Evolve Fitness

Evolve is small group training with a coach based on the philosophy of Gym Jones. For mainstream buzzwords, think something along the lines of Crossfit, but with a slightly different focus on the types of exercises. One of the main ideas of Gym Jones is personalized training — meaning you have a goal, or an activity you are passionate about and the workout schedule can be tailored to your sport as opposed to following a more generic and wide-​ranging program. Of course if general fitness is your goal, then you can just follow the default program.
I was surprised when I started coming here — I was quite skeptical of Crossfit and heavy lifting programs in general because I had the impression that it would result in injury for me fairly quickly, but the head coach at Evolve is very conscious and outspoken about the pitfalls of overtraining, poor-​form, and training through pain. This kind of gave me the impression that this gym could be a good fit for me, since if I have to sustain an injury I would much rather have it happen doing something cool than training in the gym. But to the opposite end, when you’re physically healthy there is a lot of encourage and opportunity to test your maximum potential under the guidance of the coaches. I had originally planned to sign up for a month as sort of a «bootcamp» experience but I became so addicted to the workouts and the bonding between the people that you share the pain with daily that within a few weeks I started fitting my life around the workouts. Now day in and day out, these workouts are what I consistently look forward to (sometimes hesitantly).
I don’t think this type of training is for everyone — you should probably be interested in committing at least 3 – 4 days a week if you want to get the most benefit and make the membership price worth it, but if you do make that commitment then I think you are getting quite a lot here. I have gained a lot of insight and new ideas about my exercise régime and overall health just from spending time talking with the coaches. They take a lot of heart to the program and the gym so there is a real interest in your own personal goals and needs. I and the members I have talked to about it really feel like they listen to what we want to do and the direction we want to move the gym towards.
I wouldn’t be concerned about your current state of fitness so much as how you feel mentally. You can find all levels of people here and some of the later classes on the weekdays tend to be really small so you can get a lot of personal attention when you begin (and in any case they always scale the workouts to your level). If increasing your level of fitness is your goal and you keep that in mind, then you will definitely find the training that’s right for you here no matter your starting point.
If there were one thing that is a little difficult about the gym it’s that it is actually inside of another gym called Planet Fitness. At the moment, the «box» where the workouts take place can occasionally feel a little small but the class sizes are capped at 8 so it’s quite rare that we are really pushing the space requirements.
I train here and put a lot of my time, and sure, some money into this gym, so I think it’s quite obvious that I would give it 5 stars. Where you train probably has a lot to do with convenience, and your own personal comfort but what I can say for sure is that it is worth coming and in taking some trial classes and maybe even observing some of the «normal classes». I think the coaches here and the camaraderie with your fellow members will really make this an experience that means a lot more than «working out at the gym».