Next Generation Memorial Drive

The resort-​gym of Adelaide that feels more like an old, slow country club that plods along… I was a member here for a year before I moved overseas and trying to cancel my membership was hell and much more difficult than it needed to be. First of all when you claim top spot as the most expensive gym in the city you don’t expect an advertisement car in the front lobby — it’s like paying for a movie and needing to watch ads. I always thought that the classes at the end of the day were too close together and the floor is wet with sweat and the mats weren’t clean either. The gym equipment in general felt like it hadn’t been cleaned regularly enough and when you pay that much money for membership I expect trainers to be available to help around on the floor where required.
Now to the actual vibe and feel of the place… I don’t know who designed the interior but they must’ve been old and had no sense of style, even with a recent update. The café here should represent something that people want to actually eat out and drink in but the staff are so painfully slow and the food menu is so disappointing that I can’t be bothered trying. This place just has so much potential that isn’t being realised and it’s disappointing — although they do have absolutely everything you could need from your gym/​tennis club.
The front desk staff are also slow and clearly not empowered to make decisions, the tennis club is poorly organised and the only thing they really have going for them is the facilities that in a lot of cases just aren’t kept clean. The trainers and classes are some of the best I’ve been to but the best trainers classes will book out in mere hours when they’re released.

The café/​Restaurant at Next Gen is great lace to sit be the fire and restock all the calories you just burned off. The muffins are a guilty pleasure of mine!

So much more to offer than a regular gym. Pools, sauna, steam room, spa, bar with food, squash & tennis courts & awesome location.

Join the ducks for a swim in the outdoor pool…
Actually the ducks are fine company and only there durning winter when it’s quiet. But I wanted to highlight the importance of cutting past the shiny brochures and smooth sales pitch when considering a membership at Next Gen.
There’s no doubt that it’s an impressive gym with 5-​star facilities. The problem is the management seems to think so too. They’re guilty of being complacent at times with customer service.
There’s eagle-​eyed attention to detail when it comes to signing new members. An activities board at the entrance, used to make it look like there’s heaps of stuff going on, is updated daily. In reality, the information on this board is next to useless for members. But things you’d actually like to use, the iron, the scale, the toilets take ages to be fixed when they break.
It’s not often you need to talk to a staff member, but when you do, you can feel like you’re interrupting. They’re particularly bad at acknowledging you and at worst can be snarky. Which is funny because they mostly seem like good people and that it’s the general culture around the gym.
I’d like to join the council gym (North Adelaide Aquatic centre) which you can bundle with a years worth of golf at the North Adelaide Golf Course for roughly the same price as an ace member at Next Gen.
But even though my contract’s up, Next Gen requires 3 months notice to quit. I’m the idiot who signed the contract, but why do they make it so hard to leave.
Their facilities are impressive, but are not matched with equally impressive service.

This is the gym for the rich or the obsessed. If exercise is a part of your life, you want to have a bit of money coming in to become a member here. If exercise IS your life, around a hundred and fifty dollars a month isn’t too much to pay, I guess.
The facilities here are amazing. Take the tour, take a free session, you’ll love the place. Exercising is one of the more uncomfortable necessities of life, and having facilities that make that discomfort at comfortable as possible is certainly a boon. Sometimes one might have to spend upwards of an hour at a gym, and that hour is certainly a lot easier to look forward to when you have so many options available to you.
However, I’m more partial to small gyms I can attend for under fifty dollars month. But that’s just me.

When it comes to gyms and health clubs, Next Gen really is as good as it gets.
I’ve been coming here on and off for years, and despite the constant jokes that members are more interested in looking pretty than working out, I can highly recommend it.
It’s a large club. Downstairs offers a crèche, large café, three squash courts, change rooms, an indoor swimming pool, spa, sauna and steam room. Upstairs is the gym with approx. 20 treadmills overlooking the downstairs swimming pool and dozens of outdoor tennis courts. While each of the treadmills has a personal TV, I love people watching the swimmers and tennis players to pass the time. You’ll also find on the second level an area for personal training sessions, a room for classes, a spin room, full range of weights, and plenty of other cardio equipment like bikes, cross trainers, rowers, and elliptical machines. There’s also a more relaxing outdoor pool at the back with lounges on which you can while away the hours after your work out.
Membership is around $ 130 a month — more than many other gyms, but you get so much more than other gyms too. There are a few levels of membership; I think the basic one is silver which covers the gym, gold offers an exclusive change area with its own spa, gym towel each visit and DVD rentals. There is also an option to add use of the tennis courts to your membership.
The gym had a major renovation a two months ago (Oct 2011), receiving a much needed freshen up.
Parking is included in your membership although it can often be hard to find a park week days around 9.30 and after 5.15pm. One of the many bonuses is the club opens from 5am and closes around 11pm most days, so there really is no excuse.

I recently went to Next Generation to enquire about a gym membership and I am currently amidst making my decision.
Having been given the grand tour, it is easy to say that this is the most impressive gym in Adelaide.
There are TV’s on each treadmill, two weight areas– all of which overlook the pool, spas, a sauna, outside facilities including tennis courts and an additional swimming pool… the list goes on.
However Next Generation is somewhat of a country club, and so the membership fee (as you may have already assumed) is higher than other gyms.
As someone who enjoys exercise, I feel as though Next Generation would be more of an indulgence. However I know members here who swear that they would not be able to attend any other gym. They have even tried and the proof is in the pudding.
I guess what this implies is that if you are someone who has struggled to use your gym membership in the past, then perhaps somewhere like Next Generation will psych you up that necessary bit. Just be weary of the appetizing café and saggy old men in the spa… Hmmm.
If you are interested then I recommend you take the tour, I feel as though for the right person it is worth the extra cash.