Guided tour of Virgin Active
My 'Virgin Active' Experience
1: Choosing a gym
2: First impressions of Virgin Active
3: 
Guided tour of Virgin Active
4: Joining Virgin Active
All of Virgin Active's clubs are setup in roughly the same layout. You can get a virtual tour of a Virgin Active club on the Virgin Active website.
Ground floor of the Virgin Active Life Centre
The atrium of the Life Centre has the children's facility on the left and a health / beauty products store on the right. You need a swipe card to enter into the lobby / reception through a gate on the left.
The lobby leads off to the women’s changing room on the left, and the men’s changing room on the right.
At the heart lies the lounge with free newspapers, large-screen TVs, comfortable chairs, a view of the swimming pool, free computers with internet access and a small library. There is also a cafe serving hot & cold food and drinks.
The changing rooms are large, airy and clean. They have huge lockers which need a £1 coin as deposit. There is also a shower area and access to the pool.
1st floor of the Virgin Active Life Centre
The gym itself is upstairs, accessed by 2 staircases and 2 lifts for disabled members.
The gym is huge, the biggest I have ever been to, with every conceivable type of machine for strength and cardiovascular training, as well as free weights. There are several large-screen TVs and an audio system for motivation.
What struck me about the equipment is that everything appeared modern, industrial-strength and high-tech.
Members are enrolled into the Technogym Wellness System and issued with a microchip key to monitor their progress.
There is a women–only corner in the gym but curiously it is not walled / screened or separated from the main gym, which possibly defeats the purpose of having a women-only area!
There are 2 studios where many of the classes are held by the in-house instructors.
Each Life Centre costs about £5m - £9m to setup, and this is reflected in the quality of the facilities offered. Although £47/month is expensive for a gym membership, "you get what you pay for..."
