Attempts to choose the right gym in Kyiv can be disheartening. There are dozens of options and more seem to be popping up every month. However, there are a few reliable sports centers that are able to successfully balance quality and price.
Four planets of fitness
Attempts to choose the right gym in Kyiv can be disheartening. There are dozens of options and more seem to be popping up every month. However, there are a few reliable sports centers that are able to successfully balance quality and price.
Those living or working in the center might already be familiar with Planeta Fitness right around the corner from the central market Bessarabka.
The prime location is probably the primary appeal of this gym, which is usually brimming with businesspeople running, spinning and boxing away their stress. The club is very popular with the expats. The aqua zone includes a modest 16-meter pool and two small saunas.
But if your favored workout is swimming, you’ll probably want to look elsewhere. The gym on Kudryashova with a 25-meter pool is an option.
Or a newly opened affiliate on Dniprovska Naberezhna beats its sister gyms not only with improved and shining facilities, but also with a beautiful 25-meter pool, a children’s pool, jacuzzi and a cheaper annual and half-year subscriptions.
Above all, spa and beauty services are available at additional cost. For energy, two bars will offer an array of cocktails and products based on herbal and fruit concoctions.
www.planetfitness.com.ua
Membership ranges from Hr 10,300-15,580. Mon – Fri: 7 a.m. – 11 p.m., Sat.– Sun.: 9 a.m. – 10 p.m.
10 Kropyvnytskogo St., 254-6200, metro Plosha Lva Tolstogo;
32B Schorsa St., 220-0020, metro Palats Ukraina;
16A Kudryashova St., 220-3700, metro Vokzalna;
19A Dniprovska Naberezhna St., 569-0111, metro Osokorky.
Blockbuster of a gym
Still building up dedicated clientele, Blockbuster fitness center at Petrivka is a community where adults and children can rejuvenate in one place at the same time.
While you are working up a sweat in the spacious gym, your little ones can be occupied coloring or crafting a trinket or even doing some light fitness exercises at the children’s center.
And for those who don’t like feeling intimidated by the body builders with exploding muscles, Blockbuster’s open space is divided into different zones where the buffs of all levels can feel comfortable.
The machines have special green markings for the novices and yellow and red, respectively, for more experienced lifters.
There is even a small corner stand selling a variety of protein powders and dietary supplements to help anyone wanting some extra help in having a magical body transformation.
In the 20-meter swimming pool, you are likely to get a whole lane to yourself, since the gym only opened in March and is not yet crowded.
The children can splash in a smaller children’s pool, right next to the one for adults.
In the spa and beauty salon adjacent to the sports complex, you can primp yourself with a haircut, a manicure or a massage before rushing to a business meeting or kicking off a relaxing night with a movie, sushi or bowling on the bottom floors of the entertainment complex.
In fact, while bathing in a giant wooden bath in the shape of the bucket or steaming in a Finnish sauna, you can request drinks and food to complete the experience.
www.bfit.kiev.ua
34B Moskovsky Prospekt, Blockbuster Entertainment Center, 280-5426,
Mon-Fri 7 a.m. – 11 p.m.; Sat. – Sun. 9 a.m. – 10 p.m.
Membership: Hr 4,620 – 18,980.
Short work-outs attract women to Fit Curves
If you are simply looking for the gym with the lowest price, Fit Curves is probably the one for you. Unfortunately for men, it is a fitness destination for women only determined to lose some pounds.
Started by a couple savvy about fitness and advertisement from Texas in 1992, the program has gained more than four million female members in 70 countries.
The trademark of Fit Curves is its 30-minute workout, which is found in all of its gyms internationally.
In a medium-size room with only several simple machines and aerobic steps, mostly middle-aged women go through their vigorous workout in a circle with others led by a cheery instructor.
Fit Curves offers more than exercise – it is somewhat of a life philosophy seeking to not only help women lose weight, but to transform their mentality about lifestyle and diet.
Fit Curves members are eligible for weight-loss awards and even can go to Fit Curves conferences and retreats. Each gym proudly displays its “miracle wall” with pictures of the members who have achieved the most success.
Monthly subscription ranges from Hr 161 – 215 regardless of the centers’ location.
For hours and locations see www.fitcurves.org or call 228-8170. Monthly membership: Hr 161-215.
Six clubs at Sport Life
The gyms of the Sport Life chain are a popular, but somewhat confusing option. Each of its four functioning gyms belongs to a Premium, Lux or Business format, which differ in quality, size and price. Two more are set to open by the end of the year.
For example, a 4,000-square-meter gym at Petrivka set in the shopping center has both “business” and “premium” exercise zones. The “business” area gathers a diverse crowd in the group classes and on tread mills.
An energy bar is conveniently located in the main area.
Just outside the glass door of this gym, a hallway leads into a more intimate “premium” zone with fewer people, new and roomy dressing rooms and a mini-bar, where you can try out an oxygen foam cocktail bursting with health (a substance containing juice or milk enriched with gaseous oxygen).
There is also a medium-size swimming pool with curvy edges and a spa zone with aero and hydro massages.
Even though Sport Life’s pricelist doesn’t seem like the best deal, new members can get an almost 50-percent discount if they happen to join at the right time.
www.sportlife.ua
Annual membership ranges from Hr 7,000-20,000. For more information call: 222-4222;
Mon. – Fri.: 7 a.m. – 11 p.m., Sat.-Sun: 8 a.m. – 11 p.m.
20b Moskovsky Prospect, metro Petrivka;
59 Zverinetska St., metro Pecherska;
2/1 Grinchenko St., metro Palac Ukraina;
26 Dniprovska Naberezhna, metro Osokorky;
15 Raduzhna St., Troyeshina;
Kyiv Post staff writer Mariya Manzhos can be reached at [email protected]
