Best Fitness Albany

Negative experience: I don’t understand do the life of me how Best Fitness is still functioning with them literally trying to Hold Members Hostage..complete and utter BS, I had a Membership yrs ago and because of an injury I paused my membership and just was not able to return because of reoccurring injuries, yrs had passed and I wanted to get back into doing the classes which I like, I sat with Cole and he had explain my previous membership and said if I restart it , the nw membership will take care of whatever obligations that was left from the previous one..which I didn’t know I even had since like 8hrs had passed, I restated it and he said it will talk about 6 month to clear the other Acct, I said fine, I was not aware that it would bind me in another 2yr contract, upon my second Zumba class I started feeling pajama in my Knee which I went to the Dr for and now had to have surgery which I had this past Tuesday, I had to stop going to the Gym per my Dra Request but I didn’t pause my payments which they happily took every month, it’s now going on 2 yrs since I signed backup and now unable to go to the gym and want to just cancel my membership, now they are telling me I have to have a Drs documentation that I am unable to use the gym for 3 or more months and I don’t have a membership that I. Could just cancel anytime, I told the guy I spoke with at ABC I was never given that option and I was never made aware that option was available and I can’t pause it unless I have said Drs documentation..I should never have to divulge my Medical issues to Cancel a Basic gym Membership, they are free to just keep taking your money and just hold you hostage unless you divulge information they have no rights to be privy to, I don’t know how they are still in business..this is entrapment and Holding Members Hostage to benefit them, I will get to the bottom of this and contact the BBB because this is literally insane.

Negative experience: Crooks! Went into our old account.Information said that we still owe money for canceling when we canceled years ago! All about stealing your money! Be careful dont sigh anything once you do they never stop billing you!

Fantastic experience: Hayley was great. She was friendly and did what she said she wa going to do. She didnt hassle me at all.

Fantastic experience: Amazing staff always so kind, welcoming, and supportive. I’ve been going to this gym for 3 years now and have never had a bad experience. The environment is clean, positive, and motivating, and it never feels overly crowded, which makes workouts enjoyable and stress-free. The people who go here are always super friendly, which really adds to the sense of community. The equipment is well maintained, and the overall vibe makes you actually want to show up and train. I highly recommend to anyone at any fitness level to come to this gym!

Fantastic experience: Great staff and great facility!

Fantastic experience: Such a clean, positive environment! I love the Bfitt classes and yoga studio.

Negative experience: Buyer beware! This is a decent gym but you will be charged an extra fee of $49 per year for their "gym upgrades"! While I appreciate them maintaining their equipment this should all be covered under the membership fees. I have never heard of any other gym doing this. It's absolutely ridiculous. Update in response to reply from Best Fitness: Just FYI my complaint has nothing with your "transparency". I have no doubt the annual $49 extra fee is written somewhere in the contract and/or was mentioned when I my son signed up. However, I know I would not have agreed to the membership if I was aware of this extra fee. My point of the complaint was I find this fee to be ridiculous and unnecessary. I have been a member at numerous fitness centers over the past 35 years (and I currently handle memberships at a fitness facility in NJ) and I have never heard of any place charging this annual fee. In my opinion you should factor this facility expense into the monthly membership fees paid. The point of my review was to alert possible new members to this extra annual fee and they can make up their own minds if they are OK paying for it or not. Thank you.

Fantastic experience: I did a trial at BF Albany, and the gym had virtually all new equipment and renovated space —- it was very nice. If I lived in Albany, this is definitely the gym I would join!

Fantastic experience: Very convenient and clean. Lots of good up-to-date equipment.

Fantastic experience: Amazing gym. Perfect for what I needed. Great and friendly staff!!!

Fantastic experience: Great location. Great team. My family and I have been taking their classes for years. I’d recommend to anyone who asks for a great gym to join.

Fantastic experience: Great experience!

Fantastic experience: Awesome experience! My family visits NY and works out here every year. Very friendly staff and clean facility

Fantastic experience: I came from the city looking for a good gym I came here and the experience Brian is the best the classes are very fun entertaining and they have good prices and they have a wonderful sauna

Negative experience: A young man gave my partner and I a tour of the facility and completely ignored me. It was odd at first, we figured he was shy but my partner and I noticed it with time. He would avoid eye contact with me and never spoke to me directly, only my partner. He gave his attention entirely to my partner and only spoke to me when I had a question but would speak his answer to my partner instead of me. As we finish our tour , he tells us he’s going to show us another area (the locker rooms but he didn’t specify). I wasn’t allowed to follow but he never told me this and just told us to follow him. I didn’t realize I was doing anything wrong until I had a couple of employees yell at me to stay out of that area. My partner is a wonderful man because once we left Best Fitness he told me right away that was not the gym for us because of the unwelcoming, socially awkward, and possibly sexist employees. This is not a safe place for the community. * After reading all of these bad reviews and the cold , heartless responses from the owner/employees of Best Fitness - I’m so happy I decided not to join this gym. 100$ Cancellation Fee?Dirty/Broken Machines? Lazy, unreliable workers that only stand around? Nope!

