Crunch

As a close-​to-​senior citizen, I was a little cautious about joining early this year, but I’ve had a very good experience with this friendly gym. Plenty of equipment, not overcrowded, men’s locker room kept clean. And a particularly good experience working with personal trainer Natasha Forrest for eight sessions.
Natasha was focused, patient, attentive, good-​humored (it helps), knowledgeable and careful in helping me to get good thorough workouts without overdoing it. Plus, she made sure that the workouts were not just cardio and stretches, but got all of the muscle groups exercised. It’s made a noticeable difference for the better.
So, I recommend her very highly.

I joined crunch because it was the closest gym to my apartment. The equipment and weight room are fine (minus a lack of mats and floor space) but the locker rooms are absolutely disgusting. Half of the bathroom doors don’t lock, there is never any toilet paper or paper towels and it is always filthy. Every other locker is broken and quite frequently there are locker doors hanging by one hinge. The locker rooms need to be completely updated.
I have been a member to a handful of NYC gyms including NY Sports Club, Health and Racquet and Dolphin Fitness. Crunch, by far, has the worst locker rooms.

The atmosphere is great! Very inviting people with a ton of support.
I had not been going to the gym for a while before joining, so I decided to sign up with a trainer for just a little while. Instead I found someone who has pushed me to want more than to just lose a couple pounds. If you ever have the chance to train with Bitsy Earl, take it!
You will be sore but not sorry you took the chance. She is a great teacher and wants people to not just train for the gym but train for a better life.
SHE’s AMAZING!!!

I cannot say too much about this gym because I was only here for about an hour in total. I checked in this location mainly to stretch and take a shower after my run in Prospect Park. I will say that I think my home gym (Crunch — 59^th street) is a little more conducive for working out. I feel that this gym is a little too congested and cluttered. I think this place would be perfect if one only wanted to do cardio but it may be annoying to do any free weight stuff. Also, the stretching areas are really tight.
A couple of good thing about this location:
1. The towels here are really soft. They probably the softest towels that I have used at any Crunch gym in NYC. Sometimes I feel that if I dry my chest too hard with these towels that I may lose a nipple.
2. The gym keeps the laundry pods (or whatever they are) for the mist cleaning thing.
I do not know if I would use this gym other than to stretch and/​or to bathe a Prospect park run.

Good equipment, great trainers!

I have been a Crunch member for 1.5 years and it’s my favorite gym membership I have ever had. I recently decided to get out of my normal routine and got a trainer, Anthony Renda. He was great, always in high spirits, and an excellent motivator. I didn’t dread going to our sessions because he made it fun and adapted the workouts to specifically what I wanted to focus on. He got me running way faster than I ever had on the treadmill within one month and the biggest behavior change for me was discussing my eating habits and alternative healthy options. I appreciated that he scheduled a follow-​up 2 weeks after our sessions ended to see if I was staying on track. I would highly recommend him!

Despite mixed reviews below — this Crunch, for me, is fantastic because of its general manager, Jason DeRaveniere. When I first met Jason, I was recovering from surgery, my PT ended, and I needed a gym that provided the same machines as PT. Crunch was the only local gym that did. While starting trial membership days — during several promotions, I was unfortunately, always interrupted by a family member’s chronic illness. Jason was so kind and understanding and assured me I was welcome back at any time to complete my trial. He made this offer and extended my promotion days AFTER learning from me that I was not able to become a member at that time. I’ve always heard about or seen (Friends, Seinfeld) ‘the fine print’ in contracts– so I’ve stayed away from gyms. But, Jason is the complete opposite. He has incredible patience and sat down with me to figure out how we could reach a plan cheaper than advertised. If there was any fine print, he’d be the first person to show it to you — he’s that honest. I never felt like I was being pressured or meeting with a sales rep of some sort. Jason is just a genuine person who would listen to anyone. He makes sure I’m happy with my use of Crunch!
I find the facility to be very clean and love the hours. I never had to wait for use of equipment, but I’m sure that varies with hours. I can’t comment too much on the shower/​locker rooms. Everything looked fine. Lockers worked great for me. I shower at home b/​c it’s walking distance. I just saw another promotion being advertised tonight! Take advantage!

