Anyone else notice a charge on your credit card from S&H? I had signed up for my free year, and then an additional year at the discounted rate. When checking my credit card statement tonight, I noticed a charge for $390. I'll certainly call to follow-up, but thought I'd check and see here if I was missing something. I thought the additional year wouldn't be charged until we were actually into the 2nd year, and then it would be monthly. Any insight?

I think they may have taken the one that was behind Nick's, because I saw today that it's not there anymore.

That doesn't sound right. I just checked ours to see if they did the same on the second year and we are looking good, but they should be charging us for the additional household member (me) the first year, so maybe it hasn't gone through.

Walked through it today - they weren't "officially" open but they let us walk through and I tried some of the equipment. Nice decor, very nicely done although it definitely feels ALOT smaller than LT. I'm worried about the cardio machines and whether there will be enough. Only about 30 treadmills whereas LT had at least 100.

Did anyone get the rates for personal trainers?

Not sure on rates, but my dad won his age-group in the Brambleton 5K and got a $75 gift certificate for personal training there. Maybe that's the hourly rate?

I am going to ask today when I go get my ID.

For you -- I am free. :-)

A bargain at twice the price!

So this is a really long thread, and I know it's in here somewhere, but I'm too lazy to look. What time are they opening and what's the deal with id cards? We got ours when we signed up but I saw something about photo ids, which ours aren't. Thanks for catching me up.

They open at 4pm today. Apparently, pictures will be taken for permanent cards upon your first visit.

Thanks for enabling my laziness.

At sport and health on an elliptical.
No photo taken to get in maybe when I leave.
About 30 percent of the cardio eqip is wide open.

I'm impressed - I'd probably fall off the elliptical if I was texting and exercising at the same time.

We went just after 4. No ID photos were being taken that I could see. Place was hoppin'. We didn't work out, just went to check out the Kidz Klub and to see everything since we hadn't had a chance to go on a tour. It is very nice.

Arrived a little after 4pm. They scanned my keycard (ala Golds) and wished me a good work out. I wish some of the cardio didn't have screens, I don't personally care for them, but to each their own. The TM I ran on had negative incline, which some gyms don't have.
They have stairmasters, bosus and kettlebells. That is a first, even LF doesn't have KBs. The Pilates room is cool and very state of the art.
Seemed very family friendly.
This is a great addition to Brambleton.

I have become a very efficient texter. And it was during the warm up .

Would love to see feedback on classes.

So, if you weren't given anything, do you just show them your license or something to get in? I never went back to get any kind of ID card.

You didn't get a keychain card when you signed up? That is what I have, like the HT or Loudoun library keychain little card. Did you get a copy of the contract?

The manager told me that they had planned to do photo id's but decided to skip it today.

No word on when they may decide to start taking photos, but each check in person (there were about 4 there when I checked in) have web cams on their screens, so it shouldn't be too horrible when they decide to make the photo Id's.

I arrived at 4:45 and was also waved in by only showing my keyfob. I stored my bike in the bike rack by the parking lot (yay) and headed to the womens locker room to store my stuff- backpack and bike helmet. Plenty of space in the locker for my stuff and also plenty of lockers open.
I will note that you have to be like 6 feet tall to actually use the mirrors in the top lockers- I could only see from my nose up.

Headed upstairs to grab an elliptical and was able to get one of my favorites (Precor). My elliptical was set for a 30 min workout (fairly standard) but since other ellipticals were open, I indulged in 2 30 min sessions. Br sure to bring your earphones if you want to watch the individual TVs. I agree with aloha that I find them distracting, so I turned mine off and listened to my own tunes instead.

There's no towel service, but there are little dispensers beside the trash cans with wet wipes so you can wipe down your equipment before/after you use it.

I also checked on the rates for personal trainers. We are thinking of doing partner sessions ( 2 people to 1 trainer) and the rates are about $60 per person. There's a bigger discount if you by multiple sessions. The increments seem to be 1 session, 4 sessions, or 12 sessions.

Overall, I had a great workout and love the gym! Tomorrow I will be testing out the spin class.

I thought there were no towels for the pool - there are no towels in general???

No towels at all that I saw.

I workout with a group called TNT Fitness at another Sport and Health - they'll be starting their group training in either August or September if you don't mind working out with 4-8 other people. I'm not sure what the rates will be yet (I'm grandfathered into a price from 4 years ago), but they're usually pretty competative. Each "session" consists of 26 45-minute workouts over a period of 13 weeks (2 weeks are cardio weeks, 2 weeks are 3 workouts per week).

Good to know. We may just sign up for 4 sessions to get us going then consider the group sessions if we need more.

I can't remember, did they have wifi? (iPod Touch)

Completely different note...if you're going to HT after your workout, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE shower first. Food and sweat just don't mix well.