Fantastic experience: Excelente servicio , todos son muy amables

Negative experience: The staff are pushy salespeople. They just want your business. Told me my son couldn’t work out there when I wanted to try it out. I believe they don’t have any squat racks. I went to Albany Strength from there.

Positive experience: The gym is clean and very fairly priced for what it offers. Just wish the dumbbell selection under 25 pounds was larger and the barbell/cable attachments were replaced more often when they showed signs of wear/damage

Fantastic experience: from Ari Mehmet, very friendly workers

Fantastic experience: Everything you need and everything you could want. Want to completely wreck yourself in a HIIT or Spinning class? Want to have some fun with others doing Zumba? Need a certain training equipment and dont want to wait forever for others to finish? Want to be just left alone doing your thing? Want to train girly in a modern studio room? Or want to shred those muscles with some other packed aas dudes and beat the sht out of that punching bag? They got you! Man, they even got a sauna! This thing is like a Mary Poppins Bag of a building - or those tents in Harry Potter. Really undersells itself from outside but you go in and there is just more and more that you can do and a lot of great people! The staff is super nice and everyone training there wants to reach their own fitness goal and is motivated. The staff really has an eye for detail and do some nice things to engage with you - except if you dont want. No worries, they also let you just train and do your thing. Finally to answer to some other reviews here. First of all: Yeah the downstairs locker rooms are still being renovated but for you squeamish peeps they built some super modern restrooms upstairs besides all the other super modern studio rooms ;) You want your luxury? You got it. Second of all: Y'all old enough to understand the subscription models of fitness centers. Its everywhere the same. Thats how they can even finance themselves. Its not a billion$ company thats using its market monopoly to get more money from you. Stop pretending it is. Nobody is scamming you. If you dont cancel in time then guess what - thats on you. Stop blaming other people for not being organized and for your misery. ;) Baseline: You want a gym where youre actually motivated to go every day, every week or whatever your plan is? Go here. Even if you dont feel like leaving the house you can convince yourself by just thinking about that awesome Sauna - and then when youre anyway there you'll somehow be dragged into one of the fun courses. Oh and they have 7 days free probation training, so no excuses - go do something good for yourself. Youre on the way to McDonalds or Dunkin again? This time stop first at Best Fitness and get some real endorphines for once.

Fantastic experience: Very nice and friendly staff

Fantastic experience: Great gym. Whenever I visit Albany it’s my go to place to get a work out in. I would recommend to anyone who is looking for a well organized gym with up to date equipment.

Positive experience: The staff were very nice from what I experienced but this location is absolutely disgusting. First of all who has a carpet in a locker room? You cannot clean the floors effectively if at all from what I noticed of the stains all over the place. The shower stalls don’t even have doors on them they are plastic curtains that don’t fit the space so the curtain remains open. The shower heads hardly work. There are no shelves in the shower to put your showering tools so you have to put them were? The floor? That’s disgusting in and of itself. Update to this; I did receive a call from management (which was very nice of them and much appreciated) stating that this location would be renovated in the near future so fingers crossed the locker room will be in better shape soon.

Fantastic experience: Awesome facility!

Fantastic experience: Best gym in the area. I go to UAlbany, and they’re very good with student memberships. Wonderful staff, great equipment, and clean space!

Negative experience: Bad experience here. They invited me for a free session and had me sign the documents. They charged me months even after I cancelled my membership.

Fantastic experience: Very nice gym. Have everything u need

Fantastic experience: Great experience!

Fantastic experience: Best gym in the capital region! Great variety of equipment and very well maintained. Staff is always friendly and helpful. Would highly recommend to anyone especially if you are serious about lifting!

