Crunch

Decent spot
Disclaimer: This will not be very in depth.
I came to this gym to take advantage of my universal membership; as I am training for a marathon and I want to do my long runs in different parts of the city. Essentially, I need a place to store my crap and clean up after my runs. This review will pretty much be about the locker room
Like most Crunch fitness this location has 3 floors, with the locker room on the street level. The locker room is a little small compared to most of the other Crunch Fitness gyms in the area. There are only three showers (one was out of service as of 6÷24÷16) in the locker room. I wonder how long are the lines during peak hours? But, the locker room was well maintained.
I will say the best part of this experience was the soft towels. At other crunch locations, I fear drying off because the towels are rough like sandpaper and I don’t want to «sand off» a nipple.

Hello and Thanks Greg!
I want to let you know the different exercises and stretches that you’ve had me perform have begun to relax and calm the nerves on the kneecap. So, I am feeling some good relieve from the usual pain when kneeling. Today, for the first time, in a long while, I was able to kneel on the pew at church. I was both happy and surprised. What an accomplishment, I felt. I almost couldn’t believe it!
I just want to say thank you for taking the time to assess, and specifically tailor the workout to meet those needs. I’m probably in need from head to toe, but knees are pretty precious for my faith:)
Thank you so much!
All the best,
Celeste M.

Well, it’s only a few blocks from my apartment so what can I say? The staff is in general pleasant, although the typical answer to any question is a blank look and an «I don’t know.» The wifi is notoriously undependable and spotty. The upstairs is typical «guy gym» — lots of upper body and few lower body machines thrown in for the women. The trainers are really rude; they have clients doing floor routines right next to the weight machines and seem really put out when you try to get past them (not easy). Overall, I wish that a Planet Fitness would open in this neighborhood. I’d sign in a heartbeat for what would probably be about ½ the price.

I moved to the upper west side a year ago and in August of 2015 I joined Crunch 83^rd street. I have been working w/​a trainer for many months and really love it. Raheel has been terrific. I have an injured shoulder and he has set a program in place to strengthen it slowly and steadily. I can now do pull ups and I can lift heavy weights. The whole staff there is encouraging and friendly. Every session is different so the variety of exercises keeps it far from boring and again, I am seeing great results!

I grew up being very athletic (and in an EXTREMELY athletic family… trainers, collegiate level, professional level… we’re talking seriously athletic). I then went to college… still maintained my figure in the early years and then time and my metabolism escaped me. Now, living in NYC… who has time or wants to make time for the gym? Certainly not myself. I decided it was time to get in to gear before my trip to the Islands this past February and joined crunch after trying some classes, having a wonderful conversation with Tom H. and a personal training session with Xio — I was sold. I bought ten training sessions to whip me into bikini gear and help with some upkeep upon returning from vacation. DANNY BEVINS IS THE MAN! After just 5 sessions and his continuous motivation to work out on my own, do classes and eat clean – I lost inches, pounds and felt better than ever! I dare you to walk into this Crunch, ask for Danny and he’ll show you my BEFORE AND AFTER PHOTOS! Don’t judge me for the before photos — haha! I also REALLY enjoy their classes! Shout out to Jessica who runs excellent classes as well as Mitchell who is SO much fun! The gym, the staff, the trainers and the classes are all STELLAR! 5 stars for this Crunch location!

I’m blessed to be working with the best trainer if you think you’re too knowledgeable or not knowledgeable enough. Andrew Wisch has given me back my life. I have an unusual disability. You can’t see it but it’s there and it’s bad. Couldn’t walk up steps anymore and my movements became stifled. Concerts, plays, movies, all became issues. Will there be elevators? Andrew found ways to train me and get me strong again. If you’re looking to train look no further. Find him and hire him. He’s the perfect combo of compassion, motivation, knowledge, and drive.

I have been a member of this Crunch location for over three years now. It is clean, I never have to wait for cardio machines, and the staff are all very friendly.
I have also been working with master trainer Joe Ryan for years now and I can honestly say that I don’t know what I would do without him. He is a great motivator and he makes our time together fun. He is amazing when it comes to ensuring that I am doing each exercise in the correct form (sometimes he will have me move my foot just a half an inch and it will make all the difference). Joe is very responsive when I am having an issue with a sore muscle group or a tight hip and he is very knowledgeable about mobility exercises and functional movement. He comes to each session with a plan and he thinks long term about my endurance, stability, and power. He truly deserves the title «Master Trainer.»

