When I was first approached by Total Fitness with the offer of taking my kids to the gym I was a little bit confused. You see, if I go to the gym it is to get away from my kids plus I was always under the impression that you had to be at least 16 to go to the gym. Imagine my surprise when I found out that not only does Total Fitness welcome children but they even have a selection of child-friendly exercise equipment.
The Family gym area has a tv, three internet connected computers, some gaming equipment and a selection of exercise machines. Next to this is an area where the grown-ups can exercise and have full view of the family gym area.
The girls really enjoyed using the child-sized equipment and I actually found it to be a real bonus having them on the equipment whilst I could watch on. Having access to a family gym like this means that there really is no excuse for not going.
As well as the gym equipment we really enjoyed playing each other at some of the games that they had there. We particularly enjoyed playing table tennis.
Now the kids obviously got bored of exercising eventually but Total Fitness had thought about that too. The row of computers with internet access was soon calling their name and they spent a few minutes watching YouTube videos whilst I finished up my workout.
After exercising we headed into the fantastic dressing rooms which were spacious, clean and looked as though they had recently been refurbished. We changed into our swimming stuff so that we could check out the various pools. A few things to note – you need your own padlock to use the lockers (these can be purchased at the cafe but are not cheap). Also, everyone needs to have a swim cap if they are going in to the pools, although we did find quite a few people breaking this rule.
There were a variety of pools with the smaller pool being 1.2m deep. It had a selection of pool floats and a slide which the girls loved. It was also lovely and warm. There was also a larger pool which has some of it roped off into lanes for swimming. There was also an amazing looking hydrotherapy pool, sauna and steam room. Unfortunately, the girls were not old enough to use any of the other pools so we had to stay in the small pool but I did look longingly at the hydrotherapy pool a few times.
We only saw a very small part of the Total Fitness gym that we visited. It also had a ladies only gym, 3 exercise studios for a variety of classes and a large free weights area plus loads more cardio and high resistance equipment.
Gym Membership at Total Fitness also includes access to the exercise classes with the majority of them free although some do have a small charge. This includes the junior timetable where the kids could take part in Karate lessons, family zumba, Football skills and drills and the fit kids circuit. In fact, if the gym was closer to use I reckon my girls would want to be there every day after school.
If you are not sure about getting a gym membership then now might be the ideal time as Total fitness have a £12 for 12 days membership offer where you can go along and give it a go for 12 days to see if you would get your money worth. Find out more on the website.