Epicenter Fitness

Epicenter moved to All Star Fitness, which was a bit of a let down. While the extra 6 minute walk doesn’t seem like a big deal, when trying to squeeze in a gym session before work, every minute counts. Plus, we live in Seattle and let’s face it, those cold rainy mornings mean the less time walking to the gym, the better. In addition, due to combining forces, the gym became more crowded and the equipment at the «new» (as in location, not age) facility was mediocre at best. I was also not a fan of continually receiving towels that were stained and/​or shredded.
In the end, I decided to move over to SAC and am quite happy with my choice. I will give Epicenter/​All Star/​Executive Fitness/​Whatevertheycallittoday props for not charging me after my cancellation like so many others complain about. I did, however, make sure to follow the cancellation instructions to the T and call to make sure it was received and no further payments would be processed.
If you need a decent place to get in a lift on the cheap, this gym certainly provides that, I just never felt excited to work out going here and that was never the case at any of my former gyms.

As a few others have remarked, this place went from being a pretty good gym when it was All-​Star to being bought out by Epicenter and being turned into yet another ugly/​dirty, over-​marketed, way too busy work out spot.
I was a member of All-​Star for two or three years, and then, one day, there were three times as many people there — no warning, no notice. The new management removed a bunch of excellent Nautilus machines to make room for a large, open space to go along with the three other large, open spaces they already had. So, add throngs of people — their response, take away machines.
The locker room is obnoxious. Despite repeated requests not to, people still grab a locker, lock it up and keep it for weeks at a time. Because there are now all these people, there are days in which there are no lockers available.
During the lunch hour, it’s difficult to get on machines, use free weights or get a good circuit going — there’s just too many people.
Along with a lot more people working out, the increase has also caused a flood of people who go to the gym for alternative reasons — leering, picking up on others, etc. and a lot more of those obnoxious people who do not know how to work-​out or don’t really want to work out (they just thought they should go to the gym). These people camp on machines or try to grab easy equipment and stay put forever, meaning if something is a part of your circuit, you can find a 50-​year-​old guy doing one million reps of 5 lbs for over a half-​hour while he eyes the girl doing her lunges in spandex pants… there are gaggles of these guys every day…
To put it simply, you can’t combine two gyms without adding additional space and have a workable, useful place to work out. And the new management has first of all done nothing to alleviate the pressure and secondly, they’ve sought to make it worse. One of the main studios is off limits while a bunch of wanna be trainers get instruction and has been since Epicenter bought the gym. They’re also aggressively seeking new members — despite the fact that space is already at a minimum.
When I complained (multiple times), all I got was promises of more «amenities», but these are all useless promises — a juice bar, a spa, etc. These are all ways for the company to make more money off its members, not ways to deal with the problem that there are just too many people and not enough space and/​or services/​equipment.
Don’t join this gym. It’s a waste of time.

Stay far away from this goat wrangle of gym. They started billing me double without notifying me and none of their phone numbers work. I actually have to drive down there to cancel since I don’t work close by anymore. Very shady…

Don’t join this gym…
I was a member of the original Allstar Fitness and later learned that Epicenter had bought them out. Allstar FItness neglected to tell their members until two months later, but by that time it was pretty obvious that something was going on… the amount of members tripled and the gym became much dirtier (smelly, dirty bathrooms that were always out of paper towels and toilet paper). They even canceled and fired some of the class instructors and personal trainers, so within a short period of time I felt like I was going to a completely different gym.
The management at Allstar and at EpiCenter hasn’t been the most receptive or professional. Imagine my surprise when the gym changed to Seattle Executive Fitness. And again no one seems to inform the members about what’s going on.
Better quit while you can and find another gym elsewhere… that’s what I did.