SO PUSHY!!!
I normally don’t like calling people out on bad service, because maybe they’re having a bad day. But, this place is SOOOO pushy!
I signed up for the free 7 day pass. I’m recovering from a bad knee injury and working with a physical therapist, so we decided the timing was right for me to try to get back on a spin bike. I just wanted to use the cycling room when there wasn’t a class happening — so I could go at my own pace.
From the second I signed up for the pass, I was hounded by Colin, the Membership Director, trying to schedule a time to meet with him. When I arrived at the gym, I was given a 45 minute presentation about Crunch, a tour of the gym and very pushy sales pitch to try to sign up for personal training.
During the tour, I asked Colin if I could please start my workout and finish his sales pitch afterwards, so I didn’t have to go up and down 3 flights of stairs again (it’s very difficult to do stairs with my knee injury). He was insistent upon me coming back downstairs first, so he could try to sell me on personal training packages ranged $ 1500 to $ 8500! I laughed out loud and told him I wasn’t interested at all and that I don’t have that in my budget (AND I’m recovering from a knee injury and already working with a physical therapist). He said personal training is how they get their money, since they don’t do contracts. Colin talked nonstop without listening to my needs. I found this very rude, pushy and a huge turn-​off for a gym.
The next day, I received a phone from Colin and one other sales guy — both telling me I had «one day only» to take advantage of their current special pricing. I said I was not interested and then immediately received an email reminding me that I would save a lot of money if I signed up today — and that tomorrow, I would lose out on the deal. (typical pushy sales move)
I responded and let him know I really wanted to join Crunch and try 7 days without a daily sales pitch and I no longer want to continue my free 7 day pass OR join the gym. I received no reply.
I since did a free pass at NYSC, which is just as nice of a gym, cheaper and not a single person tried to sell me a membership or push personal training on me. I was able to try their gym complimentary without being hassled — that’s how it should be.

Yet another morning when no one showed up to open the gym. Not only does this crunch open later than other crunch gyms, but the management still hasn’t figured out that they could give keys to the trainers in case the person at the front doesn’t show (which can happen for many legitimate reasons, subway breaking down, personal problems). Badly run gym.

Crunch 83^rd is really well run, has great instructors, and is very clean! I’ve been a member of this gym now for a year. The classes are really great, and the instructors are awesome. (Tori’s Tuesday 10:30 Diesel class will totally sculpt your body and give just the right amount of cardio.) Can I just give kudos the the cleaning staff? The cleaning staff is constantly cleaning, and the gym is always clean. The big perk is that they have FREE childcare. Unheard of. This gym is a great value priced at about $ 100/​month.

Abysmal service. I needed to cancel my membership because I was leaving the city and they gave me 2 options on the phone: 1 call a number that was not accepting calls any time of day or 2. Go into a location which I couldn’t do because I was already gone. I emailed multiple contacts called multiple locations for help and received no response. I was charged the monthly fee and had to resort to calling my bank to dispute the charge. Absolutely pathetic service.

I went here on a class pass gym time. I had once visited another Crunch downtown and had the feeling the place was rank and dirty. I had the same experience here and would not recommend it. First gym I have ever gone to where the people at reception and some of the trainers sitting around were NOT in good shape themselves. Shower curtains instead of doors seem to be breeding ground for unsanitary conditions. NO thank you

