect the gym manager is cracking a major whip on these people. They did their job meticulously, including putting plates away.
I did not interact with many patrons, however those with whom I did felt like the types of people who post about “their journey in fitness” on Instagram.
The front desk people were great.
Entrance fee for a non-member was 94.50 AED.
The staff asked me to leave my car keys or my ID in return for the wristband; I found that to be a poor exchange rate.

I’d give this 3.5 stars if I could but since I can’t, here’s a recap:
– A star for the staff, they were on point.
– A star for the hack squat. Every gym should have one.
– A star for the rest of the equipment and the overall condition of the gym, which was good.
– Minus one star for trying to lecture patrons how to wash their hands with posters and all the other pretentious stuff, like the neon lighting, the impractical seating arrangement in the changing rooms, to mention a couple.
– Minus one star for the insane level of access control. This is not a data centre, I don’t think? What’s next, fingerprinting and iris recognition?

A note to the social media intern or gym manager or any other gym staff who may potentially read this: Nobody picks a gym based on the neon lighting or interior design. Those are useful for the marketing materials and that’s it. You’d do well to include photos of the gym area with an overview of the equipment. The extent to which interior design is important to a patron is mirror positioning and top-down white-coloured lighting.

False advertising. Very misleading info on website – it says monthly memberships start at 350 (see screenshot), so you go there to sign up and it turns out there are terms and conditions, and this and that, and it’s actually about 500. That quite the difference, no thank you.
I thought these kind of “tricks” have been outgrown, however here’s a great example of a business who can’t simply state the cost of what they offer so they have to resort to misleading practices in hope to make profit. Shame on them. Shame for a great place like Dubai. I’d highly recommend spending your money elsewhere.

I give 5 stars however i have few comments:
– Reception is good
– Communication from sales team can be challenging some of them not all
– Space: Excellent
– Services: not providing towels is a challenge as i take shower there
– Access Doors: The most annoying thing for me .. unlimited access even to go to the bathrooms and good luck if bracelet for some reason decided to not work .. like on every step you walk there will be an access door 🙁

Trying to call for booking and was put on hold for 10 minutes and they didn’t pickup the call at all

It was ok here until they started to set A/C for 24 degrees C – it become unbearable hot while exercising. I have no idea why. To reduce electricity cost?