Fantastic experience: I’ve been a member of Best Fitness for over 10 years, and I truly love this gym. Currently, I exercise three times a week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. My favorite class is Befit Strength. It has been perfect for me. I’ve been taking it for almost four years now, and it has helped me build muscle and make me feel much stronger. I turned 70th last year, and will be turning 71 in a month. Many of my friends—and some group members I travel with often comment that I don’t look like someone in her 70s. I believe this class has made a big difference in how I feel and look. I truly know what I’m doing, and I’ve benefited greatly from participating the befit Strength training. What I love most are the amazing instructors I’ve had: Tim、Dylan、Jennifer, and now sometimes Emily. They are all excellent. I appreciate how attentive they are—if I’m not doing a movement with the correct technique, they immediately come over to guide me and help me adjust. Thanks to them, I’ve been able to improve my technique and see better results because of their professional skills and patience. Attending these classes has become an important part of my routine and daily life, and I plan to keep going. Thank you, Best Fitness, and thank you to all the professional instructors for your dedication and support!

Positive experience: Upon moving to albany from long island, my boyfriend and I decided we wanted to join a gym. We selected this one because it WAS located near our apartment. A couple months into moving we decided to relocate as we did not know about how bad the area was..we went to the gym MAX three times. The gym was not as advertised.. It was a safe but not clean environment. People would used the machines and not wipe them down, staff was not even attempting to clean.. they were at the desks talking and laughing on their phones. We didn't like the gym or area; and informed the gym that we were moving and wanted to end our membership. We were both told that our membership was all cancelled out and we were all set; I was under the impression that our membership was ended since we were verbally told it was. As month(s) passed by we noticed money missing from our account. We contacted them and assumed it was a mistake that they must have not taken us off autopay. We then were told there was a 100$ cancellation fee, MONTHS after the fact even though we were told we were cancelled out and no longer had ties with this gym. It seems that staff members aren't trained correctly to know generally information about the gym/memberships and we were wheeled in by false pretenses. I will be disputing charge(s) for the months that I was charged and not actively going to this gym; as I expressed to them I now live a whole county away. If you sign up for this gym please be aware of the contract and do not trust the staff! It seems this company will do anything to squeeze a few extra pennies out of people. I would not recommend!! Revised:A manager from the company reached out to me within 24h of seeing the review-- they were able to waive the 100$ fee to cancel membership ("as a courtesy"); we were still charged the 30$ for the month(s) we did not go. This leads me issue to be semi resolved so I will be increasing my review by 2 stars but my prior review still will stand to prevent situation happening to another person.

Negative experience: Not a fan of the policy of this place. You shouldn’t force people in to a payment method. I moved recently and went to a different gym and these people stay stealing the monthly membership out of my account, and charge a 100 dollar cancellation fee. Very medieval way of doing business in 2025, I’d give them 0 stars if I could .

Fantastic experience: Very friendly staff, knowledgeable, and welcoming! I recommend to anyone in the 518 looking for a place to workout!

Fantastic experience: Great staff & clean space. would definitely come back again!

Fantastic experience: Great place good people

Negative experience: I went to the gym and asked about a stretch. I was.asked to set an appt to see the trainer ao he could show me a couple. Someone else showed up and said he doesn't really know stretching. Try youtube. He was there to evaluate. I explained I don't need services just a stretch he could offer me. After 45 min, I left. I returned in the evening a week later and asked another trainer. He too said he doesn't know and maybe I should try youtube. If you can't sell a trainer, No One will a answer a simple question Instead referring me to youtube. You should have a sign stating, "questions cost...youtube is free."

Fantastic experience: Excellent gym. Always my go to when passing through the area.

Fantastic experience: Great place!!

Fantastic experience: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Best Fitness is hands down one of the best gyms in the area. The facility is always clean, well-equipped, and has a great energy from both the staff and members. A special shoutout to Hayley Macken — she’s truly a standout! Her passion, professionalism, and positive attitude make a real difference. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to push your fitness to the next level, Hayley has a way of motivating you and making you feel confident every step of the way. She’s knowledgeable, approachable, and genuinely cares about helping you reach your goals. Highly recommend both the gym and working with Hayley if you get the chance!

Negative experience: Brian the head of personal training is a scam artist. he over promises and under delivers. he just wants your money. and he charges me another month and made it seem like he did me a favor

Fantastic experience: Came in for the first time for a spin class and had a great time!! Clean gym with a great atmosphere

Fantastic experience: Nice gym

Fantastic experience: Their staff is so friendly and accommodating and the facility has the best machines.

Fantastic experience: amazing gym, amazing help

Negative experience: Not understanding why this gym has not been open on time Twice this week. Been coming here for years.