This is the weirdest layout for a gym. It feels like they crammed a gym at the last minute into the lobby of a condo building.
There is a giant open empty space in the front area of the women’s locker room, which is all visible from the outside whenever the door opens. Don’t go walking through there undressed! It seems like a waste of space, because the rest of the locker area is cramped. There are only 3 toilet stalls.
There are no hooks in the shower area. And the whole floor of the shower area is one continuous tile expanse with no barriers to to keep the water in the shower. And although there is a slight decline in the floor of the shower stalls towards the drains, water still puddles and flows out of the stall, where my clothes were on the floor. I kicked the clothes a little further out, and figured it was no big deal. I’ll dry them a little with a hairdryer. Except there were no hairdryers. OK so I’ll put them into one of those plastic bags they provide for sweaty clothes. Except there were none of those anywhere either.
Why does this location want me to have a heap of wet clothes just hanging out in my gym bag? Why do we need such a large useless entry area into the cramped locker room?
The gym was clean, the check in attendant was nice and attentive, and the yoga class was good, except that shavasana was only about 30 seconds long. This isn’t my home location, so I’m not that mad at it. I just find the no hooks/​shower puddles/​no hairdryer/​no plastic bag combo especially curious.

Ok, I’ve written a review prior which pertained to the facility as a whole but now my review will be a little bit more specific. SO, Let me start off by again mentioning the fact that I have been a member of many gyms in my lifetime. and I will say this: NOT EVERYONE IS CUT OUT TO BE A TRAINER!
Some trainers I’ve come across simply just do NOT know shit. and if they do then its not something I don’t already know. Lets be honest. most trainers you’ve probably met most likely SUCKED. I have wasted my time over and over with unqualified trainers who didn’t really care to push me in an effort to meet my goals. I have horrible balance, poor body weight strength (I can lift heavy but can’t do a damn push-​up for the life of me!) and a couple of sports related injuries to boost (YAY!). I had yet to meet a good reliable trainer until I joined Crunch 83^rd and had a complimentary session with Raheel. Yeah, I know what you skeptics are thinking. Believe me I have at one point too. but hear me out.
Raheel is a not a corny high school coach. He’s a professional trainer who caters to each and every one of his clients needs. He’s fun, patient, energetic and reliable. He’s not the type to throw you on a shoulder press machine and say «give me 10 reps». NO, his workouts are impressively creative, he listens, he informs. He is the one you’ll make the best progress with. I am grateful to have met him. My sessions from here forth will be money well spent.

I joined Crunch because it was the cheapest option in the area. They have an educator discount which is an added bonus for me. I have a gym in my building so I go solely for the group fitness classes. Some classes are of course better than others, but that room is so darn hot. Someone needs to check the AC. I do wish they had more classes as well.
The gym itself is clean, but cramped as many have noted. As a girl who loves products, Crunch made a good choice in stocking their bathrooms with Bliss products.

So happy to be leaving this gym! Like many of the other reviews I’ve been completely turned off because of my experience with the personal trainers.
When I joined the gym I got suckered into personal training sessions. The trainer was very pleasant to work with however she taught me absolutely nothing that I didn’t already know, a huge waste of money. My husband had another bad experience with his trainer as the trainer backed out or was extremely late several times. He also wasn’t very accommodating with his schedule and it was nearly impossible for my husband to even use the training sessions he had paid for.
Sure enough a few months later I get approached by the PT Manager (Zach I think?). He had watched me do one exercise and addressed me in the most ARROGANT and CONDESCENDING way. He acted as if I was just a stupid girl who didn’t know anything about working out, clearly he thought I was an easy target. If he would have asked he would have found out that I’ve grown up playing sports and had excellent personal trainers in the past who have taught me about physical fitness and form. After I made it very clear that I was not interested in more personal training sessions he continued to harass me while I walked out and even over email.
Tonight I had another similar experience that solidified my thought about this gym. Another trainer approached me on the stair stepper and tried to sell me more services. I informed him that it was my last week at the gym because I was moving. When I told him that I was not staying with Crunch and joined the YMCA in Park Slope he was very rude even stating «when you get sick of the BO smell and 2 treadmills you’ll be wishing you stayed at Crunch». Little does he know that that YMCA is VERY NICE, HUGE, no nagging personal trainers, and way cheaper. The appropriate response would have been «good luck with the move, if you ever want to come back we are happy to have you».
My experience with classes at the UWS is that they are not hard enough and are too short (45 minutes rather than an hour). By the time you get warmed up, and have a cool down you’ve really only spent 25 – 30 minutes working out.
I was a member at Crunch in San Francisco and absolutely LOVED it. Classes were just hard enough, longer, and not overstaffed with personal trainers watching your every move. Such a bummer that this location can’t compare.