I am enraged. I am a long time member of this gym and have been annoyed at things before. Never have I been as angry as I am today.
I signed up for and showed up for a 6:30 am class this morning, only to stand around waiting with no instructor and no communication. 10 minutes after start time, a member went down to the front desk, only to be informed that there was no instructor there, which by then was obvious. There was also no plan in place to address this. I am not sure why the sign-​up sheet was still available in the gym for a class that clearly was not happening. I understand that things happen. I am not sure how or why there are no plans in place for emergencies or unexpected situations. This is clearly a management issue. They need to handle things better. With all the other options these days for fitness, Crunch needs to step up their customer service.

I signed up for Crunch because it was close to the Gym I used to frequent in Atlanta, LA Fitness. I also get a break because my company has a discount program with several clubs, including Crunch. I ALWAYS sign up for the national membership because I am a flake and need options for when I decide to work out. Maybe it’ll be the one by my house (which is exercise in and of itself, since it’s a 15 minute walk). Maybe I’ll take the train to Fort Greene. Maybe I’ll work out by my office. Maybe I’ll work out when I travel for work. Anyway, you get the picture.
So way back in 2012 I signed a contract with this Crunch location to use them as my home location (which used to be called the «Park Slope» location until Prospect Heights became ultra hipster). It’s on Flatbush and Park, right outside of the 7^th avenue B/​Q station. I also signed up to store my gym stuff (toiletries, sneakers) so I didn’t have to schlep them every day. The cost (mind you, in 2012) was $ 300 for they year for a moderately size cubbies that could fit all my necessities. My estimate was 2×2. They are seperated from the daily lockers in the Women’s lounge area.
The club was in the midst of renovation so I should of been more understanding; the second week in I opened my locker a pair of waterbugs greeted me. Ya’ll. I’m gonna revert to my sobers vernacular because I can’t…I stepped on a waterbugs in my socks in Uni and have been traumatized since… so seeing rejects from Joe’s Apartment didn’t sit well. I closed that sucker and never went back. I literally abandoned my toiletries, sneakers, socks, etc. I know that’s cray but again, I can’t.
So note to self, don’t store my stuff there but I would still go to use the equipment because it was brand new from the renovation. I agree with other reviewers that the weight room is cramped and there is little room to move beyond your station to do lunges or any other pronounced movements with weights.
Other things to note:
–The showers in the women’s room are regularly cleaned, but I still wear my flip flops in the shower because I can’t with foot fungus.
–They have accoutrements provided by Bliss (body wash, shampoo, conditioner, lotion) but I prefer to bring my own.
–There is a sauna in the women’s lounge that I have used and is frequently not crowded
–There are an abundance of towels available. If you are looking for a washcloth, bring your own
–the club provides cotton balls, Qtips, hair dryers and tissue in the ladies lounge
–classes are pretty good. I would recommend any spin class with Nathalie (if she is still teaching there)
–I found the personal trainers to be annoying. They are like the ugly guy at the club that hangs around until you’ve hand enough drinks to find him remotely appealing. Just, no.
Overall, good for machine work and classes. Not so great for weight training and personal training. Don’t buy a locker unless you want to take friends home with you.

The weight area sucks. There is not enough space to do deadlifts, cleans, etc. There is almost no free floor space. The only space in front of a mirror is in between two low row machines and some cables, so if someone is using any of those things, then there is absolutely no free floor space. So you have to awkwardly stand somewhere in the middle of the traffic path. Additionally, the benches are crammed together with around 2 feet of space between them.
The personal trainers will heckle you even more than the people on the cosmetics floor at Barney’s.
Also, the music they play at this place… Numerous times I have stopped in the middle of an exercise in shock. One time they played a techno remix of «Don’t Stop Believing». They took an awful song, and found a way to make it even more grotesque. If my ears weren’t bleeding, I would have been somewhat impressed by this.
The room where they have classes is next to the weight area. And they play ear-​shatteringly loud music with beats that can give you a seizure.
At least it’s clean?

