St. Charles Avenue Athletic Club

I went to the St. Charles Avenue Athletic Club in efforts to become more active before the year ends. They have their own parking lot, which is great as street parking on St. Charles Avenue can be difficult. The work out room is on the second floor of the building, so automatically, you have to walk up the stairs in order to get your work out on. They have a very clean space, filled with work out machines, dumbbells, squat’s, and various running machines. I like to work on the good-​old treadmill. I ran for about 30 minutes and was able to watch whatever I wanted on an individual TV while I ran (remember to bring your headphones). They also have stationary bikes, elliptical machines, and what-​have-​you. The people there were friendly. Most people were doing their own thing, working out. There were some exceptionally muscular males over by the bench presses. I didn’t venture that way, though. They have locker rooms for males and females, free towels, and they have drinks available for purchase. I will definitely return, but today I’m sore, which is a good thing!

I’m a new member of St. Charles Avenue Athletic Club (almost a month) and have had a very positive experience thus far! The gym and facilities and equipment are very good and easily accessible for the monthly membership price. My main reason for the Five Star Rating is for the Trainer I’ve been working with. Kosta is an EXCELLENT TRAINER, and I’ve worked with a fair few in the past that weren’t so great. He is very personable and knowledgeable in the areas of fitness and nutrition and has been a FANTASTIC coach in my journey towards my fitness goals. I’ve only been working with him for about 3 weeks, but I can already tell a big difference in my body. He definitely knows how to motivate, but is also very understanding of some of my physical limitations. If you’re looking for a trainer who knows what he’s talking about, is really willing to work with you on your personal fitness goals, and is also very reasonably priced, then look no further! Kosta is your guy! I will definitely be continuing to work with him until I reach my goals and definitely beyond then to maintain my progress!

Nice Try getting my review deleted but ME THINKS NOT!!!
If you’re black and not from the city, you may want to look into spending your dollars elsewhere. You’ll thank me for it later.
I am reposting my review because I think its important for potential customers to know about this place and the «customer experience» or the lack thereof.
In 2007, I moved to New Orleans in order to assist my family with cleanup after the storm. As a resident of the Upper Garden District area, I found this gym as it was only a few blocks from my new home. What struck me about the atmosphere in the gym was that there was obvious disdain shown and displayed towards African-​American members. I can recall a time personally when the gym person would come in my face yelling about something that my white friend was doing. He was working out wrong and slammed the weights down. The gentleman also white came over to me on the other side of the gym, away from this incident and begin yelling for me to not slam the weights down. My friend came over to the gentleman and said that it was in fact he who slammed the weights and the clerk continued with a «I don’t care, I was talking to him». I asked him was there something that I did that caused him to be upset. He exclaimed «people like You coming in here always slam the weights». Now I don;t know how you can excuse this but immediately we called the gym that afternoon and cancelled our memberships.
So now I am in receipt of an email that St. Charles contacted Unilocal in order to have the review removed. I do have «actual hands on experience with this company and again I have documentation and copies of previous payment receipts in the event additional information is required to substantiate my claims». My review still stands that this is not a gym for black people. Plain and simple. New Orleans has a ton of work to do in this department and fact is as the wealthy minority class rises and other people’s demographic numbers tumble, you have to get used to seeing our faces as next time we may the person that owns the facility. You can’t teach away hate and poor judgement. Sad but I would avoid this place like its plagues with an Ebola breakout.
BTW Unilocal,I am most probably the only member that resides tri-​coastal (Both USA coast and abroad) and as such Yes I blog and review tons from all of those cities. It would be good if you can call the members prior to deletion to verify their review as I have not been paid to write it but have actually experienced very poor treatment as a former member of this place. Rather than taking the word of the business as gospel and deleting a post as this behavior in turn tells many of your users that you’re not serious about objectivity and have now become something else.

I came in for a tour and was pleasantly greeted by the down to earth manager. He gave me a tour of the building and was surprised by how the place is larger on the inside than it seemed.
This gem of a place is clean, well kept, and full of newer body masters equipment. I was a bit surprised to find that they have free lockers and classes too!

I had a pretty negative experience here. Mario is very cryptic about memberships and makes up rules as he goes. My husband had been a member for almost two consecutive years and I had been for a couple of months as well. We took a break from the gym and when we tried to do another month, Mario signed us up, but two weeks later told us the price was different since we wouldn’t be returning for a second month. When we refused to pay the increased rate he sent me a series of rude and unprofessional emails. He also said he would refund for key fabs, and never did.
My biggest problem is clearly with inconsistent and unclear policies, but the gym itself is basic, dirty and the same bad music is always playing.

I have been a member at St. Charles Avenue Athletic Club for almost 2 years. Absolutely love working out here, front desk staff is very friendly other members are friendly as well. Great gym.Everything is clean and beautiful. They have almost everything you would want out of a gym at uptown location.