Positive
Large facility, multiple group class studios — spin, aerobics, yoga, boxing, etc., plus branded types like Zumba.
Superficially glitzy place, but that isn’t an essential part of a workout.
Cardio area has nice subdued lighting, which I like.
Cybex resistance/​strength gear is OK, but LifeFitness/​Hammerstrength would be better.
Too many treadmills and not enough elliptical trainer machines.
Freemotion brand cable system trainer machines in free weight area — very good.
Women’s only gym on second floor.
Stretching room with mats, balance balls, stretching bands, and so on.
Spray bottles around for cleaning equipment, using small cloth towels provided.
Cleaning staff is visible and actively cleans gym areas and locker rooms.
Women’s locker room has reasonably clean showers, plus steam and sauna.
Some of the personal trainers seem pretty good, others could be better.
Rock climbing wall available.
Snack restaurant open from 7:00AM — 2:00 PM.
511 Olive Way is a nicer section of downtown.
Hours are — 5AM — 9PM weekdays, 8AM-​8PM weekends, but longer evening hours would be better.
Negative
Cybex brand resistance/​strength equipment set is NOT complete, various exercise types missing.
— they should have brought over some of the HammerStrength gear from old gym.
In July Precor cardio machines were brought over from the old gym, but they were then removed in August. Now there aren’t enough elliptical machines. They also removed the Precor adaptive motion trainers (AMT), and never brought the Precor stair climbing machines over from the old gym either.
Ellipticals — there are now only six Precor 556i machines and only six Precor 546i ramp machines.
Ellipticals not properly calibrated: have zero timeout, which means accidental stride stoppage cancels the workout session and required starting over at 0 calorie burn and other stats, plus the heart rate monitors on many machines don’t work, and the book rests are broken on many cardio machines.
Ellipticals are older model without iPod connectors.
Sometimes cannot find hand and leg attachments for the Freemotion brand cable system trainers in free weight area.
No dedicated Pilates area, so they stuffed that gear into the Women’s only gym, but stupidly removed some of the strength/​resistance machines from the Women’s gym to make room.
Towel Service — but many towels are old and ragged, most have scratchy surface.
Skimping of many sorts began after Epicenter takeover, like no longer stocking paper towels in both dispensers in locker room.
Switched (skimping probably) from basic cable tv on cardio machines to junk Dish Network satellite that doesn’t even have the basic broadcast ABC, CBS, FOX, only NBC. Who needs c-​span, Lifetime, E, and junk like that at the gym? This sort of lame attempt at cost saving weakens the gym. Bad new management did not know to leave well enough alone.
Gym is carpeted and the carpets are filthy, especially in the light colored major traffic areas. They look like they haven’t been shampooed in years. It is gross enough that if I dropped my towel on it I would have to get a fresh one.
Heard plenty from acquaintances about credit/​debit scamming when trying to end/​cancel membership, just like every gym on earth!
(see other reviews here about that too)
(management doesn’t seem to understand such behavior destroy future membership potential for all those peoples’ friends!)
Better Business Bureau — F — rating (like every other gym!)
During rush periods there aren’t enough lockers, or cardio machines.
Had eight Espresso bike machines — but then they removed all but one (Espresso has cool visual mapping system) !
Personnel changes like a revolving door, implies business instability.
Some management has been fired recently, and the signage doesn’t make the gym identity clear either, with «Allstar» continuing to appear throughout parts of the gym. The gym seems about to rebrand itself to «Seattle Executive Fitness», appearing on the tvs and a new web domain.
Monthly dues members get charged all sorts of fees that people who buy a long term prepaid membership don’t get charged.
Personal trainer sessions are expensive, and used to push expensive supplements.
Longer hours would help — say to 11:00 PM every day.
Don’t expect management to ever respond to any suggestions.
Conclusions
The old gym wasn’t fancy, but its equipment setup was more complete for a good combination cardio and resistance/​strength workout. Epicenter/​Allstar Executive club has great potential, but its bad management may be destroying it, like every other gym in existence. There seems to be no escape from the bad management that seems to plague the entire gym industry. It is sad to see such potential squandered. With just a little effort and attention this could be a great gym. Also, be careful with your credit/​debit card if and/​or when you end your membershi

As a member of both Allstar Fitness and Epicenter, I have to say, they both suck.
I left Epicenter, because the customer service was terrible. I switched membership to the Allstar Fitness downtown. The location was much nicer. But then, without telling us, we were bombarded with new members recently.
When I began my membership at Allstar, they told me that they limited memberships, so that the place would seem exclusive. But it seems like, right before they sold it to Epicenter, they began to sell memberships at discounted rates for everyone, so they could commit people to a crowded gym and run out the door with a lot of cash. I can’t getting calling from their salespeople to pay for the full year’s membership upfront.
Now I know why they were so pushy.
The gym has been crowded, even for the summer. It is filled with Epicenter members, Allstar members, and the people suckered into buying a discounted paid in full membership.
The moral of the story is: if the gym is pushing paid in full yearly memberships, something is up. I use the other Allstar fitness locations but I’ve heard rumors that they want to sell that to Epicenter as well. That may explain why they never fix anything in the other Allstar locations.

