Crunch

Seriously the best gym. I love the staff and the place is clean. Most gym smell awful but this one doesn’t. Love the building and layout.
The best thing about this gym is that the classes are awesome. I use to just run or just work on the machines but now I can always attend a class I like every day of the week. My favorite are classes with Shane. She is the best. Take both her ab attack and urban kick ass. Her classes are big calorie burners. AMAZING! Her classes are tough but I love it. I also love their boot camp with Ben, Chisel with Marcus, Diesel with Hannah and Cardio Kick Boxing with Wendy.

The staff is great ⁵⁄₅.
It’s clean ⁴⁄₅ (minus the random towels everywhere, nobody throws their towels in the laundry and the staff don’t come around to take care of this that often).
Price is great if you negotiate ⁵⁄₅.
Location is great ⁵⁄₅.
Classes are N/​A, I don’t take classes here.
Equipment is good, but there are only one squat rack and one flat bench for the entire gym. Unfortunately this is quite a dealbreaker, as these two items are usually the most sought after in any gym ²⁄₅.

Just cancelled my membership after 1.5 years.
Why?
1) classes SO Unnecessarily LOUD
2) membership dues increases
3) always too hot /​poor air circulation
4) crowded on peak hours
Why I liked it?
+ walking distance
+ pretty, historic building
Bottom line: I would rather be running or hiking outside… For free.

A-​OK is literally the perfect way to describe Crunch.
I use the gym multiple times a week and it gets the job done. It is usually crowded because the space is not very big unless you go during off hours.
The staff is nice and I have never had any issues with them.
The place is pretty expensive for not having much more than a gym but I guess that is San Francisco in general
If you are looking for a solid gym to do weights and treadmills, this is the perfect place. If you are looking for anything more than that you might be a little disappointed.

This review is about the GM only and my one-​time experience. I have been to this crunch gym before and everyone is always really nice, and the facility is like any other gym you would find in the city. I go here because its close to my work.
I registered through classpass for a 12:30PM (lunch-​time) class and was 10 – 15 minutes late due to a important call related to work. I know, my fault. Trust me if I didn’t needed take the call I wouldn’t have. I show up and the front desk girl tells me I can’t join the class because its too late. I say «fine» knowing that I could probably work out in the gym anyways on the regular machines. I ask her if its alright that I just do a quick gym session since I was late to class. Not to mention that the gym would still be getting paid out through classpass if she marked my account as «yes» I attended.
She tells me she needs to check with her manger, and makes a phone call to the general manager (who by the way, is sitting at a table behind the check-​in area). The front desk lady, hangs up afterwards and tells me that I would need to pay for a single day pass if I wanted to use the gym. I told her that this was a one-​time thing and that I was on my lunch break so I wouldn’t be long anyways plus they would be getting paid through classpass. I then asked the front desk girl if she could just mark my account so I’m NOT charged by classpass ($ 20 charge for «no show’) for missing the class and she said that she wouldn’t be able to do that. Ookayyy… I don’t want to enter the gym at this point, just mark my account… NOPE.
She tells me its not her call and the general manger sitting behind her made this decision. The front desk girl was obviously uncomfortable because I explained to her the logic of everything and was honestly really nice about it because I know I was in the wrong for being a few minutes late. I look over at the GM and we make eye contact and he quickly looks away as if he had nothing to do with the situation, or as if I didn’t know he was actually the GM.
I’m annoyed so I just walk out of the gym thinking to myself, yes technically I am in the wrong because I was 10 minutes late. However, the fact that there was no other option except for me to pay for a single day use was so annoying because it shows how unaccommodating they were would have gotten paid for a simple action. The GM could have made the situation right, or personally explained which to me would be enough.
All I was asking at the end was to be marked present (for not entering the gym) but they couldn’t do that. From a business perspective the logic is just idiotic because they would have got paid out by classpass if they simply marked me. I guess when you’re being stubborn, and your front desk girl is so systematically trained you’d rather just eff your business and customer over something so stupid.

Luis was so helpful in getting us all signed up and familiar with the gym! He is very knowledgeable about the gym and good work outs — I suggest asking for him if you are looking to join! We took a class for the first time and it totally kicked out butts! Recommend!

Had to join 24 hour fitness since crunch close at 9pm… again 9pm seriously so bad (

Ashley Gan was my personal trainer for 3 sessions. This may not seem like a lot, but Ashley was able to listen to me and quickly understand my issues. I asked for a short workout to complement my exercise classes. Ashly is extremely knowledgeable plus she communicates well. Everyones workout gets stale over time. Also I have watched Ashley work with clients over months and their improvement is quite obvious. I would recommend Ashly for a short brush up or long term personal training. I will definitely use her again to tuneup my workout.

