Beverly Athletic Club

looks good. seems pricey. do you have more cost effective memberships?

I have a pretty simple gym routine and am low-​maintenance as far as needs go at the gym, but I have always been pleased with my experiences at the BAC. They keep up on their equipment, and are always making changes, renovations, etc. to keep up with the times. There’s always new programs that they are promoting in order to help members stay fit. The classes are great, although I haven’t tried a ton of them, the ones I have attended have been upbeat and energetic. The staff is friendly, and accommodating. This gym has a heavy emphasis on personal training, and the personal trainers all seem very committed to helping the members achieve their fitness goals. I use this gym for the convenience and proximity but will continue to use it for the consistency and predictability of good equipment and service.

5 years here and getting worse, mens steamroom on and off for a month, now waiting for part. my god you can get a part overnite. always trying to cheap out. and this place is not cheap. first they take out jacuzzi mens and ladies room, you should put one out at the pool area for people to use plenty of room there. the shower caddies in mens room my god they are yellow disgusting cleanliness going down hill get a cleaning crew not some high school kid working for the summer

I started at this gym because I was tired of going to $ 20 a month gyms. You get what you pay for has never been so clear with those gyms. I pay $ 60 a month with a two year agreement. While I think the agreement is lengthy, the cost is quite high, I do love this gym. The staff is super friendly, and the fitness instructors are the best! They made me feel very comfortable trying out new classes, like Barre, and I feel their instructions are clear and the classes are fun! The gym is always clean, including the bathrooms and their smoothie bar was created by a nutritionist which I appreciate. They offer so much more that I haven’t even explored yet! I would highly recommend this gym.

One of the only clubs around with a salt-​water pool; it only has a few lanes, but is rarely full. Very clean facilities, excellent personal trainers. Also, they practice excellent customer service: it’s good to know there are businesses around that care about their customers and will work to make them happy. Highly recommended!

I just joined and I am so far pleased with the facility. My schedule allows me to be at the club when I know it will be less crowded. The Unilocal front page lists it being open 24 hours on Sunday, I wish it would just stay open until 8pm, but it closes at 6 on Sundays. I have not used the pool yet, but I am there right now for the weights, which I think are fine. I also did not get a tour when I signed up, but I expect I could ask for one. I don’t expect I’ll take any of the classes, the schedule and the classes offered don’t work or appeal to me. The location is really great. Not sure when the property near 128 is developed how the new traffic flow will effect the club. I signed up for 1 year and paid at once so I received a discount. BC/​BS also offers a health discount, but the contract with MGH doesn’t include that so the membership director worked with me on that.

This gym has great potential for the amount of space it takes up. Originally, I joined to take Kiki’s pilates classes (who is AMAZING BTW). I’ve tried to contact someone at this gym several times to cancel or freeze my membership and never heard back or received any feedback. Since Kiki opened up her new studio, I thought I would give the gym another try and still take Kiki’s classes.
The bathroom facilities are clean, but the workout areas are dirty and a bit disgusting. The studio where classes (some poorly taught) are held has a filthy floor (dirt, gum, sweat, etc.), and I’m not sure anyone cleans the mats. It’s gross when you think about the sweat and dirt accumulations rubbing over your body. Also, the «cardio room» is OK if you can get a machine to work properly. I feel the weights and medicine balls should have their own space. The weight machine room is too crowded. Having towels available to members would help too. I’m not sure how I feel about the spa/​hair salon. Come to think of it, I didn’t get an orientation or tour, and I’m not quite sure where most of the facilities are located. I thought there was a room solely for women to use, but I didn’t see it today. It is impossible to find staff aside from the front desk person. There’s no staff circulating the gym or making themselves available.
Overall, I would not recommend this gym to my friends or family.
Paying my membership fee is pretty disappointing at this time. I’m going to continue to try and break my contract (if i can get a response from someone in their office) before it is up in July of this year. I feel this was a waste of money.