DO NOT JOIN THIS GYM
The quality of Allstar (now Epicenter) has gone downhill in a big way since it became Epicenter. The crowd has gone up and the facilities have gone down. Allstar/​Epicenter claims this is a newly renovated location (listen to their hold music) but the equipment is old and is not taken care of. The facility is dirty: you cannot find spray cleaning bottles for the equipment anywhere (which considering how many people move though there is just gross). The locker facilities smell, have standing water everywhere, broken hair dryers, showers constantly going offline. They have a «towel service» which consists of towels that you probably wouldn’t even use to clean your house with (stained, holes in them). When you join they charge you a «maintenance fee» for the gym which is just laughable.
They use accounting gimmicks: They charge you first month, last month and a «maintenance fee.» If you cancel your membership you are subject to a «30 day cancelation process» which means that if you don’t cancel 30 days before the next billing cycle they charge you again + the last month that you pre-​paid when you joined so a cancelation at Allstar/​Epicenter will cost you 2 months of membership if you don’t time it right.
Seattle Pro Club is a much better choice. For $ 25 more per month it’s like a country club compared to this place.

As most people are already commenting this gym has now been purchased by epicenter. Unfortunately this was not communicated to any of the current members. Instead I found out via an email offer from my own company. Still not even sure how the transition phase works. Am I now an epicenter member?
Anyways the real reason for this review is to point out the sudden decline in experience. While I understand that some of these complaints might sound a bit like someone who was a bit pampered, let’s be honest that was part of the appeal to the gym. Being miles ahead of other gyms in quality and service was the reason I originally joined. Now:
* Gym is suddenly cramped with an overabundance of machines. This is partially due to some major layout issues and changes to accommodate far too many machines for the space.
* Over half of the machines with televisions don’t work. I find myself climbing up to on average 3 before one will actually power up.
* Cleanliness and care taking has taken a large plunge. Pretty shocking to suddenly see trash in the locker rooms and lack of any paper towels etc.
* Amount of people has drastically increased. I’ve never had a problem finding space in the weights or machine sections (except for post new years eve). Now during the weekdays I have to take what I can get.
* The weights area has become so crowded and weirdly reorganized making it awkward to even grab anything. People are literally trying not to hit eachother while they work out.
* Staff has lost any enthusiasm. I used to walk in have a quick friendly chat and felt welcomed. Now I walk in and get a «now you scan your own card» which is the extent of the entire interaction.
I could continue but I think you can see the trend. I might stick around for another week or so, but come Monday I’ll be scoping out other gyms on my lunch breaks.

This place is an amazing value IMO. I work in Pioneer Square, and Bike Commute. I mostly take the Yoga and Kick Boxing classes here, and do light weight lifting. I mostly go when the weather is not so great. The two Yoga instructors are excellent and on par with just about any other studio in the city, though they definitely are getting tight as of late! Word is spreading. Amazing value (easily 5 stars). The Kick Boxing class which i’ve taken a couple times now is incredible… the woman that runs it is an excellent communicator and I love her drills.
The place is clean, but I wouldn’t walk around the men’s locker room without sandals… The dry Sauna is a big perk for me. I pay the extra $ 10/​mo for towel service… and been thinking about getting a permanent locker which is quite a bit more and hard to reserve it seems.

if i could give this gym negative stars i would. DO NOT JOIN THIS GYM. they have the absolute worst customer service. i am currently 6 months pregnant, on bed rest and live nowhere close to their location and they expected me to ‘just run over to my bank’ to get a certified letter written about why i wanted to quit. you are awful — that’s why!
the entire staff there should be fired and they should hire a new staff that is educated, polite, and committed to customer service — not just making sales.

