Fitness4Less

Fantastic experience: I joined Fitness for Less a couple of months ago. I am really enjoying it. The staff are friendly and there is always equipment available to use

Negative experience: Ok, honest review after being a member for quite a while. Overall, this gym is really bad, equipment is old and full of rust, patched up everywhere to cover the broken pads and seats. Mens toilet absolutely stinks, they are using this ridiculous waterless urinals which are supposed to be odour free, but they almost make you puke with the smell, it's a nightmare to enter the toilet. Showers are dirty, ceilings are covered in mold, steam room stinks most of the time, most likely it's some mold in there as well. Staff are just on their phones the whole time they are on the reception desk and they do not even look up most of the times, they are useless and only care about their private clients. £40 per month is way to much for what they are offering, I would not reccomend this gym to anyone.

Positive experience: Been a member for 6 months and it’s a great place to work out I wish the equipment was updated and the hot would return as it was a great way to rest muscles and I also wish the men’s swim shorts dryer was fixed and working but otherwise I will continue to be a member for the foreseeable future

Fantastic experience: Good value for money! I have been a member for around 2 years now, always friendly staff and clean equipment. Steam sauna and pool. What elce can you ask for.

Positive experience: Good gym but equipment is quite old needs an upgrade

Fantastic experience: Absolutely brilliant staff helpful and polite, nice clean gym with lots of space and a equipment. Clean pool and changing rooms would recommend

Positive experience: Great gym but can someone please tell that idiot with the tats and baseball cap to stop screaming everytime he does a rep!

Fantastic experience: Very spacious gym with loads of cardio equipment, good selection of free weights and cable machines.

Fantastic experience: Great gym with friendly and knowledgeable staff, great equipment for both cardio and weight training Pool and sauna Great value for money

Positive experience: If you're looking for somewhere to just "go to the gym" this is it. I've been a member of many gyms, including David Lloyd, but here you just get to go and work out. The staff are friendly, people actually smile and talk to each other and the facilities whilst not perfect, are more than adequate, plus they've just replaced a lot of the equipment they have. Join and you won't regret it.

Negative experience: Needs a good clean, sauna always breaking! Steam room has office tiles as the ceiling and are all moulding! disgusting

Positive experience: I was a member for almost two years and I left in the summer. So I hope this review is somewhat insightful and useful for when thinking of joining a gym in the area. There are four main areas I feel are quite important to critique on a gym. Which are: staff, facilities, cleanliness and its level of business. All of which is taking into account of its membership price ( from £38 per month). The staff are generally nice and friendly. I had no problems with them. I did find it slightly unprofessional that some of their staff are just on their phones the whole time they are on the reception desk and therefore not ready to be attentive. They do not even look up sometimes? I felt they have a good range of equipment. Cardio to weights ratio. The gym does have a swimming pool, sauna, steam room, chaining rooms with lockers and showers. All of which are fine but for almost £40 a month, I would expect more. A larger majority of the equipment and machines were fairly old. More budget friendly gyms nearby have even more modern equipment and machines. The level of cleanliness is good in the gym floors but the showers smelt awful and the other facilities were not much better in terms of cleanliness and smell. As a result, I used the other facilities other than the gym floor a handful of times. Now finally its level of business is pretty much its biggest pro and one of the main reasons I stayed for as long as I did. During most of the time it’s open, it is really quiet and enjoyable. There was little to no waiting time between different exercises. So it saved me a lot time, I could get a good workout at good amount of time! Overall, Fitness4Less in Colchester does have some good things to it but I do not believe it is maximising its potential. I feel with a little bit of love (investment to refurbishment) it can be an awesome gym. If it was cheaper, I would give it higher ratings as the price should reflect exceptions. Currently, I personally do not believe it justifies £40 a month.

Fantastic experience: My go to place. All the amenities you need. Katie at the front desk is very cheerful and place is kept tidy.

Fantastic experience: First time..impressions: plenty of equipment, clean, reception welcoming, secure. It has something other gyms don't and, that is a private space for ladies who prefer not to train in open area...I would recommend

Negative experience: Staff are very helpful and polite but the swimming pool area is in desperate need of an update and revamp

Negative experience: I went to this gym when I was 16 years old they just got new equipment 1 month ago I'm now 37

Fantastic experience: Visited the gym to see what it was like. All looks great. Very clean and well laid out. The staff were very friendly.

