2 weeks ago, I received a surprising SMS from True Fitness. A membership consultant, Robin, asked if I was interested in working-out at the True Fitness outlet at Vivocity.
In an older post, I previously mentioned how much I enjoyed the old Planet Fitness Vivocity. I was keen to see how the gym has changed so I jumped at the offer.
I went down to Vivocity last Friday on the 7th of August. I met Robin Halkett at 2pm. I must commend Robin on his personable and friendly demeanor. It was a welcome change from the usual ‘money-or-your-life’ hardsell attitude that some commercial gyms employ.
He gave me a walkthrough of the reorganized gym and showed me some of the new equipment. Compared to my last visit, I’d say that 30% of the strength training machines are new. Unfortunately, this outlet still lacks a preacher curl machine. The new machines are from LifeFitness.
Machine-wise, the biggest change is the treadmills. This outlet has treadmills with individual television screens. There’s also an Ipod dock. But what impressed me the most with these new treadmills is its ability to track your progress. Users can insert a thumbdrive into the USB outlet and it will keep track of your progress. This allows you to track and compare your progress across multiple visits.
The layout of the gym remains largely unchanged. The mini power-cage has been shifted to the weight section and some machines have been moved around, but the dedicated areas to cardio, free-weights, machines and classes remain unchanged.
I did chest and upper back work that day. I threw in some minor legwork in order to try one of the new machines. I had the best pectoral workout in months.
I went about my usual routine performing flat and inclined bench presses on a smith machine. But what really destroyed my pecs were the standard pectoral fly machine, and the modified pectoral flys I performed on this LifeFitness machine. I had the worse delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) on my pectorals in months. It was great.
Unfortunately, my upper-back work was not as productive. Even though this outlet has several machines that isolate the lats, it lacks a lat pull-down machine. I relied primarily on regular pull-ups (10,7,4,4,4), before finishing with individual lat pull downs. I find the ‘long bar’ lat pull-down machine to be superior. It’s easier to gauge the angle you’re pulling from when you can use the long bar as a point of reference (it should touch the top of your chest).
I also tried the new Hammer Strength V-squat machine. Personally, I’ve always preferred the natural motion of free-form squats. This machine did not change my mind.
My workout was from 2.30-4pm. At any point of time there were about 15 people exercising in the medium-sized gym. The ‘flow’ was excellent. I did not have to wait for any of my machines.
I hit the showers from 4-4.30pm. The showers are exactly the same – functional, clean and well-maintained. Showering at True a Fitness Vivocity remains the cleanest and most refreshing gym showers I’ve ever had. And that’s impressive when you consider how often I’ve exercised at the Raffles Town Club’s gym.
The showers still utilize a showerhead attached to a shower hose. The shower heads are adjustable and there’s hot water on demand. There’s nothing better than a relaxing, warm shower after a tough workout.
Among all the commercial gyms I’ve visited, the gym at Vivocity was my favorite. I’m glad that the new management hasn’t changed that. They kept everything I loved about Planet Fitness. Unfortunately, they did not rectify certain deficiencies in their variety of machines.
I find the variety of bicep machines to be lacking. They desperately need a dedicated preacher curl machine. I believe that they could also benefit from a traditional lat pull-down machine.
If they ever fix these problems, and if the price is right, I just may consider joining. But for now, True Fitness will have to remain Ninja-less.