I love this gym. They have a variety of top quality machines and weights that are kept up-​to-​date. They also offer wide variety of classes throughout the week, including frequent spin classes.
At first, I was always a bit intimidated by this gym, especially the layout with the classes on the ground floor below several balconies. However, the trainers, staff and sales people are super friendly and personable.
I love the personal training that I’ve received here. Dan G has been my trainer for almost two years, and he’s excellent. He customizes the workouts for each of my sessions with combinations of strength training, HIIT, cardio, stretching, etc. He is patient and fun, but will still push you hard so that you see results. After years of not knowing what to do or how to achieve my goals, I’ve gotten major results from our sessions and from his guidance for my own workouts. I highly recommend him as a trainer!
All in all, the gym and the training has all been worth the price. Also, be on the lookout for various local deals that they offer — they come fairly frequently.

Last summer, I enthusiastically reopened my Crunch Gym membership. I had been a member of the gym since I moved to the city 5 yrs ago for a masters degree.
Fast forward to last month, I couldn’t pay my bill because of financial hardship. I spoke to the Operations Manager at the Polk location and she was kind, however the CRUNCH BILLING DEPT began to call a lot.
I answered the phone and told the woman that I was going through hard times and I need to cancel my gym membership and I can give last months payment in three weeks. She understood and put it in her notes. But now I am charged for two months even though she said she wouldn’t charge me. So not only is it upsetting to go through the stress of how expensive it is to live in San Francisco… But now I have to pay 2 months of gym membership and I can’t even use my June «last month membership fee» bc I won’t be in SF for the month of June. So I’m paying 3 months of gym fees and haven’t used the gym (I live in Noe Valley and the gyms are a couple miles away & hard to get to).
Basically I have given away money to a corporation that doesn’t give a sh*t about me. And when I was being HARASSED by the billing dept. it was my birthday week… So wow thanks!!! I would have liked to remember your gym in fondness. But I won’t.

not sure what happened to my original review but this used to be a Club One before Crunch took over and def things have gotten better. No more delayed openings on the weekends, equipments are being maintained, and constant maintance over all. You actually see everyone there. You also get notifications in advance. There is always trainers around. They have really revamped the place and although its gotten busier, its nice to see improvements. There has been new equipment and classes as well. This is my go to outside of my CF box

I only attended Crunch for a spin class (I was visiting SF and used my ClassPass for it) and the gym itself was beautiful. Great offering of water and snacks at the check-​in, and the renovated movie theater was super cool.
This is a true 3.5 star review, but I will return again and hopefully add a 4 star to even it out.
I can’t speak to the machines or other workout areas/​classes, but the spin room was great. It was the nicest I’ve seen in a gym, no question. The bikes were great as well, and the instructor was energetic. He didn’t play any music with lyrics or songs I knew, which I hated (just techno style beats) but the class itself was challenging and went quickly.
I will likely return when I’m back in the San Francisco, but will try another class or a different instructor. I need real music to enjoy spinning!

This is a well maintained crunch fitness. Plenty of machines for cardio. It does have a smaller weight training room but has most of what you need.
Love the idea that it’s located in an old movie theatre. It’s definitely very unique. Staff at the front desk are always friendly.

Pros:
Historic building. Decent equipment. Some nice staff. New treadmills. Good classes.
Cons:
Outdated worn-​out upright and recumbent Lifecycles.
Horrible loud music suited to teeny-​boppers at the mall that has been on auto-​repeat for years now. Not even earplugs designed to block gunfire can drown it out much less your own headphones. Grow up Crunch Polk, there’s a lot of good music out there. Even the staff hates it.
Maintenance is lacking, only one soap dispenser in locker room so you have to borrow from neighbors sink. Took months to replace severely cracked upholstery on equipment. Exercise mats and pilates rings are in shreds and smell like sweaty dirty feet. Isn’t that what the hidden equipment maintenance fee is for? Disgusting. At least one loudmouth egotistic trainer on floor at most times, pushing you off of equipment when they have a client. Multiple monitors in gym all on whatever staff wants to watch. How about a variety of entertainment geared towards what the members may want to watch. At least one manager notably out-​of-​shape (being conservatively polite) that is not in line with the health and fitness lifestyle of any gym.