1) This gym is not for me. I am in shape and looking for challenges and space/​people to train with for triathlons and such. This gym is for people with very low incomes who just wanna get some cardio in.
2) The low prices should tell you that it’s not going to be fancy/​well equipped. The equipment is *old* and the personal trainers are not certified (some of them are gross, in fact)
3) I can’t work out at a place where the staff isn’t in shape. Not one person I saw that worked there, behind the front desk or in sales and some in the personal training department, was in shape. The GM is obese, and I think that sends a bad message to members.
Overall, I think this gym is good for older people and poorer people (though I’m not sure why they wouldn’t just exercise outside…) and is not a good representation of health and fitness for a «health and fitness» club.

It’s just a gym. I live in Capitol Hill so if there was a better gym closer to me I’d switch. But the Gold’s gym in Capitol Hill is totally dirty, so compared to that Epicenter is great.
Decent spin and aerobics classes. Decent amount of space in the workout areas. If you’re looking for a trainer you must speak to Jamila. She’s the best.
Could be a little cleaner in the locker room (but still not as dirty as Gold’s), and could definitely have better management — watch your credit card bill if you make any changes to your membership or buy any packages…

The gym was OUT OF TOWELS this morning with no advance warning to those who use the towel service. This was completely unacceptable. Without enough time to go home and shower and without any other option the members were reduced to using paper towels. What kind of a club is this!!! I’m looking into other clubs now and will always have a towel with me from now on. Honestly!

Gee, don’t you love it when you cancel a gym membership and then they keep charging your card and REFUSE TO REFUND YOU THE DUES THEY TOOK AFTER CANCELLATION? Yeah, so not okay. I even went in to speak to the manager and was told that «no one could help me». So, word to the wise, if you cancel your contract, it might not be a half bad idea to change your debit card too because they WILL keep charging your card. (I ended up having to file a complaint with the BB and opened a disupute with my bank). The gym itself is *just* okay, I only really went for Zumba (which was fun, but ridiculously crowded) and «hot» yoga-​half the time they didn’t even turn the heat on.

I’m surprised to see so many reviews complaining about Epicenter’s card charging policies… my experience was actually completely the opposite. I’ve been a member off and on over the last two years, and when I cancelled for a while (broke my leg: P) I was able to terminate the membership without any fuss at all. Maybe it helps that I used to work for a chain gym… I’m well aware that pretty much EVERY gym adds a rider in your contract that states you will pay for an extra month if you don’t cancel by X date. In Epicenter’s case, at least I was able to cancel in person. Most big box gyms make you call these horrible customer service lines where they hit you with a ridiculous hard sell.
As far as the gym itself goes — Epicenter’s okay for the price. It’s not a spa experience, but it has a few nice amenities for the busy office lady on a lunch break. The lockers all have digital locks, so you don’t need to carry a key around with you. The ladies’ locker room has never been gross when I’ve been in — go to some of the other gyms in town if you want to see NASTY. (A certain gym which shall remain nameless once had a used condom in a LADIES’ room shower for over two days @.@)
More importantly, Epicenter has a lot of equipment and the staff keeps it well maintenanced. In the past few months, all their cardio machines have been upgraded to include nicer mini television sets, and they’ve added more Expresso bikes, my personal favorite. Riding an Expresso bike is like playing a video game while you work out — you get a simulated route to ride and the machine keeps track of your progress over time. Also, I’ve noticed other minor upgrades — the steam rooms are online and functional now, and the carpet’s been replaced in several key areas.
So here’s the downside: Epicenter is way way crowded at peak times, which for this gym is the noon hour and in the mornings before office workers hit their desks. (Not so much later in the day, for some reason.) In particular where you will feel it is the locker room… Epicenter unfortunately has a rental program where dedicated members can rent a locker for monthly private use, and damned if the majority of their lockers aren’t «reserved» now! It doesn’t affect me all that often, as I tend to hit the gym just before or after the big rushes, but I can see where it would easily turn into a major irritation for a lunch hour power walker. I wish they’d find some way to put in more lockers, or split some of the full length lockers up into two half-​lockers, etc etc.

The gym itself is ok for the price.
Front desk people nice.
People taking your money questionable.
I asked for my membership to be cancelled and their salesperson said I «need» to come in and do it in person. Probably so they could try to persuade me otherwise. He was rude and domineering so, no thank you!