First let me say the morning start of like S*%&#! Literally my dog left me a present in the kitchen, after cleaning it up I put all my gear in the car and drive over to S&H. Get there only to find that Brambleton, Soave, or S&H decide to finally pave part of the road and parking lots by S&H. Come on who decides it is a good thing to pave the second day the club is open!!! Not like those three never new the opening date, and why haven't the rest of the roads around the Town Center been paved? After making the trek from the Park to the gym, I was welcomed by a very friendly receptionist and she informed me there was some communication error. Not gonna get upset at her, but she did say the parking lot would be reopened tomorrow morning.

Rant: Off

Overall the gym was very nice, but I was disappointed when my iPod could not pick up a wifi signal. Maybe it will be added soon. The showers/locker rooms were great and the equipment was very nice, then again it did just open up. I was, however, disappointed that there were no disinfectant wipes on the weight room/machine floor. I know people sweat on the treadmills but we also sweat lifting. I don't need towel service but I would love to wipe down the equipment before or after use or both.

Anyway aside from the parking debacle I can't wait to use the gym every morning, well almost every morning.

I am taking my fat *ss over there this morning for the 9:30 cycle class. Wish me luck!

Good luck. Let me know how the Kidz Klub goes. Fanlet's excited about the club. I may have to head over there tonight.

Fortunately Sean is on vacation this week so they'll be staying home with him until I get the hang of it. I figure the last thing I need while trying not to pass out on a stationary bike is worrying about them beating up on other kids (Riley) or getting beat up by other kids (Veronica). We did see yesterday that they have a separate gated area for the littlest kids, which is a good thing because I know R&V would love to try to climb up that huge tower thing, but they are NOT ready for it.

From my walk through yesterday it appears as though the equipment with the video screens (at least the treadmills) can show live feed of the Kidz Klub. I saw a mom watching the room as I walked by. I'm not sure if the feed covers the real lil ones' area because I only saw it pointed towards the massive jungle gym McD's play area-type thing. My daughter is not quite ready for the older kid area there.

They have a second camera that covers the other area as well.

I agree with everything you said. The place is no LF but it is absolutely, 100% more than adequate. I really, really wish they had towels, especially for the pool.

Yes -- I agree. I went last night to evaluate the equipment and design some efficient workouts. Of course they do not have all the equipment options of LF. They do actually have a few machines and pieces of equipment that are very useful for series workout people. They are also missing several significant pieces -- most notably a plate-loaded leg press sled. I have actually never been in a gym that did not have one.

Other than that -- they could use another tricep machine.

After that -- the equipment is more than sufficient to design a first-class work-out for 99% of people.

Like LF, they stop the dumbbells at a weight too low. This isn't an inadequacy, but rather a market reality. Only a small group of people would use dumbbells over 110 pounds. (For that group, not having them stinks. However, not even LF has them.)

The cardio equipment is excellent, if not superior to LF. The new treadmills in the back corner are the most advanced on the market.

For the price -- the place is a real deal. (Not the one year freebie -- but the actual price for the nexxt two years) The place is not, however, LF.

The real truth is -- people can get in shap without a gym - through diet and walking. This facility is more than adequate and priced very well for how it is equiped. They have room to grow, and I am sure constructive discussion on new equipment would be welcome. Towel service is essentially a must. It is dumb not to have it. (Places that don't have power lifting equipment have towel service for the same reason they don't have power-lifting equipment -- that's the demographic.) I was surprised by that.

I actually quite like the place -- and I had a terrific workout this morning.

Hit the gym yesterday ... all in all, not bad. It's not a Gold's in terms of weight selection, nor is it as nice as Lifetime. Guess given the price, it's hard to complain ... BUT ... can we please have bags to put our wet workout/swim clothes in?!?! Was shocked they didn't have those available in the locker rooms. A swimwear spinner would also be nice ... wringing out swimwear in the shower isn't fun!

I checked today and there are now at least 3 wipe dispensers on the first floor. They are situated beside the trashcans and actually look like trashcans until you get close enough to lift the lid and grab a wipe.

They have no towel service whatsoever????!!! Not even little towels to wipe off sweat as you workout?? If thats the case then that is really cheap and low. I can understand not having a towel service to use for showering(although not having that is pretty low too) but to not even be supplying towels while you workout...that really needs to be changed. I've had lots of experience working and going to lots of gyms and all of them have some type of towel service.

Does anyone know if you need to bring your own lock for the locker?? Do they have any accessories in the locker room? like hair dryer, body lotion, shampoo, body wash???

Haven't been to a tour yet, because My wife and I are members of the Sport and Health at Worldgate in Herndon. We can't use our membership from there for this one.

There are plenty of trashcans around the club that have the towels in the top portion of the can that you use to wipe off equipment (and the actual trashcan on the bottom). Sometimes you can't see the towelettes because of how the last one was pulled out, but those things are around all of the equipment upstairs and down.

The showers had body wash in them.

Tested out the spin class this morning.