Weight room is very small but not bad if you come at non peak hours. It’s a beautiful gym and soothing to work out in. Not many gyms used to be theaters. Love the golden dome ceiling. Cardio is set up upstairs to have a straight eye view with the projector screen. Only con would be there’s no parking, but in sf what do you expect?
Clean
Small bathrooms

PROs:
— great classes: weigh hard cardio on saturday, spinning and chisel with scott and overdrive on friday afternoon
— TV screens playing movies
— unique atmosphere
CONs:
— instructors almost never start the classes on time
— some instructors take their job often too serious and complain about bullshitting during the spinning class
— please stop increasing my bike’s difficulty level
— tired of getting encouraged to make fake woohooo noices
— they let way too many people participating in a class
— they do not take their own rules of registering for a class serious
— the workout matts are disgusting
— some of the staff members are super unfriendly
— towels are getting washed with the cheapest ditergent ever

I have been going to this Crunch since I moved to SF two years ago and it just keeps getting better. The staff here and trainers are amazing. Everyone is very approachable and eager to help any gym member with their stretching, health, and exercise. I’ve worked with two different trainers at different times and loved them both, most recently with Lindsey who helped me really make the break through in to being a healthy eating and living machine.
The best part is when you’re laying on the floor doing a million sit ups in one of the classes (my favorite is the Jillian Michael’s Body Shred) you get to at least stare up at a gorgeous historic ceiling.
Yes the place gets busy but frankly it has more stretching room than the down town location and fellow gym users have always been very polite and spatially aware. love it :) Extra amenities is the only thing holding me bakc form 5 stars, a sauna would be amazing.

Old theater renovated into a gym!
The old movie screen makes for good entertainment while doing cardio– they usually have a movie going.
Pros:
(+) ipod/​iphone charging cardio machines.
(+) unique spaces.
entertaining to see how they made use of the different levels.
(+) towel service (as with all crunch locations)
(+) Kirsten G as a pilates instructor. hilarious teacher, walks around correcting form, creates a non-​intimidating space. I joined her class as a first-​timer and felt perfectly comfortable
Cons:
(-) locker rooms.
not the best crunch locker room I have seen out there, would even argue that the 24 hour fitness on montgomery has a better one. clearly a lot of things in this bathroom were retained from when this building was still a theater. Old school lockers, some are broken, but most are usable. Not the best place to have a shower after your workout, but not the shabbiest locker room out their either.
(-) lighting.
it’s a little dim in here– think after-​the-​movie-​is-​over theater lighting
(-) the levels.
staggered originally for optimal movie viewing, this gym is very open, and people on the cardio machines can see straight into the group exercise areas/​people working out in the area when no classes are going on. I guess its a plus if you are the one on the cardio machines, minus if you are the one downstairs exercising for the entire gym to see.

Let’s take a moment to reflect on the fact that this gym is located IN A FREAKING THEATER. C’mon, you have to admit that the ambiance, Spanish style architecture, and layout is cool. I’ve never seen anything like it before. I was blown away as soon as I saw the stadium-​like seats with the huge screen and the «pit» which houses group trainings and classes.
The machines are on the newer side, at least compared to the old 24 Hour Fitness where I usually work out. The weight racks aren’t bad either, although they could use more variety in that section.
I had a blast working out here for the 7-​day trial and I encourage everyone to at least try this gym for a truly unique workout experience.
Now for the bad part. Crunch is part of the Shitty Consortium of Gyms in America. That includes 24 Hour Fitness, Equinox and many others who have utter disregard to their customer service. They are nothing but pure frustration to deal with, from start to finish. Billing is a hassle and they hit you with a creative cocktail of hidden fees and unreasonable contracts. An agent had to sit with me for 30 minutes to explain the variety of bills which I will be graced with as soon as I become a beloved member. This is just a gym guys… get over yourselves.
My other quip is the hour schedule which simply won’t work with my gym routine. Why would you close your gym at 10pm? That screws with all the night owls like me who would otherwise have loved to squeeze in a midnight workout.
For those two reasons, I decided not to get a membership here and remain in the 24 Hour Fitness chains for yet another year. It’s a shame really.
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Distinguishing factor: The most dramatic workout scene you’ll ever experience. Literally. The gym is in a darn theater. Sweating, stage right.

Preface: I am definitely not a clean freak. In fact, I probably have pretty low standards of cleanliness. I hostel hop regularly and in general I’m pretty lax about cleaning. That being said: The cleanliness situation of this place is absolutely VILE. The mens showers have a really, really gross mold/​fly problem. It’s been that way for at least 5 months now, and I really can’t believe they still haven’t fixed it (it’s been brought to their attention). In general, the cleaning crew here really could not give 2 f**ks about keeping this place actually clean. Just today, one of the older asian men was cleaning the bathroom, using one of the large body towels to clean the floor and wall below the urinal. No mopping first, just wiping up splattered urine with a towel that I would perhaps someday use on my face. I was absolutely appalled. This definitely reinforced my decision to quit.
If you want to come here and lift, that’s cool, but definitely don’t plan on showering here, and in general, you maybe want to just not touch anything.
I wish there was some kind of health inspector for non-​food places — it’s seriously criminal how bad their standards are.