Epicenter has had its ups and downs over the years, possibly depending on management or employees; I can’t say for sure.
Over the past couple of years, however, they’ve done a better (not perfect, just better) job of keeping the locker rooms clean. The carpets in the lockers rooms were replaced. The steam room got an overhaul and has been working consistently for months. The lockers have digital locks which means you don’t need to carry a key around. (That’s really great up to the point that you find yourself naked, dripping wet, and locked out of your locker. That happened to me once; don’t let it happen to you.)
Memberships are relatively inexpensive, so don’t expect luxury. But, c’mon, people, you get what you pay for. And what you pay for is a workout. Epicenter Fitness has always done an outstanding job maintaining its equipment upstairs, which is the whole point of joining a gym in my book.
If you want a spa experience, go… somewhere else.

There are definitely some pros and cons to Epicenter. I recently cancelled my membership after having been a member since they opened, only due to my proximity to the gym. Here are my thoughts!:
Cons: Definitely NOT enough lockers. As others said, sometimes you can’t even find one! The cleanliness has seemed fine to me. It is definitely a smaller gym with a lot of members, which is frustrating when you’re waiting for a certain machine. But you can always find at least one cardio machine open — so if you’re waiting for a treadmill, hop on the bike and wait a few minutes till one opens up!
Pros: Great service — love the staff. They’ve always been very cool and helpful! LOVE THE CLASSES! Great teachers, and the schedule is always posted online and updated. The price is great for downtown… and have a few coworkers or friends sign up and use your name — and you’ll save $ 2/​month for each person. I love that it is a new, small gym (there’s only one other Epicenter, in Bellevue) and not a major chain like 24-​Hour, etc.
It has its pros and cons, but it’s a great value for downtown and I would definitely go back!

Epicenter is a gym. A pretty basic gym with a convenient location for us downtown working folk, but that’s about it. It’s (fortunately) not a meat market, nor is it really the fanciest and most up to date of places. This is not one of those gorgeous gyms that almost fool you into thinking you’re at a spa. But it gets the job done.
Most (though not all) of the ellipticals and some of the treadmills & bikes have personal tvs/​dvd players, which is a great distraction for those of us who are easily bored. On the minus side, the channel selection is very limited, so dvds are a better bet. The background music is, as far as I’m concerned, just background noise. Bring an ipod if music really matters that much to you. Also not a bad idea to bring an ipod because 1) you need headphones to listen to the tv/​dvd player, and 2) if it’s really busy, the only free treadmills or ellipticals are the ones without tvs/​dvd players.
As others have noted, Epicenter is a fairly small gym with a fairly large base. On certain days (especially Monday), finding an open locker can be next to impossible. I thought they would solve this when they installed a new row of lockers, but no, most of those were rented out. The machines upstairs can be a bit busy, but I’ve seen worse. The bigger problem is the tiny little area used for stretching — oftentimes, it’s taken over by a trainer and client, and you’re out of luck.
Classes are there if you want them, and from what I understand they’re pretty good. They’re even getting more dance classes and a pilates studio put in — the catch is that those classes you have to pay for. Lame. I’ll just stick with the machines, thanks.
Overall, Epicenter works for me. I like that I don’t have to go very far out of my way to get there. Ease of access is far more important for getting my lazy butt into a gym than how pretty the gym is inside. I realize there are a lot of minuses in this review to still give it three stars, but really, I don’t hate it that much. Gyms can be kind of crooked, bad places, but so far, Epicenter hasn’t been that bad to me.

I am demoting Epicenter to two stars. First of all, I’m pretty sure they said they would give me an extra six months free so I paid for 2 years of gym membership and now they’re saying that was only for one and a half years. Whatever, since I can’t find my copy of the contract, I can’t really defend my position.
Secondly, they charged my credit card immediately after my pre-​pay ran out WITHOUT ASKING ME. I really hate that (and I think it might be illegal but I’m sure its in the fine print at the bottom of something I signed a year and a half ago.)
Thirdly, when I called to tell them I wanted to cancel my membership and wanted them to refund me the 30 bucks that they had put on my credit card (without asking me), they snottily stated that I had to come down there in person and fill out a form.
I totally realize this is my own fault for throwing everything out, (including my gym membership contract) but really it shouldn’t be that hard and these people should have some notion of customer service.