White Rock Athletic Club

This place is scary.... I find it amazing that, in all of these reviews, no one has ever mentioned the owner. Corey Butcher owns this club. He also owns Financial Freedom of America, a debt consolidation business. This is an excerpt from the FF of A's Better Business Bureau profile:

"On December 2, 2010 the Federal Trade Commission announced that it charged Financial Freedom of America and Mr. Corey Butcher, president, with making unsubstantiated claims to lure consumers into paying thousands of dollars in up-front fees, but failing to reduce credit card debts as promised. "

Google his name and read the YBH article "Debt Settlement Businesses Thrive on the Vulnerable, Use Gym Membership Model".

He even made the New York Times, in an article titled "Peddling Relief, Firms put Debtors in Deeper Hole", an article that characterized his industry as "a Ponzi scheme".

And this is all the good news. The gym is filthy. The grout in the locker rooms, saunas, showers, floors is permanently black with filth/mold. The pool is often cloudy, and during the winter months is often closed due to "heater problems".

Exercise equipment is bottom rung stuff, usually only seen in hotel "fitness facilities". Sad stuff indeed.

As of 1 January they are discontinuing the towel service, so bring your own towel.

They've run off all the good trainers with some of the lowest pay in the industry. They actually have overweight guys masquerading as trainers. I look at them and wonder what could they possibly know about fitness when they can't control their own weight?

Take your money elsewhere.…

A gym is like a shoe - not everyone fits in. I have been a member since '99 from when it was WRAC to the current Gold's Gym. And although the complaints for those that are new to it may be valid (sales personnel), I am going to take it upon myself to point out the positives. I have never had a problem with trainers kicking me off a machine, on the contrary, they always ask how many reps are left and then adjust accordingly. The equipment is an upgrade from what the old ones were in the fact that their uses are more flexible to do different exercises. As for the trainer issue, I have NEVER heard a trainer say (I use one and am around them when I work out) that someone wanting to lose wait has to eat to their goals. Never played basketball their, but then again, it's rarely used when I've been there. In the 10+ years I have been going, I have NEVER had a my car broken into or anything stolen (unlike on the M Streets) - too much traffic in the lot for vandalism. This gym has always made me feel comfortable as there always someone who is less fit than you there (not a meat market like 24 or LA), the classes are accessible and productive (and free). It's a family gym (see nursery for the kids) so it's not for everyone.If you're looking to hook-up or a bright lights futuristic, loud, where the "beautiful" people (e.g., women in make-up, dudes w/big upper bodies & chicken legs and the $40K millionaires) hang-out. Then this isn't the fit for you. Whereas, if you're looking for a place where you need basic cardio and weight training equipment and a laid back atmosphere, I strongly urge signing up for this place.…

RIP White Rock Athletic Club. Ok, first of all this place isn't called White Rock Athletic Club anymore. White Rock Athletic Club sold out to "golds gym." Ever since they did that a couple of years ago the place has sucked. They decorated the place in golds gym logos and completely got rid of all the equipment. Before when it was White Rock Athletic Club, the gym was nice and had its own private club feel to it, the equipment was nice and I really enjoyed going there. Now, pshhh, the equipment is horrible, the staff is rude except for one person, and they don't care about you at all. Trust me, I walk in there and I have to beg them to hand me a towel. When they do give you a towel, thats if they have any, they have an attitude about it, like they had to go out of their way to reach down about 12". That being said, 7/10 times the towels have makeup stains on them from old ladys in tank-tops and short-shorts thinking they're 20 years old and got it goin' on. The trainers there think that they can kick you off a machine that sucks anyway because they have a client with them who looks the same since they joined. Most of the trainers there don't even have licenses, I overhear them telling their clients that they can eat anything they want and it wont effect their "results." Ok, so you mean I can eat Mcdonalds three times out of the day and pay you hundreds of dollars a session (thats no exaggeration) and i'll look like Brad Pitt out of Fight Club, or Leonidas out of 300 even? I guarantee you 5/10 trainers there will say "yep" with a straight face. I'm not exaggerating people, i'm trying to save you your time, and hard earned money, as well as your privacy. You may ask yourself "privacy." What I mean by this is, you don't have a set of surgically placed eyes in the back of your skull to see people starring you down like your skin is the color of a Picasso painting. Lets say you feel like running on a treadmill, but you don't wan't people starring at you like you have tail growing out of your backside like something out of an Xmen movie, you can go into the theater/cardio room. Except you can't run on the treadmill, you can only speed walk like you have a pink sweatband on your head and set of 2.5 lbs dumbbells in your hands. I say this because when you do run, the treadmills are loose and sounds like bombs are going off beneath your feet; and you fell like your disrupting people from watching Karate kid from 1984. Oh yeah, and don't even think about playing a recreational game of basketball there, unless your qualified to play in the NBA. If You miss a shot, a rebound, or fail to stuff somebody like a Thanksgiving turkey, chances are your gonna get yelled at by somebody who isn't a qualified pro himself. One last thing, make sure your car has an alarm that will sound like a tornado siren, otherwise you'll lose anything that has a .01 cent value to it and you'll be left with shattered window or a pried off key hole.…

Not as nice as other Gold's gym. I have been a member of Gold's Gym for a couple of years and have been using the Uptown and Preston Center locations, which are both pretty good and stocked with newish machines. I recently moved and this location is now my closest option. Today was my first time trying out this location and I was shocked at how awful it is! The cardio cinema room is tiny compared to Uptown and Preston Center with hardly any selection of machines in the room. The elliptical machines upstairs are terrible. The Precor machines they do have are the cheaper versions without the option to work out your arms. The elliptical machines that do have arms (only about 5 of them) are cheap and rickety and feel like home gym equipment. Also they don't have a stairmaster/treadmill machine. This gym could be nice if they updated their equipment - I will be sticking with the uptown location.…