I been coming here since January and the staff and even fellow customers are friendly and helpful. Would recommended anyone in the area to join this Gym with its world class trainers who are ready to help you at a moment notice.

The gym itself is nice thats what the one star is for. The customer service at billing is terrible especially a woman customer service employee. She is horrible, not helpful and rude. Not A FAN!
BEWARE if you ever miss a payment and want to cancel your membership.
I needed to cancel my membership but froze the account instead for ten dollars a month. I missed two payments and a annual fee (scam) for a multitude of reasons (some including financial) which amounted to about $ 50.00. I opened a email i received today saying that my balance was now $ 150.00. Obviously I was upset and I reached out to customer service.
1. They will not allow you to cancel your membership unless your bill is paid in full, they will keep racking up the months until they decide to put in in collections and RUIN your credit. (Her words exactly). So even if you are not going to the gym and can’t pay your bill they will charge you EVERY MONTH IN FULL UNTIL it is either all paid off or in collections (terrible business practice.)
2. The freeze is only for THREE MONTHS and they will reinstate it without sending you a email or calling you and letting you know that it is reinstating it. They will just start charging you again.
3. Also they don’t keep proper records of previous phone conversations so make sure you take notes of the conversation and who you are speaking to, and also ask for email confirmations regarding the conversation.
4. Also UNLIKE other businesses they wont even forgive the month that was unfrozen, that I didn’t know about. So its day 21 of the month, I never set foot in the gym all month, didn’t know I was paying $ 100 for the month AND THEY COULD CARE LESS!!!
Then on the phone they had the nerve to ask me if I would like to refer any friends or family to CRUNCH GYM. Not if my life depended on it.
Totally awful experience. Not happy. Good luck if you decide to use this Gym.

I was really excited about joining Crunch on Flatbush Ave… I used to work at a few gyms in the area first as reception, and then got certified as a personal trainer. After that I went through medical school with not much time for fitness, and then when I started residency, joined a local gym because it was a no frills, easy to deal with place. But they lack a lot of equipment, so I ventured over to Crunch and was pretty excited about their stuff. The guy gave me and my husband a great quote, even wrote it down, but we weren’t ready THAT DAY to join, so left with the quote written down and went back about a month and a half later, on the 25^th.
That day we were told the deal didn’t stand anymore (you know, the one we had in writing). My husband used to sell gym memberships, so this «It’s out of my hands, I just work here» nonsense the guy was trying to pull was obviously just that, nonsense. There are no policies that are not negotiable by each gym membership salesperson. So he took our written quote from us, never gave it back, and then said he couldn’t honor it.
I was really mad, honestly. The quote we got was almost the same price per month as the gym I was leaving. They have a deal with some of the hospitals in Brooklyn, which gave me a monthly price I was happy about, but the extra costs of the sign up fees and maintenance fees made it about the same.
My biggest complaints are these:
1. Don’t lie to my face. You are a corporate lackey, but don’t lie to my face.
2. If we had gone in on June 13^th, or July 13^th, we would have gotten whatever we wanted beyond agreeing to pay the monthly fee because their quotas are due on the 15^th of the month. So if you want to get rid of the enrollment fee, go right before the 15^th.
But having dealt with the nonsense on the 25^th, it’s still not worth it to go back, because the sleazy sales guy will still work there, and I’ll have to look at his face when I go there. It’s your job buddy, but you don’t have to be a liar to do your job.

