In-Shape: Carmel

The gym is first-​rate: a good selection of equipment, lots of natural light, and friendly, helpful staff. Furthermore, my personal trainer, Bobby, is everything one wants in a trainer: knowledgeable, concerned to tailor your exercise program to your specific needs and future facilities, clear in his instructions, and unfailingly cordial. A good experience.
Richard S.

In-​shape Carmel is definitely one of the nicest and best gyms that I have ever been to. There is a good amount of weights and equipment to choose from. Everything is very clean and well kept. The classes are great. One of the main reasons I enjoy this gym so much is because of Brian Walsh and his personal training staff. I have always lacked certain things with my workouts, after meeting with Brian and setting up a personal training and workout schedule, I am so happy with my exercise regimen now. Brian is amazing and I highly recommend anyone go see him and his crew at In-​shape Carmel.

I started going to this Inshape because it isn’t very crowded and everyone is very kind and supportive. I’m not the most in shape person so it is nice that the other gym members that go to the Carmel location are encouraging. I train with Ashley Rappa Rodriguez and she is AMAZING! Talk about reaching your goals! She pushes me and won’t let me tell myself I can’t do it. She is an incredible athlete and knows what she is doing. Not only does she win triathlons but she is also constantly working to help people. I’ve lost significant weight since I started training with her and gained muscle. The best of both worlds!
The gym management is nice — a young group of positive people which you want to surround yourself with in order to make goals and reach them.
Overall it’s hard to make yourself go to the gym — but over the past year I’ve started to enjoy going here. Not just to see my trainer and continue towards my goals — but to see all the smiley people! I’ll stick with this group.

Lyndsey is my trainer in Carmel and she is like having a physical therapist and a trainer combined! She is knowledgeable and careful and yet challenges me to improve every session. I will miss her when she begins the next part of her career in Physical Therapy attending college for her degree.

The trainers here are awesome! Ashley motivated me to work harder and be a better me in 2015. I’ve seen more progress than I thought possible. Great gym and great people. Perfect place for being serious about getting in shape this new year!

Three stars because of the front desk staff and instructors at the gym. Missing two stars because the gym bathrooms/​changing rooms are filthy. Same pile of hair will be on the shower floor for weeks. The bathroom and dressing room floor is really dirty. No one cares to clean it. Everyone complains, to no avail. Often run out of paper products and right now one sink and one toilet are broken. It’s a real shame becaus the rest of it is great.

I really enjoy this gym. Super friendly and helpful staff as well as a great atmosphere make working out a fun experience every time. Although it is a smaller gym, they pretty much have everything needed as far as equipment goes. Love all of the available televisions in the cardio area.
The fact that it has never been overcrowded when I’ve gone in (my work hours are weird so I have pretty much been in at every time of the day at one point or another) is a HUGE plus. The staff is really great, almost all of them remember me by name when I check in and there are always fresh towels and clean locker rooms.
My only complaint is that they close so early on the weekends (6 PM), but I can understand that there is not a big demand around here for it to stay open much later.

This is a GREAT gym!!! Friendly people, a huge selection of machines and nice locker room. It’s very affordable and surrounded by yummy restaurants to celebrate post workout!

we love this gym: convenient location, GREAT machines, treadmills, wt machines, yoga classes, trainers (Rex, Peter are the ones we know), the GM (Buck) gets A+, friendly people who love to razz each other as they work up a sweat, good-​spirited staff (hi Michael) & clientele, we go 6 – 7 days per week to keep spirits & old bodies in shape. Good job, Buck & team!

I like the strength-​training machines, but they are all that depressing grey color. The gym has no bright colors. It looks like a prison gym, not that I would know.
There is no squat rack. That’s fine with me now that I am old but if I were young, it would be a different story.
I wish that there were a punching bag, about 50 to 70 lbs., one for punching, not kicking.
The «functional» training room (functional for what???) is getting too crowded. The rowing machine was in the way…
The rope machines are great, and the equipment (machines, benches, weights, dumbbells, etc.) are all new (most of the other gyms in the area feature space junk). But this gym needs strength training machines from a different manufacturer. I like the YMCA in Salinas and the Garden Road gym (the gym that rips people off) because they both have machines from a variety of manufacturers.
And unfortunately, this gym is in a boring building. Look at some of the other gyms in the vicinity. Look at CVAC or the UC Santa Cruz gym or even the Garden Road gym (the one that rips people off). All of those gyms are in architecturally interesting buildings.

The key thing for me was finding a gym near my house because I knew if it was a hassle to get to, I wouldn’t go. I have to say that because I used that as my main criteria, I’m there AT LEAST 4 days a week, if not more.
Contrary to what another reviewer wrote, I find the trainers, and Rex in particular, to be quite good at what they do. I’ve never felt rushed or taken advantage of. I feel as though my goals and concerns are heard and acted upon. Rex has helped me accomplish what I thought was impossible… getting THERE… in order to get fit. My sessions with him are varied, thorough, and fun. You gotta have a sense of humor when you feel ugly, sweaty, and fat… and Rex never fails to make me laugh.
I find that most of the other staff members are helpful, but not intrusive. In particular, I have to mention Jeff as being a star. The man never sits still. He is in constant motion cleaning, checking, etc. I sure hope they know the gem they have in him.
I found management to be responsive when I’ve pointed out broken equipment or fixtures.
My biggest complaint about the club is the size of the locker room. When classes just get out, it does tend to get crowded trying to get into a locker. I have NEVER had to wait for a shower. They need a long bench between the showers and sauna, and more movable stools. They also need more hooks on the walls. If people had more places to sit and dress, the locker area wouldn’t be as crowded.
The classes are very well attended, which speaks volumes for the instructors. Classes aren’t my thing, but they sure are popular with others.
I have noted some cleanliness issues in the locker room, but only on Sundays… perhaps more management presence on the weekend might help.
Overall, I feel it’s a good value for the money. Yeah, the towels are skimpy, but I’m not paying CVAC or CVR membership dues each month. If it becomes an issue… I’ll bring my own towel.

Pro: Clean facilities.
Con:The management is all too friendly when they’re trying to /​in the process of taking your money. Once that is finished, they are useless. Never return phone calls or messages. I’ve even been brushed off while there in person. I do not recommend joining here and regret that I ever gave them my money. Rex especially is a complete waste of time.
Everything else: Day passes are $ 15, which I find to be too pricey, but hey that’s Carmel for ya.

I travel to Monterey/​Carmel about 4 times a year and I always go running. This time I decided that since I was here long enough, I needed to do something other than run. I had heard about one of the instructors here, Kadria and was excited that she was teaching during my stay.
The gym was very clean, well lit and staffed with very nice people. The space isn’t huge but it wasn’t crowded either.
I took two classes with Kadria today, Barre and Spin. She was very sweet and professional. She seems to know all of her students by name and bantered back and fourth with everyone. I really enjoyed the spin class. Kadria is very motivating.
I look forward to going back in a couple of days to lift weights.
Yes, a one day pass is $ 15.