Negative experience: I was genuinely interested in signing up and had even done some research online that required my number to see the pricing. I was reviewing other gyms before committing but wanted to go here. However, the constant pressure changed my mind.. I’ve received up to five calls A DAY for an entire week and a half begging me to sign up which feels excessive and intrusive. The aggressive follow-up has completely turned me off from joining and I'll be going elsewhere. Update: its been a month and they still harass me every single day. I've blocked their number but now they're calling from other numbers. This is insane.

Fantastic experience: Lot of amenities and friendly staff. A great place to workout!!

Fantastic experience: Very nice gym, was helped out by Alexa . Was trying out the gym for the first time and was very impressed i recommend everyone come down and try it for yourself

Fantastic experience: Always love coming here. Staff is super nice

Fantastic experience: Great Gym!! HALEY at the front desk was very helpful

Fantastic experience: Excellent staff - Ms Alexa was amazing Good equipment Downstairs lot of equipment friendly environments

Fantastic experience: Good service I like the place beautiful spot to work out

Fantastic experience: Great gym facility and friendly staff! Equipment is great condition and pretty much has everything you need. 10/10

Fantastic experience: Has very clean amenities and a lot of up to date equipment.

Fantastic experience: Awesome spot. Great people.

Fantastic experience: Amazing staff, and great gym

Fantastic experience: I joined in mid-December and waited a few months to review. I primarily attend the Fuller Road and Central Ave branches. I had a membership to Planet Fitness but didn't like the lack of free weights and smith machines that always had lines since most of the venue was for abs and cardio. I came down to Vent and Best. Both had great features and the rates/amenities for Vent are a little better but I visited right after I had the Best Fitness tour and Vent was really, really busy. In the end chose Best due to location(s), reasonable costs, cleanliness of Fuller Road, lack of crazy long lines for equipment and really value the BFitt classes. When exploring fitness locations I saw complaints about Best for early termination fees, but they were very clear with me what they were, and reiterated it several times. Also others criticized the BFitt classes repetition, I have not found that to be the case at all...or when it has it's been appropriate. These classes have been my favorite aspect of Best--special shout outs to Emma, Emily, Guy, and Dylan with whom I've taken most of the classes with and have really valued them, noticed changes in my body composition, endurance, and strength over the past 5 or so months. I recommend!

Fantastic experience: Very nice employees, took care of me right away

Positive experience: I love my gym. Wish it was 24 hours though that’s the one thing that bothers me and makes it difficult for me to keep a consistent routine.

Fantastic experience: I joined Best in October and am really enjoying it. Very clean and the staff is super nice. I particularly love the Zumba classes with Emma, she is awesome!

Fantastic experience: Had a great experience when I dropped in for the day. The facilities are spacious and the staff was very helpful!

Negative experience: Can you cancel my membership, please?? I called in yesterday to cancel it, and was told I needed to come in in person after 8am because that is the policy. So I went in today, after 8am, and was told that a manager was not there so they could not cancel my membership- and to come in after 8am on Monday to see one. Before I left I was also given the number of a financial company that I can apparently call to cancel- what about your in person cancellation policy? I really did not think it would be such a hassle to cancel a gym membership- please just cancel mine! I will take down the review if my membership gets cancelled and no fees are incurred.

Fantastic experience: Great experience at Best Fitness today! Alina was very helpful!

Fantastic experience: Great gym with multiple levels. Has all of the cardio machines, a full suite of weights, & very clean

Fantastic experience: Best health club gym if you want to gain strength and cardio endurance. The Personal Trainers know what they are doing and are very knowledgeable. Many more benefits that can be mentioned. A+ Especially the Central Ave location in Albany.

Fantastic experience: Great! Alexa was the best

Positive experience: They have a good amount of machines!

Negative experience: Scheduled a consultation for a personal trainer with a staff member over the phone. After inconveniently traveling to the location, I find out upon arrival that I was given incorrect information about the process. They had no idea that an appointment had even been scheduled for me because apparently it wasn’t the proper procedure to even do so. If they can’t follow their own procedures, I don’t trust them with my health & fitness.

Fantastic experience: Great gym, has all the equipment I need and is not to busy.

Fantastic experience: I had the best time here and the workers are amazing.

Fantastic experience: Had great service and great equipment. Enjoyed my time at the gym.

Fantastic experience: Great gym, great experience, great staff

Fantastic experience: I always come home and come to this gym because of how i’m treated , the cleanliness of the facility, and the overall respect and help i’ve given to make my trip back to albany as simple and easy as possible. Quality equipment, great community, and the best staff money can buy!

Fantastic experience: This is a great gym, the facility is so spacious and clean, and all the members are so nice and helpful. Steven especially was so kind and gave us a great tour.

