Fitness Gyms in Thailand & Fake Personalities

Well, I know this is more of an education website than anything else, but I’ll need to air out some things, especially because I’m great in SEO and stuff. So, it’s time to give my fair share of what this is about.

Boutique gyms, the gyms in Bangkok that have trainers and you join group classes. You can’t workout in these gyms by yourself, rather buy a package to be able to join the classes. Over the years, I was on a contract for a couple of years with The Lab which has since fallen (from 3 gyms to nothing). I’ve also joined ClassPass, a company that’s notorious for charging you for not showing up, and this year I wanted to get out of my comfort zone to join new gyms.

And to be honest, in each of the gyms, you can tell if someone is real or someone is fake: from crossfit gyms, to standard gyms that are known because influencers take their half-naked photos in the mirror before tagging and checking in to get the gym more notoriety. Let’s break down my experiences this year and why I believe developing your own discipline is best, rather than throwing away money to scams.

Encore – Sathorn Square

Loyalty had always been in my DNA for a long-time. The main gym trainer, David, and a co-investor of The Lab, at the time, Tuk, were the ones who formally opened the gym back in September of 2020. However, that same energy they had at the beginning vanished. First, Tuk, who’s all about money, tried to making a power-play on me (instead of others) when I asked about using some dumbbells during the 8-month COVID shutdown of 2021. When she told me the price to borrow, I said “damn, I mean, they’re going to be sitting their idle, and you want me to pay a per month price that adds up to me buying my own dumbbels?”

So I bought my own, but I did end up going back at the end of the year because I still had remaining sessions on the package. So, basically you have about 6 women, most of them housewives, and after the shutdown, they had a new Vietnamese trainer who was unbelievably egotistical. Let’s just say I bought a 10-session package (people, I advise you NEVERRRR to buy a double-digit package) because what happens is they may end up changing their energy completely. In just three sessions left, the energy was so low to the unbearable breaking point that I cut my losses and never went back.

Lesson learned? No way. BAD MUSIC, Terrible customer care, CEO being an ass (Tuk) and the trainers just being uninspired. NOT A PLACE TO GO!

The Hive – Not Keeping THE SAME ENERGY

This is a crossfit gym at the end of town. First time I went there, INSANE WORKOUT! So grateful to have met everyone there and my girlfriend even got good vibes from it, just by seeing the pictures and videos. However, when I would go in there in the afternoon, the trainers were snobby. Not only that, the same two that were super nice in the morning were now assholes in the evening. Bad, bad, bad. The consistency in energy was just not there over the days, and that’s they’re at the bottom of the list.

The Cubic Fitness Scam

Ahh, the scam of them all. This gym is full of influencers and women who want attention. It’s so frustrating trying to stay focused with all these clowns taking photos.

What really made me angry that the Spanish guy was super nice at the beginning. Shortly after, it was hard to keep a conversation going with him. He asked me how much classpass was and tried selling me on a package of theirs. The other CEO, Mack, was high-energy and SUPER NICE….but that was just because of the sales. After you joined the gym, Mack still somewhat kept that energy, but the frustration began to mount because the energy and fake connections in this gym, not being able to focus and get away from certain people, was always evident.

I decided to take some time off, pausing the last 22 sessions of my membership, and when I did, I was told at the beginning that I could pause my membership very easily.

The Spanish one, Nil, who’s the cofounder, told me to email — which I thought was head-scratching. So I decided to email and they ended up acting like immigration, asking for a travel itinerary to pause my membership.

I said to myself, “wow, I knew it. I knew something just wasn’t right with this place and knew all these happy faces were hiding something.” From the maid who looked very sad all the time, to the young Thai trainer who gave me ominous looks….I really wanted to dive deep into who these people were, but it was too late. When I saw that, I SAID, “I could never go back there and go to the gym again because I would call them out on the freezing of the membership.” The bridge had been burnt, and then that was it. I complained to paypal, got a call from them, but it was too late by that time.

Then the huge email I got June 18th, 49 days after the 30 session purchase “your membership has been cancelled.” This came 11 days shy of the cutoff date, and that’s when I went to google reviews and had to give them a one-star review because that’s fucking unacceptable. To cancel a membership 11 days before the expiry date….you could be taken to court and sued. Period. So now with this cancellation, I can go back to paypal and tell them they didn’t deliver on what was promised, and I should be able to get a reimbursement.

In a nutshell

Joining a gym has its ups and downs. A gym where there’s just equipment is great, but you have to consider the accounts and if they’re healthy or not. If gyms are trying to make big sales, it’s looked at as being fishy. Stay away from ALL boutique gyms and just invest into a home gym, or go to a functional gym that’s cheap. NEVER CONTRACTUAL! Never ever pay for a year or six months. 1 month is preferred. High premium? Worth it, because if COVID shut downs emerge again, you will lose months and they won’t give a fuck.