This is one of those places that gives you sale-​guy lines to justify nonsense changes in price. For me that line was that they had to «check with the corporate office» to see if they can give you a discount and then tells you that «policy changes» account for the reason why you can’t have the previously quoted price. The translation of this (for those of you note aware of how gym sales works) is that the membership consultants have a quotas and, depending on when you go into the gym, the initiation fee will change. For some people, it will be free (though they have a new system of making sure that commissions are paid by calling part of the membership fee a processing fee). And for others it will be somewhere between 50 and 100 dollars. Most gyms in NY are abandoning this practice because it reeks of used-​car-​salesman. Not Crunch.
This is a place where you still have to have a meeting with some guy dressed in business casual with a gold bracelet to sign up to lift weights or run on a treadmill. The problem is that these guys are salesmen that make a sales salary (a minor league version of that). So when you sign up, you get to pay their paycheck. Remember, these guys don’t do anything for you other than try to convince you to part with your money. Why are you paying them?
The problem with this practice, as I see it, is that different people will pay a different price for the same service (justified as various discounts) so the person next to you is paying 65 while you are paying 89. Prices are sliced to give you the illusion that you are saving money when, in fact, doing the math makes you realize that your monthly membership fee is probably $ 10 higher than you think ($ 15 processing, variable cost initiation that might be $ 80, $ 20 a year maintenance fee, other assorted nonsense fees).
The practices used by these places are very unsettling. You are nothing but a commission and are treated as such.
Seriously think about whether that’s the kind of gym you want to join. And think about what this practice is going to mean when you want to cancel the membership (just read the other reviews for details!).
If you read this and still want to sign up, here’s a tip: most gyms of this species have membership consultants that have quotas. A few years ago, quotas had to be filled by the end of the month. Crunch seemed to break that mold and, based on my experiences here, their quotas date seems to be the 15^th of the month. I’m not entirely sure about this date, but the point is that the fee will change depending on when you go. Someone who is at the end of the month will pay nothing while someone at the beginning will pay 70 or 80.
As a bonus, why does this place have a membership consultant pit when you walk in the front door? Why do I have to smell these guys eating lunch?
Seriously consider the many negative reviews here before you sign up.
And remember that whatever corporate penny pinching nonsense that they pull while you sign up will probably make canceling that much more difficult.

Greedy liars! I’ve been with Crunch for 6 months and have random charges from them that they call «the annual membership fees» even though when signing up they tell you there aren’t any. Also, they say you can put your membership on hold as long as you call and do so before your next billing cycle. Lies! I called two different people and their billing department and they all stumbled over their words and one said I needed to call 14 days prior to my billing cycle while the others said they needed 7 or 5 days prior. If you are going to have all of your employees be deceitful liars, then make sure they all know the right lie.
I will be canceling my membership and going to another gym that will actually care about the people that pay their salaries! I do not recommend this gym to anyone, stay away!

Are you looking for a gym that has the neon lighting of a bad nightclub? No, then Crunch is not for you! How about broken machines, old equipment, and bad hours? Also no? Well, I suppose you should probably just go somewhere else.
Add this to the $ 30 mystery fees they can drop on you at random, in addition to the already ludicrously high monthly fee, and you have one of the worst gyms ever.
I hate this place and can’t wait to end my contract.

It’s been a couple years, so time for an update…
After a recent renovation, this Crunch has a much less crowded feel. They’ve added a new area for biking, and opened up a lot of the other areas by removing walls.
I’ve been working out for several months with a new trainer — Luc B. — and really happy with the results. He puts a lot of thought into my routine, and helps me keep focused and motivated. I’m consistently hitting my goals (increased strength and bulking up in size) and setting new ones. Thanks Luc!

