Overview
An accommodating leisure centre when it comes to guests? I know it’s a first for me as other places were always more complex but here we go! The Heights Leisure centre as the name suggests is a community leisure centre, I only paid for access to the gym area and as such wont be looking at the more "pool" based areas. The gym itself is a single ground floor and is a bit light on the kit front. Boasting 3 distinct areas split between cardio, free weights and cable machines with a huge focus on the cardio equipment. The cardio section had the normal selection of kit but the pickle for a guest was you needed some sort of digital sign in key USB thing to sign into the machine. Without it I was limited to only certain treadmills and bikes, none of which face a TV and as guests don’t get wifi I was very bored during my cardio - one point taken away right there. The free weights area has a bench in a cage/rack, along with a couple of free benches. The dumbells did go up to 40kg which was impressive but given that there is a lack of plates or bars for other exercises you were pushed towards dumbell based exercises for most things. There were infact a very limited number of plates over all, which does lead me on to gym behaviour/etiquette, it was terrible here. People were in my personal space, rude when asked if they were done using things, failed to wipe things down and I actually saw someone take a plate off a bar while someone was benching with it.. Mid rep!!!! The range of cable machines was pretty basic as far as selection went but they were the sort that count your reps, sets and estimate calories for you which was a good bit of fun and the built in timer for rest was quite useful - I quite enjoyed this. Again it was asking me for my USB thing but didn't limit me using it. The other kicker here was you have to pay for parking separately if you are a guest bumping the price up a bit, not sure how it worked for locals assuming there is some system to claim it back. Final note - I object to them calling the gym area "The Tone Zone" -> toning is not a thing, call a shoe a shoe don’t go making up new names. How busy? I trained in the morning at early doors and it was actually pretty busy. There were enough people in the small space to make it feel crowded I could imagine evenings or peak seasons guests making this quite a slow experience. Equipment Free weights area Dumbbells up to 40kg 1 deadlift pad 1 cage/doubled up as bench & incline bench 1 smith machine 3 free benches Limited plates No plate loading machines Cable machines including Chest press Shoulder press Facilities Changing rooms are fine, clean and fresh Toilets near gym which was useful There was a lot more of the complex to explore but the limited access of my payment stopped me here Spa Steam room Pool 2 studios Cafe Pricing £8 for a single day guest access to try the place out! £37.50 a month Other bits No other gyms with this much isolation kit in the immediate area that I could find You have to pay for parking at £2 minimum (per hour) Virtual tour: http://www.1leisure.co.uk/360/heights/heights-gym.html http://1leisure.co.uk/new/ https://www.iwight.com/Visitors/Where-to-go/Leisure-Centres1/Heights-Leisure-Centre/Abou11
1 Comment
Nick weedon
10/30/2020 02:19:57 pm
I have been a member at the heights, Sandown for a couple of years now. It's a nice place to train with loads of good equipment to cater from people looking to get lean, people looking to be strong or for those who are looking for something in between. The staff are lovely, despite their dodgy choice of gym music 😉. However, I can't understand why they supply what feels like soap based sanitizer which people use to clean the grips of the equipment. Time after time, my gym sessions are ruined as the bar, grip or handle is like gripping a packet of butter. Could u please changed the cleaning liquid?
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