Lucille Roberts – St. Nicholas Avenue

Finally found a gym I feel comfortable working out in.
The staff are very inviting and friendly.
It can get crowded so I usually go around high noon or 2 hrs before closing. The classes are great. Each one differs from the next. When there isn’t a class you can utilize the class room area for your workout.
Kettle bells don’t go over 25lbs
Medicine balls too
Dumbbells don’t pass 15lbs
There’s only one barbell and its accompanied by multiple 10lbs plates.
A few weight machines but nothing out of the ordinary.
If weight training is your motive, might want to ask about other branch locations.
Due to its size I can understand why.

I’m surprised at all the low reviews. I used to go to the BIg J’s gym and this place blows it out of the water! Yes, it is small and they do play the music loud at times, but if it’s that loud, just ask them to turn it down. The young women that work at the desk are always energetic and friendly while greeting you as you enter and exit the gym. It is a clean facility and they have some good instructors there. Most of the classes are cardio and not that intense, but there are a few that are really intense and worth it.
They just recently renovated the gym and now the room where the group classes are held, is much smaller (I think that was a big mistake, given that prior to the renovations, classes were always jam packed!) They added more equipment, so I guess it’s better since there seemed to be a lack of availability of the equipment — I wouldn’t know — I never use the equipment.
There’s plenty of lockers in the ladies room and also in the work out area, so that’s nice.
Given the lack of quality gyms in the area and the low monthly membership rate, good classes and clean facility, I think you get a lot for your money here!
I love that it’s an all women gym — no more having to deal with ogling men!

Such a tiny gym jam packed with the most basic equipment.
Tons of treadmills, small amount of bikes and strength training machines. In their dance studio they have a whole row of metal containers holding weights but no heavier than 12 pounds!!! Don’t they know that weight training aids in weight loss!!! Where are the 50LB + weights? and barbells? It’s very hard to be challenged when you’re working with such light weights. They do not have a large selection of anything just treadmills.
They don’t have a drop in price. You HAVE to be a member. But if you’ve never been there before they give you a 3 day pass to try it out. I was only staying in the neighborhood for a month and wanted to keep up with my workout routine but this place couldn’t accommodate me at all! (If you’re looking for drop in rates go to J’s big gym,)
It’s as if the women of washington heights don’t work because i would go at 12pm and it would be full of women. Good thing they don’t weight train so i was in the dance studio all by myself trying to figure out how to make 12 pounds of weights into something challenging!
Front desk staff is nice though. It’s generally a clean place.
So, because of the fact that i had the dance studio all to myself, it was clean, and they were nice they get 3 stars. but just get heavier weights!

The music upon walking in is INSANELY loud. I covered my ears walking up the steps. Turn it down!
The staff at the front was really nice to me. Very sweet.
The area I did zumba in was very large which is nice, alot of room for moving… Fans on, I like that it’s carpet too.
The instructor (monday at 5:30) I really enjoyed his routines. One of 2 zumba classes in the city I’ve really liked. What I didn’t like, is he ONLY spoke in spanish when clearly there are other ethnicities there, and the music is to loud and the speakers are HORRIBLE. His mic is to close to his mouth, I dont want to hear his breathing through the speakers, and when he does talk, its that muffled annoying speaker sound.
I did notice also a lot of the women didnt seem to care about working out, they were there to talk and gossip. The instructor actually turned off the music in the middle of a dance to tell a lady to get off her cell. yes she was «working out» while talking on her cell phone. Why waste your time coming to the gym? Gossip and chat somewhere else, Lleave the gym for the people who are serious about their health.
I also hated the area around the gym. I don’t know for sure the safeness of the area, but I would suggest women working out alone to either not leave alone, or carry something in your purse…

Although it’s a small gym, the gym does serve my purpose, which is to work out, not to socialize. The gym is clean. The staff has been friendly to me. The zumba classes are fun! It’s conveniently located two blocks away from the train station. No men at the gym, a plus!

This IS the worst gym imaginable! The STAFF is RUDE. They hire uneducated, little girls, that leave messages telling customers to have «manners», when they are as equally uninformed as the customer. Stay away! All the «good» reviews were probably written by the staff that do absolutely nothing but gossip all day.

This is the worst gym I’ve ever been to. I know your thinking «10 or 12 dollars a month, I can bear it» but trust me, just don’t do it. And if you do, read the fine print before you sign anything! The sign up fee for a no commitment contract was $ 100 bucks. ouch. I’ve heard equally bad things about other Lucille Roberts in New Yrok, so watch out. If you can bear the LOUD music (I couldn’t even hear my own Ipod turned up all the way) and the poor selection of machines and weights, then go for it, but proceed with caution.

This is possibly the worst gym I’ve ever visited. All my interactions with the staff have been substandard… it seems that everything has fine print. The music is always super loud, and the cheapass speakers are always blasting the station the receptionist chooses, which is usually bad club music. The speakers are bad quality so that if you’re unlucky enough to be near them, your ears may just fall off, whereas the receptionist at the front claims she doesn’t think it’s too loud. I couldn’t hear my ipod turned up at top volume. When I asked a staff member if she could turn it down, she responded that it wasn’t possible because it isn’t far to the other customers, who are on average in their 40s, but sometimes the averages 60s, depending on the time of day. Really doubt they’re gonna be into some DJ techno.
Then sign-​up system for the machines is also a little weird. You sign up for half-​hour slots, and you can’t sign up for more than 1 slot at a time. That’s not too unreasonable, but when customers are signing up, the manager blatantly stares the down, as if we’re criminals about to do something wrong. The whole environment is a bit like this… just super cheap and not too friendly.
When I tried canceling my one-​year membership (automatic payment) because I was moving to an area without a Lucille Roberts, I faxed in all the necessary proof of relocation, but still, they charged me. At this point, that was unsurprising. It took a handful of tries to reach someone at customer service, and when I did, all she could tell me was that I didn’t have the appropriate documents — no other explanation, no details. LR has a cheap membership, especially if you pay for the 2-​year one, but you really do get what you pay for.

It’s a normal Lucille Roberts, you have to walk up a flight of stairs and you’re greeted by the sign congratulating you on starting your workout.
Yeah.
Bite me.
Let’s face it, I didn’t wanna be there. But I did appreciate that the bathrooms are always so very clean. That makes me smile. What doesn’t make me smile is the fact that there are hardly any machines and you have to sign a list and it’s super annoying because you have to wait your turn. Who the hell wants to wait their turn when they pay for something? My turn should be whenever I want it to be my damn turn! It’s blasphemy!

Yes, it’s a Lucille Roberts (i.e. the cool factor is a negative zero); yes, sometimes they decide not to have the fans on in the middle of the summer; yes, there are plenty of neighborhood ladies who come there to socialize and watch telenovelas, and during peak hours you have to fight someone for a treadmill (take off them earrings!). What makes this gym worthwhile, if you’re on a somewhat flexible schedule, is the instructors who do morning classes. Wendy, who teaches Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday mornings is committed to pushing you and giving a great workout. She is fun, tough and inspiring. Those classes alone make the 20 bucks per month fee worth it.
P. S. You can always buy some mangoes and cheap colorful g-​strings right outside the gym, once you’re done with your workout. Essentially, it’s a decent place to get a workout if you’re a student, on a budget or on a somewhat flexible schedule.