Fantastic experience: I'm back visiting, and they've fixed up the facility and improved the equipment. The staff and patrons are still the best part. See you next time I visit Albany!

Negative experience: I want to like this gym, but one really unfortunate thing bring it from 5 stars down to 2 stars — the treadmills. While multiple of them don’t work at all, I have a few times been running 9mph or faster and it just comes to a dead stop. They tell me they stop automatically if it’s been 30 minutes, but I was only like 5 minutes into my run. It’s dangerous. They shrug their shoulders. So, careful going here if you like running on the treadmills. The bathrooms in the men’s locker room are also not in the greatest shape, but it’s not too bad. Other than that, they have power racks, a large weight room, a turf area and a bunch of kettlebells, to name a few things.

Positive experience: Steven was very helpful in orienting me as a new member. This is one of the few gyms in the capital region that offer pilates and barre classes. The instructors are professional. While the main floor is renovated, the locker rooms could be better.

Fantastic experience: Great staff, and awesome classes!

Fantastic experience: great place to work out. Machines are awesome

Fantastic experience: The classes here are amazing. The trainers are so good. And the gym manager is always very helpful.

Fantastic experience: Great staff

Fantastic experience: I recently had the pleasure of exercising here. The staff is very friendly

Fantastic experience: Great service

Fantastic experience: Great place work out great environment. Great staff love the machine. Wouldn’t change the gym for anything.

Fantastic experience: I cannot give enough stars to the excellent staff at Best Fitness in Westgate Plaza. After a long illness I found myself in terrible shape both physically and mentally. From the moment I walked in the door every staff member I encountered was friendly, encouraging and knowledgeable. After doing a comprehensive fitness analysis I was paired up with a personal trainer and began a customized fitness plan. It is a very holistic approach. I’m very pleased with my progress! I would especially like to thank Peyton-Michele and Brian for all of their support and encouragement!

Fantastic experience: Great service and staff and hygiene gym ever

Negative experience: They stole money from me for close to an entire year before I got an email saying “your card was declined please update your method of payment and pay our penalty fees” this is after I called AND walked into the gym to cancel in person. When I inquired they said that the corporate office rejected my cancellation request. When I addressed it the 2nd time they gave me a prepaid debit card containing the amount of money they had been stealing from me over the past several months

Fantastic experience: Fantastic service

Fantastic experience: Staff are amazing and always helpful navigating memberships, schedules, equip, etc. Group EX instructors are the best!!!!

Fantastic experience: Excellent gym!

Fantastic experience: Visiting from out of town & wanted a few gym visits. Very accommodating staff, clean facilities & all the equipment needed. Lives up to its name!!

Negative experience: Worst experience ever They won’t accept the fact that you want to cancel your membership

Negative experience: The weary of the terms and conditions of the of this gym. They offer memberships which do not refund payment upon termination, although initially advertised as such. As usually a diligent and skeptical monitor of terms and conditions, I was surprised by how much I needed to pay in the end. Word to wise (r?)!

Fantastic experience: Switched over here after some typical PFit excessiveness... it's been great. Location may be slanting my opinion because it's so convenient for me, but it's generally never over crowded, it's clean, and everyone is knowledgeable. I needed to add some things to my leg workouts and Brian was fantastic for that. I also spent some time working on new core exercises with Peyten and it was rough in all the right ways. 10/10 would recommend the added expense and limited hours over PFit because the trade off has been 100% worth it. If you do schedule a trainer, let them kick your but all over the gym, you'll leave exhausted but feeling accomplished af. (Leave nap time available after, I needed it )

Fantastic experience: This place is really clean staff is very helpful and friendly I would recommend to anyone in the Albany area. Very great workout very comfortable. Wouldn’t go anywhere else!!!

Fantastic experience: Great classes and staff.

Fantastic experience: Great time, went as a guest. Very helpful staff

Fantastic experience: I’ve been going to this gym for 5 years. They are the best!!

Fantastic experience: Staff was super helpful and accomodating. The gym was very clean and a great selection of gym equipment!

Negative experience: I’ve revised my review as I’ve been around the two gyms one in fuller and one in central for a longer period They should have their staff to start working on keeping the weights area (specifically) neat. Too many weights left out and empty bottles and paper towels scattered about. I know their is a maintenance team who seem to do a good job keeping the floors and restrooms neat but the front staff are rarely on the lower level (central ave gym) taking a look around (it is required that members put eights back) or even present. Too many staff people standing around yapping or just doing nothing.