I recently moved to the east side of town and couldn't go to the Tucson Mall location anymore because of time constraints. I went to the Grant Rd location and was happily surprised to see how flawless the transition was to move from my OG location to my new location. A few of the things that I love about this location are the layout of the gym, the staff, and the class schedule along with the Chuze blends bar. There are of course other things that make this location a top choice and enjoyable like the additional equipment in the Cinema, the placement of the free weights, cable lifting equipment and the express circuit. Thank for being by far the best gym experience I've had the pleasure of enjoying.
I asked about a suggestion on what machines that I should use for my shoulder ailment. There was a young gentlemen that took me to the machines and showed what muscle groups each machine was designed for which I deeply appreciated!
You can always get into a Les Mills class and have plenty of room to workout, unlike at 22nd. 22nd is closer to me, but participating in classes there is like working out in a sardine can. It needs to be enlarged or replaced.
The employees are all very welcoming and it's a nice club. I enjoy the cardio cinema but sometimes it feels like more fans & filters are needed to deal with the humidity levels when it's full of members.
The classes are great but I would like to suggest a few reminders for the zumba instructors based on my observations. I personally have not had any difficulties but have seen and overheard situations that didn't need to happen.
There is a lot of camraderie between the instructors and the members, and sometimes to change things up the instructors will move around the room and dance with different members. Mostly that's fun an certain members love to get down with the instructor. But I have heard members express discomfort and noticed they stopped attending after being approached repeatedly by the instructor with those moves that are fun but they are suggestive when you are right up next to someone.
Two members expressed to me that they felt singled out and they thought it might have been due to their race; these were the only two black members in the room, and the instructor was white. The music was from black artists.They were both new to the class and after a few weeks expressed to me that they felt harassed by the instructor approaching them and getting in their space with sexy dance moves.
I don't personally think it was meant to seem like an act of harassment or dominance, but I can see how a person might get that impression when they are the only two people of color and an instructor is pretending to spank them. Can we just say no air spanking? no air-pegging? Basically if it would be offensive to do it while making contact, it is offensive to do it without making contact. I don't mean to be some kind of prude, and personally I am far from it, but not everybody is down and consent is a thing.
On the more technical level, of course they are great dancers and want to bust out their best moves but they are so far beyond the class that they can lose participants who aren't experienced enough to figure out how to modify the moves to different ability levels.
I do think more people should start with the basic class, which is only offered once per week at a less popular time. I don't think people know how much footwork is reviewed step by step in there. It might be helpful if instructors would remind everyone about that class.
If there was a monthly "workshop" class on dance moves with just a bit more instruction and slower music, I think people would attend.