Soho Gym

I like everything about this gym!
There is a nice free weights area with two squat racks and a lifting platform (in addition to 3 smith machines, if that’s your thing). I’ve read other reviews talking about how male-​dominated the weights area is, but that hasn’t been my experience. I’ve never seen so many strong girls squatting and deadlifting in any other gym!
I also like how the treadmills are facing outside with a nice view over Camden — good for people watching or just zoning out while staring at the clouds. This is pretty refreshing after the wall/​mirror/​TV facing treadmills that are so much more common.
I signed up for a year-​long deal, and that comes with a free fitness assessment and an hour-​long programming session. I honestly didn’t expect too much, and was pleasantly surprised! Terry really listened to my goals and helped me push heavier weights during our walk-​through, as well as teaching me a couple new accessory exercises to help me with compound lifts.
The staff are awesome, too! Natalia helped me through the signup process, and it was very smooth. Jose mans the reception and is really cheerful every time I see him, and makes me feel so welcome!
I’ve tried one class (bodypump) and that was a great experience as well. The instructor was full or energy and did the entire workout with the class, while she sang with her songs and blasted out instructions! Impressive and motivating.
It’s just a bonus that this gym is a 10 minute walk from where I live, and the membership comes with access to 5 soho gyms at once (one a 5 minute walk from work, no less)!

I was surprised to find a great place to work out in Camden, but really enjoy Soho Gym for what it is. The staff is incredibly welcoming and friendly, which really can make all the difference. There has only been one time when I haven’t been able to get a treadmill when I’ve wanted one. There are always several others working out, but you don’t usually have to deal with the frustration of waiting for others to finish except during really busy times.
If you’re a lady who wants to use free weights, I will say that the weight section is really dominated by big guys. But this is often the case at any gym.
They have a good offering of classes that don’t generally fill up too much, so you’ll always have space and attention from the instructor, if needed. Cardio machines include treadmills, elliptical, stair steppers, bikes, rowing machines, ski machines, and probably others that I’m not recalling at the moment. There’s enough variety to keep you going.
Overall, I’d definitely recommend this gym to a friend. My only complaint is that I wish they offered small towels for people to use during their workouts. It would help to keep the weight machines cleaner. To the staff’s credit, I often see them spraying down machines while I’m there, so they are generally pretty sanitary.

This has been my gym now since the day after I moved to Camden eight months ago. Being rather demanding with what I like my gym to have, I thought I’d be searching for a while — in the end a stop off after work and a quick whizz round I was signed-​up for a year in ten minutes flat!
This isn’t because I was lured in by a busty brunette with come hither (… and sign your life away)-eyes, but because Soho Gyms had every box ticked and then some.
The place is pretty huge — it covers about six shop fronts four floors above Camden High Street, and is chock full of equipment. Free-​weight benches, dumbbells up to 50kg, kettlebells, pull-​up bars and smith machines-​aplenty, along with enough cardio equipment to keep a small army fit.
What’s always important at a gym — and something the chains, by their very nature — fail to nail, is the atmosphere and staffing (Fitness First/​LA Fitness — you know what I’m talking about). The Soho Gym team are all exceptional at the Camden branch — friendly, helpful, cheery and always ready to help spot you!
What’s really good also about the Freedom Pass that you get upon signing up is that you can use whichever Soho Gym (on your side of the river — being North I am allowed to also frequent the Covent Garden and Earls Court branches) you fancy — as well as their Buddy Weekend system, which entitles members to bring whoever they want on the second and fourth weekends of the month. Epic.
The other incidentals are all present and correct — single-​sex saunas, clean changing rooms and showers, a vast array of supplements and post-​workout products to buy if you please, Calvin Klein underwear (!). You want it at your gym and it’s there — I mean, where else do you have DJs playing whilst you work out one-​night-​a-​week? (This is less irritating than it may sound to some people).
The place is simply a cut-​above: never over-​ly busy, very well-​equipped, well-​maintained, not too expensive, and the Camden branch is full of interesting characters (and not exclusively populated by sweaty, insecure young men) to make your workouts more interesting.
The fact that it’s a 90 second walk from my house only makes the deal that much sweeter… *smug face*

I used to hate going to the gym. Hated it, hated it, hated it. I’d do just about anything to avoid going. Then we booked a beach holiday last year and I had one of those horrific moments a few months before while trying on bikinis.
You know that moment when you’re looking in the mirror and you’re all pale and goose-​bumped and for all intents and purposes you look like, well, a turkey?
I looked like a fat turkey.
So, I joined this gym. My husband had joined a couple of months before and liked it. He commented that the annoying types from LA Fitness didn’t seem to go here (the preening constantly in the mirror instead of working out and dropping weights constantly types) and the facilities were good.
They are good, and I joined. I’m very happy I did.
This is one of the best gyms I’ve ever gone to. The staff are lovely, but the people who work out there are also really nice, which helps lots. I rarely have to wait for a machine and if something I want to use is in use, the person using it always cheerfully shares it with me. In short, (or perhaps not), I actually like going to this gym and hope it does well.
It has a decent range of classes and the cardio machines look out on Camden High Street, which is better than tv. They’ve got a decent weights section as well.
I’d recommend this place in a heartbeat.

Hadn’t been here in a long time. I arrived as my country man Usain Bolt destroyed his previous 200m world record. The man is a phenomenon. A fellow Jamaican I had never met danced around with me Unilocaling in jubilation. I eventually calmed down to take notice of my surroundings.
Soho Gym is an archetypal ‘Mans’ gym. There are plenty of free weights, loads of tonk guys who clearly aren’t just weight lifters, but bodybuilders. There were women too. Some of them looked like they were there to work out, some though did have the ‘look at me in my tight pants’ kind of thang going on.
I like the fact I can pay £10 and workout without the bollocks of signing up. I wouldn’t become a member, but useful for the occasional workout.

I hate the gym in general. Not much of an exercise girl, but Soho Gym makes the dreaded régime a bit more palatable! Located in the heart of Camden, just opposite the tube, the Soho Gym is really cool — a great cardio area that overlooks the streets of Camden, nice and helpful staff and a variety of classes. Also has a solarium, great sauna and a café. Makes working out (almost) fun!