Positive experience: I have been a member for a couple of years now but can't get over how poorly this gym uses their ample space. There is a women's only gym (really?? in this day and age??) which has some cardio machines and a few Barbie weights and is never really used, while women who want to train seriously share a small main free weights area with the guys. Why not just create a proper big free weigts area? One more set of all dumbbells, a landmine, barbells ... because there is a lack of Olympic barbells for deadlifts - you basically have to take one off a rack which then becomes unusable for others. There is a dank area with a vast array of old machines, half of them some form of chest press, and rarely used, but only one lat pulldown. There are pluses to this gym but my heart bleeds a little over what it could be ...

Positive experience: I think it is only fair to dive them 3 stars. I would have given them more, but here are my reasons and I think I am a bit generous here. Everybody around there (from the staff point of view) is oriented towards gaining more private customers, chasing them and trying to get more numbers. They way they treat the private customers, makes you feel like you are not important, all their undivided attention is focused only on the private customers, especially when the trainer is on their shift, when they should be working for the gym, they are working with their private customers. The other thing that it is really worrying and disturbing is the cleanliness level in the men's changing room and especially on the showers. It stinks so bad, I had the chance to come on an evening and then the following morning. The level of smell, you cannot possibly imagine. I wish they would clean the showers every evening, because of the number of clients, it is normal that they get this dirty and smelly. But you need to clean them up every day, it is not normal for the showers to be cleaned once/ week.

Fantastic experience: Good gym gets a little busy at times

Positive experience: Great gym. Equipment everything needed. Only fault is no jacuzzi or water fountain near sauna. All staff and PTs very helpful and friendly. Glad I joined!

Fantastic experience: I love this gym I've been coming here for 9 months now and have lost a stone .....this place is value for money in my opinion whit a swimming pool and free classes every day for only £40 a montg. They have all the gym equipment you need with cleaning stations all over free WiFi showers hairdryers saunas and steam rooms......and the best training staff as far as im concerned they're really helpful and professional......simply the best 5 stars

Positive experience: Excellent value well equipped gym.

Positive experience: Good gym if training in the day/quiet. Evenings now heaving and can't get on anything, more hammer strength/resistance machines would be good as there's plenty of space for it.

Fantastic experience: A cool place

Fantastic experience: In one word: SUPER

Fantastic experience: Visited the gym to see what it was like. All looks great. Very clean and well laid out. The staff were very friendly. Stopped for a coffee which was excellent and served with a smile which was very nice.

Fantastic experience: Cool place with adequate equipments. Took my husband there and he loved it. Again, the receptionist or customer service personnel who attended to us is a lovely person. Awesome place.

Fantastic experience: Easy sign up online / great value / no stories or excuses - super straightforward. All my Qs were already covered in the FAQ. First visit this morning - super welcome from Heidi & Joe - although Joe tried to trip me straight up with the offer of a CafeLatte & a Toastie. I used two machines and the pool already - all good - looking forward to frequent visits in 2023. Great job F4L - Colchester. Thanks. JB

Fantastic experience: Good value gym with frequent discounts for seasonal events and no joining fees, so if joining look out for deals like those

Fantastic experience: Great environment and good prices

Positive experience: Very good and staff very friendly

Fantastic experience: Great gym

Fantastic experience: I am so impressed with the warmth and friendliness of this gym. Lovely team, good classes, friendly members, good facilities

Fantastic experience: Great equipment, friendly staff and a good price. Classes are included in membership & there’s lots of parking.

Positive experience: Good gym

Positive experience: Always friendly, clean with great pool.

Fantastic experience: Re joined after about 15 year's. Nice friendly crowd

Negative experience: Gym is not bad ..but there are a lot of cheaper gyms in Colchester which are just as good even better..

Fantastic experience: Good gym offers what I want for my membership

Fantastic experience: Joined this gym a month ago and I am seriously impressed. Equipment, staff and cleanliness levels seem extremely good

Fantastic experience: Joined gym in 2018 .Have just joined again had 2 1/2 yr break due to knee injury and covid . Prefer classes some new me, some have gone but still enjoy my time at the gym . Instructors are friendly and so are staff . Have made some new friends. Disinfectant sprays and paper towels all around the gym and seems like everyone uses to clean equipment after use. Feel safe in this environment. Would recommend They have just added a coffee shop with health snacks great idea well done !!!! Just an update. New equipment has been added to the gym and new classes to the timetable. They have a large car park too which I didn't mention before. Still a great gym !!!!