The instructor was there early to help out us newbies to get the bike setting right (height, handlebars, etc).
She was very nice, even as she was trying to kill us for the next 60 min.
She was also very good about offering alternatives and warnings, like if you have knee issues, skip the jumps and frequently reminded us where we should be in terms of RPM/cadence.

The music was great; modern pop with a good beat to pedal too.

The spin bikes are glorious. They data panel provides your RPM (aka cadence in spin speak), distance, watts, duration and heart rate (if you wear a chest strap heart monitor).
I felt a personal victory when the instructor would chirp out that we should be at 80 rpm/cadence and I was already there. I did chuckle to myself at her warnings on the sprints to not go over 110, because I was thinking, 110? I am going to be lucky to get to 90 without my quads exploding.

The bikes also have a very easy to use lever to control your resistance and the standard pedals where you can clip in or use the toe straps.
Plus they are brand spanking new, which is nice.

The spin room has a ton of bikes and there were about 12 people in the 9:30 class, so plenty of open bikes.

Things to bring:
- Water- there's a place to hold your water bottle on the bikes
- Towel- no towel service, so bring your own- there will be sweating.
- Heart monitor chest strap- The bikes will ready from any brand of chest strap and this really helped me not over do it.
- Cycle shoes- not required, but shoes with a hard sole meant for biking really help. I picked up a pair on sale at REI for about $40.
- Biking shorts- also not required, but I was really glad I had shorts with some padding since the class runs an hour. That's a long time to balance on a hard seat. You know you are in trouble when you are hoping for a hill run so you can get you ass off the seat for a few min.

There are antibacterial wipes provided in the spin room to wipe down your bike.

I will be going back for more spinning classes. It was a hard workout, and I didn't even try to keep up with all the extra jumps and sprints. I aspire to one day be able to actually keep up with the instructor's pace.

No towel service whatsoever. None. Zip. Nada. Bring towels.
The only thing available are the disinfectant wipes and the paper towels in the bathroom areas.

I heard some women saying that this was because Brambleton is committed to being "green". Not sure how no towel service factors into that, but I do think one or more of us should ask the manager about towel service if it's a big deal.

I brought my own workout towel and another for the shower and would continue to do so even with towel service, but I am picky like that.

You do need to bring your own lock for the lockers. There is body wash in the showers, and lotion I think in the dressing areas, but no shampoo that I saw in the women's locker room. I didn't check for hair dryers.

On another note, anyone know if S&H looks down upon workouts like Crossfit?

This may be a silly question, but is the locker "yours" to use permanently or do you have to take everything with you each time you leave?

The lockers are for day use only. No "renting" the locker like they used to do in the Gold's in Herndon near Kmart.

My hope is if enough of us grumble about no towels they'll reconsider. I find it to be a huge PITA to have to bring anything but myself.

I hear you, but gym towels suck. Even when they were new, the ones at Lifetime were like sandpaper.

Agreed but I'm not terribly picky as long as I can dry myself.

I didn't see you in there! I was right by the door. I fell out about 20 minutes in because my ladyparts couldn't take it anymore. Spinning is not for me. I was discouraged and almost left the gym altogether, but then I thought about the chaos waiting for me at home and decided to go hop on a treadmill instead. I did about 30 minutes walking, then another 20 on a recumbent. Ahhhh. Really loved the recumbent (I just Freecycled my circa-1998 "Kathy Ireland for Kmart" barebones recumbent and there just really is no comparison).

It can be psychologically challenging to walk into a gym and be the biggest person there - especially for someone like me who was a fat baby, fat kid, fat teen - I can remember the pain and embarrassment of junior high Presidential Fitness flexed-arm hang like it was yesterday. But I've found the S&H people to be warm and welcoming, and any mental blocks are in my own head. I really liked it, and since I haven't been inside a gym in over six years, I was pretty impressed with everything. I will be back tomorrow for more.

FWIW, from what I've learned over the years, most people you'll encounter are primarily focused on themselves. No matter where you may be starting from, after a while they tend to become background noise. I do know about the psychological hurdle and self-consciousness that you're talking about; six years ago I was coming from the 90-lb weakling side of the spectrum. I did get over my own psych hurdle, and it has been a transformational experience.

Candy -- mega Kudos to you. I wrote a book on weight-loss (as if anyone needs another one of those) -- and I talked about this exact issue.

Let me just tell you -- when I am in a gym -- i think the most impressive people there are the people who have the courage to show-up and fight to make a change. Yes -- I respect my fellow travelers who are in great shape and who work their butts off to stay that way. But -- it takes real courage to come out and face down your demons and begin the work that must be done. You are awesome for doing it.

My favorite lady in LF is a woman who has now lost almost 200 pounds. Yes -- she needs to lose 100 more. But I have watched her every day for 1.5 years come in there and ignore the stares of fools and do her work. She is claiming victory one day at a time -- and is a hero. let me tell -- I have gone out of my way to tell her that too.

Good for you. You can't reach final victory without starting the battle. Starting the battle takes courage.

Great work.