(score 1 – 100) –70. When you go to so many gyms or belong to multiple at once they all seem to be the same. Well, this place definitely is completely different from the rest. The best way to describe BAC is that it is a all-​in-​one health club. You have the same feel, the kids, the family atmosphere only a little nicer than the typical gyn. One of the unique things that you won’t find anywhere is that they have a HEATED SALTWATER Pool! Very unique and cool! It is 40,000 sq ft, so it is super large by suburban gym standards. I think this is the ideal gym for families or if your Y doesn’t offer services such as massage… yes they have a SPA here as well. The vibe here is FAMILIES… If you are married and have two kids, THIS IS YOUR PLACE.
Give it a try, you can request a free guest pass, which sadly in the gym industry is disappearing… what happened to try before you buy?! Overall a solid gym with ok equipment.

I recently joined the BAC and overall I enjoy the location. The club offers some great classes but the times offered have not matched my schedule. As an example: The spinning room is often empty, with many members wishing more classes were held consecutively. Such as three or four classes in a row in the morning, mid-​day and again in the evening. The locker room could also use an update.
The facility is clean and well kept. The staff is professional and friendly. The preventative maintenance to the equipment is top notch.

I was in the area for a few days and wanted a place to work out. For a DAY pass they charged me about $ 30 (even though the girl at the front counter initially said the first week was free) — that seemed really steep to me, and I only paid because I was desperate. It was a fine facility, but the weights were seriously lacking (these weird little barbells with weights welded on — bizarre), all the lockers were ones where you have to bring your own lock (inconvenient), and now i get endless email promotions from BAC.

I joined the BAC mainly due to their salt-​water pool. I had been using the YMCA in Salem, but after swimming laps I’d go home feeling like I needed one shower to wash off the chlorine and another to get clean.
I’ve been a member of BAC since the end of 2011. Due to «life circumstances» one of which is being lazy, I haven’t utilized my membership as much as I should, at least not until recently.
This place has pros and cons.
Pros:
Saltwater Pool — always warm, definitely feels nicer to swim in than a «regular» pool, usually pretty quiet/​not a ton of swimmers, at least the hours I have gone or go.
The classes they offer. They seem to offer classes that you can’t find at the Y. Another factor in my joining was to try BodyPump and TRX type classes. I’ve only gotten to bodypump at this point. Oh, they also offer Boxing on Thursday nights which I’m excited to try soon. Scheduling is a con, however, which I’ll get to.
Staff — all of the staff I’ve interacted with thus far have been really nice and/​or helpful.
Hours — are fairly decent. not that I’m t here at 5am, but if I wanted to go super early or stay late, I’d be able.
Cons:
Price — this is not a cheap place; I pay close to 60 a month for my membership. They require a contract for a year as well.
Schedule of classes — they offer awesome classes but, in all honesty, the times SUCK. It really seems geared towards the moms that don’t have to work. A «certain demographic’ if you know what I mean. I need to be to work between 830 – 530, which means any classes I’d take would have to end by 8 at the latest. All of the classes I want to take either end at 930, start at 5, or are from noon to one. Not sure who can make those, but i can’t and it bums me out!
They do offer a few classes not in those time frames but unfortunately, they’re not ones I’m interested in.
the woman’s locker room. I just wish there were a few more bathroom stalls. It gets a little crowded in there at times.
Overall, i do like this place and the money I spend is motivation enough to go. Not sure if I’ll renew my membership when the year’s up, though.

I’ve been a member here for about 5 months and I think this place is wonderful. The membership price is reasonable for what you get (I pay $ 49 a month). They offer a great variety of group fitness classes (which is very important to me!). I take yoga, Pilates, yogalates, and RPM weekly. The group fitness instructors are fabulous (especially Kiki, the Pilates instructor… you have to love her!). They’re all very nice and welcoming to new people.
I also like that they have a women’s only room with a good variety of weights and weight machines (not too many cardio machines, but I do my cardio in the main room).
My only complaint would be that the locker rooms are a bit small and can get crowded. But this is certainly a small inconvenience compared to all the wonderful things about this place! I’m so glad I found this gym!

I’ve been training here for 10 years and it’s excelllent. They have recently put a ton of money into improvements and the weight area is as good as any Div. I college facility.
Ed the owner is a class act and both Jason the fitness guru and Jill in membership are tremendous people and have become good friends.
I’ve been working out since 1977 and this is one of the nicest facilities, including good people, that I have ever been in.
I sincerely recommend giving BAC a try.