Fantastic experience: Superb.

Positive experience: A bit out the way

Fantastic experience: Great Value Gym with a nice pool and friendly , helpful staff

Fantastic experience: Such a good gym. Well worth the money gym, swim and shower what more could you want? And so much more on offer.

Positive experience: Not over crowded, equipment seems to be nicely spaced and there are cleaning products everywhere to keep people safe.

Fantastic experience: Excellent gym not to busy and can always use equipment without a wait

Fantastic experience: Very helpful staff, very clean, lots of weights machines.

Positive experience: Love it here friendly team. Welcoming and reassuring atmosphere. Clean changing rooms. Positive experience everytime.

Negative experience: Since the lockdown, a lot of the equipment has been removed, most of which I use for my tailored workout. Workers refused to relocate some equipment such as the hex-bar as "it's a trip hazard" and "the manager put it away". May be the manager should focus on removing the free weights laying around as they're always a trip hazard as people can't seem to put them away or the manager should invest in better storage for the equipment as opposed to locking them away. It should be call Less'Fitness4More'Cash my partner and I are looking to change gyms.

Positive experience: Staff are lovely they have it mapped out for covid and there is hand sanitizer anti bac spray with paper rolls to keep equipment safe to use. Book from the app and it tells you how busy it is.

Fantastic experience: Amazing place, recommended 5 stars

Positive experience: Does what it says on the tin.. No cafe or bling, just a solid range of machines and weights.. Oh, and a small swimming pool..

Positive experience: Gym is nice but always busy unless you go at awkward hours. I use the womens only part but the equipment is lacking, would like a leg press in there! Also, you pay a monthly membership but then they also take an extra sum of money from you in January for "maintenance" so not sure what I'm paying for to be honest. Probably won't renew going forward.

Fantastic experience: Love my gym.

Fantastic experience: It's a great gym!!! Definitely the best In Colchester!

Fantastic experience: Love the swimming pool

Positive experience: Okay for price but dirty. Out of order equipment not mended quickly, jacuzzi mostly cold to lukewarm n bubbles seem to work intermittently, and on a ridiculous timer, aromatherapy never worked in 2 yrs, lockers filthy, extensive mould on rooflight in ladies gym which would close whole place if in America! Only still going coz local

Negative experience: Recently had an email stating they will be adding £7.50 to my subscription to contribute towards upgrading the gym. It's a hidden charge in their terms and conditions which they pointed out! Absolute joke. If it wasn't for a stupid contract and take my business elsewhere. Avoid these!

Positive experience: Certainly isnt the cheapest, despite the name. They arent open past 6pm at weekends, so going there after dinner or children are put to bed isnt an option. Some Cleaning stations have been removed, which is weird.

Negative experience: Don't like fitness do lots of walking don't cost any money

Fantastic experience: I only joined a week ago and I’m already in love. I’d spent ages looking for a gym to join and this was by far the most impressive. Matt was wonderfully helpful and I immediately got a really chilled feel about the place despite the amazing facilities. Really couldn’t ask for more. So appreciate this place. Thank you! C

Negative experience: A budget gym without the budget price tag. There are plenty of gyms in Colchester which are significantly lower priced. On looking on the "Fitness4Less" website the Colchester gym is the most expensive gym run by Fitness4Less without a clear reason as to why. An example is Bristol Fitness4Less priced from £15.99, with Colchester from £27.99. Facility space is good, a very large gym, however its space is wasted as there are not enough machines to fill it up. There used to be a leg extension and leg curl machine. Now they have replaced them with one all in one leg curl/extension machine. This leaves people waiting around twice as long to get on a machine! There are insufficient plates / clips. Meaning you spend half your workout searching around the gym for equipment, it only takes a couple of people to use the leg press's and any other exercise to use up the majority of the weights. Extra barbells would be good too, if someones is deadlifting that takes a rack or bench out of action. On a positive note, staff are very friendly and gym facilities are very clean.

Positive experience: A very good value for money gym and it has all you need for your fitness goals. I would suggest to add more classes though!