Decent facilities, same rapacious merchant practices as every other high-​end gym. Here are the facts you should know before walking in:
— The contract that you sign when joining actually includes a paragraph legally excusing the person that signs you up for miscommunicating details of the membership contract, literally a «your fault if you walked away with a false impression» clause. «Nah bro, quit anytime you want, no penalty» is an explicit lie that the company encourages salespeople to tell. A 12 month commitment period is specified in every contract. The moment you sign, you’re in it for 12 x $ 90, period.
— I wanted to pause my membership a month or two ago, called more than a week before my upcoming bill date. «Nah bro, you should have told us sooner.» The same operator that didn’t miss a beat in shooting down my request then couldn’t actually tell me how many days of notice are required to pause or cancel. Money grab.
— Surprise, surprise, it’s extremely difficult to cancel. I made multiple attempts to reach their cancelation department 30 days before my intended cancel date, as they require (that’s right, if you call to cancel on January 2, you’ll still be charged for the entirety of February). After being unable to speak to anyone in the cancellation department and being sent to a non-​functioning voicemail system, I called my local club to let them know that I was attempting to cancel but that their corporate office was not available to register my request. «Okay, we’ll make a note on your account here that you attempted to cancel on this date.» Tried the corporate cancellation department a few days later and there was no such record. At this point I threw my hands up and just disputed the charge with my credit card. Will report back if the company contests.
— The membership contract includes provisions for multiple «account maintenance fees,» which range from $ 30 to $ 95 and which are charged about three times per year. The person that signed me up made no mention of these, of course.
Crunch is an adequate gym with greedy financiers at the top of the pyramid literally making bets on how much nonsense customers will tolerate just so they don’t have to go to Planet Fitness. Do not give this company any of your money.

Andrew Ganesh made signing up for Crunch painless, even pleasant. He was unfailingly courteous and professional.
Also, the gym is clean and never overly crowded. Oh, and the bliss products used in the locker smell delicious.
Overall I have to say I’m pleasantly surprised.

I’ve been coming here for about 10 years (probably wouldn’t guess that from looking at me, but that’s on me, and not on the gym) and have incredibly mixed feelings about the place. I (a) live a block away and (b) get a Crunch discount from my job, so frankly, I’d continue coming here even if I wanted to give it one star — but for those of you out there looking to choose a gym for reasons other than location and cheapness, here are some things to consider:
Pros:
First and foremost, the fitness class options and instructors here are extraordinary. Highlights include Jilllian’s Monday evening spin (she teaches Tuesday AM as well), which is the most inspiring, energetic spin class you can imagine — her class is really like a party. Emma presents Friday evening spin, which is an incredible class as well — her advice on form and technique is peerless — its made me a better cyclist in and out of the spin studio. I also hear wonderful things about Natalie’s Wed. night spin, but I can never make it due to a conflict. The Thursday night (Emma) and Friday afternoon (Steve) TRX classes are also intense, fascinating, unique workout challenges.
It’s a relatively large gym, and they have acquired more space and expanded. Great variety of cardio equipment and weights. Mostly plenty of room and generally no wait for machines (though it can be a bit crowded some weeknights in the post-​work 6p-7:30p range). Front desk and cleaning staff are always friendly and active. And the location — I mean, I don’t know where you live, but its right outside the B/​Q subway (and close enough to the ²⁄₃ as well), and it’s a great neighborhood with great food/​drink options if you want to ruin your workout shortly after you finish it.
Cons:
This has changed for the worse over the last few years here, but the personal trainers have become far more aggressive and pushy in interrupting your workout to offer advice and/​or blatantly try and solicit your business. Even if you fend off their approaches, they take up way too much of gym — especially the floor exercise/​stretching space — with clients. And beyond the physical space they directly take up, some of them think they own the gym with whatever ‘circuit’ they have planned for their client. I’ve had them run over across half the gym yelling «We’re using that machine,» and I’m thinking, no, you’re using THAT machine over there, unless you’ve figured out a way to be two places at once… It’s a shame, because it wasn’t always the case here, but it definitely seems to be something they are pushing. I think personal training is great, but it seems like the kind of thing people should seek out and not be solicited for — I pay the gym enough already.
Also, while I appreciate the recent expansion, they’ve really darkened the place, going for a «club» décor with neon lights and such. When I go late a night, I feel like I’m in a dark nightclub. I mean, I’m performing activities while holding heavy weights — I’d like to be able to see what I’m doing. If I wanted to go to a club… I’d go to a club.