St. Charles has been my gym for about 2 years now, so it’s not terrible. That being said it’s also not amazing. It’s mainly your run of the mill gym in a good location. The long and short of it:
1. Equipment. They manage to pack a lot of workout stuff into a pretty small area. They have all your basics. 2 rowing machines, 3 sets of free weight, various leg equipment, 5 treadmills, 6 bikes and 3 stair machines. My gripe is that they only have 1 bench press and 1 squat rack which someone always seems to grab and use for every lift. Very annoying.
2. Women Only. They have a women only workout area. I don’t get to use it but I feel like I would enjoy the option if I were a girl.
3. Price. The gym is pretty cheap and offers a few discounts. Government employees can go for a little over $ 40 a month. Worth it.
4. Membership. You can do by the month and I love that. You can also cancel anytime fee free. I never understood the need for 3 month notices for a gym.
5. Classes and Trainers. They offer a variety of classes and personal trainer support. I don’t use the trainers but they always seem to have clients so they can’t be terrible.
It’s a small place and there’s nothing that really stands out about it but it’s solid if you’re looking for a standard workout. The size leads it to get pretty crowded around peak hours but I keep coming back.
Overall Grade: C+

I’ve been a member of this gym for almost 2 years. The machines are fairly standard and the weights are everything you need. But, most of all, the management and staff are super nice and attentive to everything you could possibly want. Mario, the owner, knows me by name and makes sure to say hello and ask me about my life whenever I see him. I tried to get him to change the name of the gym to Mario’s to play to his outgoing personality (still working on that).
Great atmosphere. Great neighborhood gym. Decent price.

Decent gym that gets the job done. Not a fancy gym at all but definitely one of the most reasonable price options in New Orleans area.
Don’t expect your steam and sauna rooms, elite gym equipment, or 24 hour operating hours. What you get is fairly new equipment, enough fans, AC vents, and deodorizers to keep a clean and cool feeling environment. Clean and fresh smelling towels are available for all gym goes, equipment is always being cleaned and staff is at quick to resolve problems.
I recommend this place!

For the price this place is great. Perfect spot for me to get a run in on the treadmills if the weather is bad. They have a weight room for women which is nice. I’m always intimidated to lift in front of the guys. Not a lot of machines, but if you get there after 7pm on weekday it’s pretty easy to get what you want. Haven’t done their group fitness yet. But it’s next on my list.

Quality gym. There’s only one rack, which can be annoying if you go there during peak hours. The staff is friendly and helpful. Music is a little weird, like the other reviews have said. It isn’t the best gym for a beginner, but if you are moderately confident you should be fine. It never gets too crowded, but there are peak hours!!! I keep meaning to try the dance fit class — I’ve heard good things.

I’ve been coming here for about a year on-​an– off as I had a gym in my building. The gym has all the essentials and is good if you need to do some lifting. Everyone is friendly and the place appears pretty clean albeit a bit out of date. The funny thing here is that for the last year, I have never heard a different type of music played. It’s always this (what sounds like outdated techno) dance music where every few songs they say «Bombastic» and sometimes something about Ibiza. LOL! If you need a no-​nonsense gym then this is a good, convenient place right off the Streetcar but definitely bring your own music.

This review is from an erstwhile resident turned occasional visitor to NOLA who lifts with barbells and appreciates a good spot for doing so while traveling. The SCAAC has virtually everything you’ll need for a powerlifting workout (or other barbell-​centric workout, except for Olympic lifts — no platform or bumper plates). It’s a commercial gym, but independently run by very nice and welcoming staff. I’ve worked out here several times over the past year while visiting town (my husband, a much more accomplished lifter than me, did so on one of those trips and was totally satisfied).
The drop-​in rate is reasonable (they do passes too) and it’s off of St. Charles in the Lower Garden District, a short and cheap streetcar ride from the CBD hotels. Like most buildings in town, the gym is an assemblage of older row houses and resides on multiple floors. They have one rack (downstairs in the «weight room») along with one (flat) bench, and a variety of ok barbells sprinkled about the room and upstairs. I found some heavy duty collars, some bands, boxes, and PVC pipe. The staff is cool with deadlifting and sparing use of chalk (bring your own), just make sure to ask first and clean up any egregious powderings.
I’m fairly sure that your barbell alternatives would be far outside of the city proper (or maybe a Crossfit gym somewhere, but I’d personally rather not do that). SCAAC is welcoming and happy to have you. Unless you need chains (didn’t see any), they’re an excellent bet and a million times better than your hotel gym (unless you want to do 8,000 dumbbell snatches with 15 pounds).
Enjoy!

Staying at the Hotel Modern and I wanted to hit the gym after a weekend full of eating events. I swear, if I lived in New Orleans, I’d be obese — There is wayyyyyy too much good food here! I want to eat it all!
Anyway, the gym does it’s purpose. Much to my dismay, there are only 3 – 4 eliptical/​Precor machines here. There seems to be many weight machines. The venue seems that it would have been started in the 70s with less renovations since then. Overall — its a smart idea for hotels to use this gym for their residents. They gym does its job, and if was crowded, I wouldn’t be too happy.

I can’t believe I’m the first one to write a review about this place. I was a member in 2006, and just joined up again. It’s a great little gym, no-​frills but with a lot of equipment and a ridiculously friendly staff. They offer month-​to-​month memberships, and a personal membership is only $ 49 a month. The club does have showers, but no sauna. Oh well, can’t have everything!
I go early in the morning or later at night, when the crowd is sparse, but it does get busy around 6pm when everyone’s getting off of work. From what I can tell, the membership is a majority male and very fitness conscious. I actually found out about the gym years ago from a couple of semi-​pro body builders that used to eat at the restaurant I worked at. One nice thing about this (aside from eye candy) is that there’s a designated ladies’ workout room downstairs, where women can go to stretch/​do crunches/​etc. without feeling self conscious.
The club offers spin classes, yoga, Zumba, and a few other classes, including EDGE Training (for an extra fee), which is basically a group personal training session in a special workout room downstairs. I went to my first EDGE session the other day and loved it, though I slacked off the last two classes I was supposed to go to because my muscles were screaming! Can’t wait to go and have my butt kicked again :-)