Fantastic experience: I can recommend this gym wholeheartedly. The staff are very friendly and helpful; the atmosphere is relaxed yet purposeful; the classes are excellent. It is well run, suitable for all age groups and fitness levels, and very good value for money. All you would want from a gym.

Fantastic experience: I’ve been a member here for just over 3 years and love the support I get from all the staff. The classes are really good. I have personal training with Andy and he has really helped motivate me. He even encouraged me to enter a couple of half marathons. The gym is well equipped and the membership is good value. I originally joined on a weekend pass to see how things go. Making the decision to go for the annual membership has definitely paid off.

Fantastic experience: Yeah, great value gym, friendly staff and cliental, classes good

Fantastic experience: Dear fitness4less, I hope you will consider to have a branch here at Great Clacton-on-Sea....Thanks

Fantastic experience: Been a member here since it was top notch. Facilities are much improved since the top notch days with plenty of equipment for cardio, weight training and space to do whatever you want. Pool is a big bonus as are the friendly and helpful staff. If you want a gym simply for gym work then this place is hard to beat. Good value for money too!

Fantastic experience: Nice, friendly gym. Tones of equipment for cardio and weight training. Pool looks decent but didn’t try it. Changing facilities are clean and tidy. I only used the gym as a one time visitor when I was travelling but seemed like good value.

Fantastic experience: Great gym, equipment maintained and good selection of free weights. Staff always friendly and helpful. Can't be faulted.

Negative experience: Don't join this gym if you can help it. the equipment constantly breaks and is out of service taking ages to be replaced/repaired, yet they still charge extra for upkeep....... Some of the staff are nice however some of them are extremely rude. The steam room is very rundown and the ceiling of the steam room use tiles that you would find in an office with mould everywhere.

Fantastic experience: Does what it says on the tin, nothing special. Rush hour can be manic due to a shortage of free weights so get there early. Swimming pool is small but does the trick.

Fantastic experience: My oldest daughter attends the aerial circus class run by JC Pole fitness, it is so much fun and always a great atmosphere

Positive experience: Good gym and good facilities but the water in the pool and jacuzzi is freezing lately! If it doesn’t change soon will be taking out stars slowly out of this review..

Fantastic experience: Nice place to train for everything you need

Fantastic experience: Great place to work out. Very friendly and inclusive.

Fantastic experience: Very relaxed and friendly, never too busy. Good facilities

Fantastic experience: Good classes friendly staff

Fantastic experience: Great gym, great sessions and friendly. Has everything you need to get fit includind a swimming pool and steam,sauna rooms

Fantastic experience: Great friendly place to exercise, staff are very professional and always on hand and willing to advise, plenty of equipment never having to wait to use, great swimming pool as well as steam room and sauna, highly recommended

Positive experience: Good clean gym

Fantastic experience: Patariu

Fantastic experience: Very good gym nice and clean and no bloody kidy running about

Negative experience: Do use this place

Fantastic experience: Great place, friendly helpful staff, sauna spa and jacuzzi. Always in there.highly recommend, although some machines do need updating. There are plenty of facilities.

Negative experience: Tried to contact them to join, no phone numbers anywhere. Unsatisfactory response from staff member whose written English was very poor, and who didn’t seem interested. Odd experience..won’t be joining!

Fantastic experience: Friendly gym

Positive experience: Good gym with lots of facilities. Pool area is great, only negative the gym is fairly filthy.

Positive experience: Good selection of equipment and really enjoy the family swim but the men’s changing rooms need shower curtains to prevent a safeguarding issue, simply naive to think its OK to have children using the facilities without this inexpensive matter being resolved.

Fantastic experience: Great gym

Positive experience: Cheap and cheerful

Fantastic experience: Great gym topmarks swimming pool gets crowded a bit and steam room needs a bit of t.l.c but great staff.

Fantastic experience: I love this gym, it has a steamroom, sauna, aromatherapy room, swimming pool as well as the gym of course. They even do classes that are free with membership, you just have to make sure you register to the classes. Different types of classes such as pole dancing, yoga, team biking and much more. Price is pretty good too at £24.99 per month and you get all those benefits.

Fantastic experience: Lovely Gym

Positive experience: Good value for money

Fantastic experience: Love fitness for less best in Colchester

Positive experience: Good gym

Fantastic experience: Always kept clean and tidy, staff are also very friendly