So I’ve been lifting weights for quite a while now, and I am presently enrolled over at LA Fitness.
I came to Crunch with a seven day guest pass to check out the gym since it’s so widespread and located both close to my job on the UWS and to where I live in the Bronx.
I can’t say I’ve heard much about the gym, but after going there, I can see why not.
It’s a small gym. Incredibly small. On the second floor you have a small smattering of cardio equipment and the locker rooms (which are pretty decent to their credit — sauna and showers included, and very well kept).
On the second floor is where they keep their weightlifting gear. It’s a claustrophically tight little with one squat rack, two squat cages, one flat bench, one incline bench, and all the exercise machines they could fit into an area twice its size crammed together in that small room. And then there are a few more cardio machines, just in case you didn’t get the hint that it was a very cardio-​crowd centric gym.
The trainers left me alone for the most part (one guy with an Aussie accent informed that I could doing military presses in the squat cage in a better, more space efficient manner — he was correct — and the other guy I asked if it was alright for me to deadlift outside of the cages — his disdainful response showed me that he was not a fan of my warmup set and then he told me that I should listen to the other trainers, cuz, you know, they know stuff).
I could go on with the details, but I’ll sum it up as follows:
Pros:
— cheap monthly membership ($ 35)
— excellent locker rooms
— plenty of willing personal trainers (maybe too willing and good for beginners, not so much for advanced lifters)
— nice place for beginners and cardio nuts
— widespread gym in the NYC area
Cons:
— bad atmosphere (very hostile and cold members who I kept hearing make criticism after criticism while I’m lifting heavy and they’re doing P90X crap)
— VERY cramped space with creaky floors
— the bars are over used and have VERY poor grips (I was deadlifting 410 lbs and the bar just kept rolling out of my hands like it was greased)
— not a good gym for heavy weightifters
— some staff exhibited very poor interpersonal skills

Crunch is one of the big 3 in the UWS (NYSC and Equinox) — they usually have some type of sign up deal which is nice, but it is still pretty pricey (as most of the NYC gyms are). The typical after work rush around 6 – 8 or so is packed, so you can expect to wait for cardio stuff and weights as well.
The lowest level is a yoga /​class studio — i don’t take advantage so much but my wife does and she says they are really good.
The middle floor is cardio (eliptical /​bikes) and the towel rooms /​locker rooms. there are same day use lockers if you don’t wanna rent one by the month. towel service is included with membership.
Upper level is weights, rowing stuff, and more cardio.
Oftentimes crowded, but the machines are pretty good /​pretty good selection. Also have free wifi with your crunch login.

Really Crunch? I tried to use a 7 day free pass I was mailed to test out the club and they wouldn’t let me because I had been to one of their clubs in LOS ANGELES 10 YEARS AGO. Bahahahah. When he offered me one free day I tried to explain that I would only join if I liked the classes and the week allowed me to test out the variety they offer (since they are different every day). But alas, the guy with the pony tail treated my thirty something ass as if my whole purpose in life was to scam Crunch gym out of 7 free days, and he wasn’t gonna let me get away with it (point being: I’m not a broke 18 yr old trying to get a free week of working out).
Hey Crunch, I just moved to NY (a block away from you) and was most likely going to join with my husband. You just lost two paying members. Sweet rules morons. Judging by your customer service before I’m even a member, I can’t imagine how you’d treat me once you actually had my money. Just a suggestion, maybe make the offer to new guests AND to people who haven’t been to a Crunch Gym ON THIS SIDE OF THE COUNTRY IN 10 YEARS. Sorry I don’t remember the classes and amenities from THAT location TEN YEARS AGO enough to decide whether or not to join your location. Thanks for reminding me how much I hate gyms. Yoga studio it is.

This is my local Crunch. It gets pretty busy during the 5−8p afterworkrush, but other than that you usually have plenty of space to yourself.
Main floor is cardio and locker rooms. Lower level has the yoga studio and the classroom. Second floor has weights, machines, stretching and personal training areas, and a few more treadmills.
If we’re there at the same time, I’ll be the one crying on the floor and making excuses to get out of doing my training with Demi. (She’s really fantastic. I’m just a lazy bum.)