I’ve been a member of the BAC for 2 years. The facility itself is nice. All of the machines (at least the ones I use) are up to par. I like that the treadmills and ellypticals each have their own TV screen and headphone plug-​in for individual viewing.
The ladies’ locker room is kept pretty clean. Soap dispensers are never without soap, as far as I’ve seen. The showers are clean, and soap and shampoo are provided in each stall (though it’s athletic club soap… if you’re particular, you should bring your own). The whirlpool, sauna and steam room all seem to be tidy and well-​maintained.
The trainers are great. They use your hour-​long sessions very well and work you to your greatest fitness level. The classes are fun and challenging. I especially enjoy GroupRide with Jacqui, and Dynamic Core with Kiki. (Actually, any class with Kiki will kick your butt… she’s awesome).
Best of all: Nary a meathead in sight.

My husband and I loved this place when we lived in downtown Salem — and yes, it was absolutely worth the drive. Their pool is AWESOME and I’ve never had to share a lane with more than one person (and even that is rare). The sauna is fantastic. The gym equipment is great. It’s extremely rare to have to wait for a piece of cardio equipment ever. I loved the plug-​in iPod feature on the TVs on the treadmills. My husband used the weight room extensively and has yet to find another that tops it.
Additionally, I had some great customer service from Lisa S. and others when suffering a membership complication along the way. I can’t say thank you enough to them for their help, extremely rapid response to my issue, and their thoroughness in resolving it. Definitely a different level of customer service than what you would get at a big chain gym.
Oh — and their smoothies are fantastic! Try one today!

Thanks for the info, Ed. I’ll be more comfortable using the whirlpool now ;-) And thanks for the added amenities. I appreciate the owner of a company responding to a review.
Mike

Now that I’ve been here a while, I want to update my review… again.
I love this place. It’s so much different than I recalled from my very first review in which I more of less judged it from memory of several years ago. It’s a lot of younger clientele, but still very respectful. No heroes, no one getting in your way or following those tired stereotypes of the grunting/​weight throwing/​invisible lat having/​meatheads.
The pool is excellent, especially without all that chlorine in there. The locker room is super clean, but my favorite thing has got to be the sauna. It’s usually pretty empty in there, so it’s good for pre and post workouts to loosen up and decompress.
Machines are quickly serviced when/​if they break down. The boxing equipment and 100lb heavy bag are back, which I dig. There is just so much equipment to work with sometimes I’m a little overwhelmed.
Referral program kicks ass. I just referred my third member, so I’ve knocked $ 15 off my membership, making it more than reasonable. I’ve looked around and compared the prices, I’m getting the best deal when you consider what it included.
And the staff is great. I prefer a hands off approach. I know what I’m there to do and I get in and do it. But it’s also great to know that they’re approachable if you need something. I don’t feel like just another person there, I actually feel like I belong to a club.
I haven’t done the classes yet, but it’s something I’ve been thinking about, especially since most of them are for the price of FREE. So if it isn’t my thing, no big deal.
Overall, I’m thrilled to be there and plan on being a member for a long time. It’s a completely different places from what I experienced several years ago. If you’re on the fence, just join.

Excellent Club! I work out about 5 days a week and so I need a club that’s got everything from a pool to a steam room. The BAC has got it. Those $ 1 messages on Saturday are great as well!

I joined at the beginning of this year after the North Shore Athletic club went under. It has been a pleasant change. BAC keeps their equipment working and up to date and the environment well maintained. I enjoy the steam room steamy, the hot tub hot and the sauna warm and dry. The staff are enthusiastic and friendly. I’ve really enjoyed working out over the past several months.
Update:
I’ve erased my comments about their pricing. Apparently they are consistent about it, though I wish they would post their rates on their site.
I’ve also added another star, as my experience has only improved over the last several months.

I have been at this location for about ten years although it has not been BAC the whole time. BAC brought a number of improvements but the one thing I feel it lacks is a rotation of new equipment.
Very covenient facilities and has more than just cardio and weights.
All in all a great gym.