Cape Town Gym Guide

Cape Town’s gyms make it easy to stay in shape, whether you’re a local, or tourist dropping in for a week or two.  Decide first which of the following you value most (amongst other factors):

• the location
• floor space of the gym
• wide variety of machines
• staff
• opening hours
• price

Then try out a few different gyms before getting a long-term membership, month-pass, or day-pass. Below is not an exhaustive list of gyms. It’s simply a few I’m familiar with, which I’ve personally all visited. If you want to add other options, comment below.

Zone Fitness

Zone Fitness has 18 branches across the greater Cape Town area of South Africa. I used to go to their Kloof street branch, when living nearby. I’ve also done a trial workout at Rondebosch branch – it’s a lot more spacious than Kloof street.

The Kloof Street day-pass fee was around R150, while the month pass is around R600 per month. I don’t want to get into the exact membership fees in this article, as this frequently changes. So I’d rather give you a general idea. Zone fitness is one of the more budget-friendly gyms in Cape Town for memberships.

On the negative side, Zone fitness are currently trying to force their personal trainers to take the experimental “corona” jab. Thus, I strongly suggest boycotting their gym.

Pros

• There are multiple branches in the city.
• It’s easy to join for either 1 day, a month, or longer.
• Membership is affordable.
• Some of their branches have great locations. E.g. the Kloof street gym is in a central upmarket neighbourhood, with secure basement parking. You get a rebate at the gym for your parking ticket.
• There are fitness classes available.

Cons

• Kloof street branch disabled every second machine, to show compliance to the communist fake “virus” agenda. Since it’s a small gym, it means there are now too few usable machines available. Thus its currently not worth going there. [Disclaimer: I’m a Terrain Theorist, not a germ theorist. Thus, I can assure you that “Covid” is merely a case of mis-labelling other disease with the pseudoscience PCR test, along with the control agenda.]
• Zone fitness closes early on week-ends. I’ve got other things to do Saturday mornings. Thus it’s too bad they’re not open Saturday afternoons for a workout.
• They are implementing unscientific medical tyranny e.g. the toxic jab mandates for staff.

Ignite Fitness

Ignite Fitness is a large spacious South African gym chain. If space is a big factor to you, then this is a great option. In the past, I’ve gotten a month pass at the city-centre branch. So I’m reviewing this branch specifically.

Pros

• Very spacious and large variety of machines
• Great treadmills.
• The machines are in great condition. They do refer to themselves as “luxury gyms”.
• There are fitness classes
• Multiple branches in the greater Cape Town area.

Cons

• It’s a typical corporate gym. I generally prefer supporting owner-run gyms. Since especially with the recent communist lockdowns, the owner-run gyms struggle, while the corporates have deeper back-pockets.
• The month-pass was comparatively twice as expensive as Zone fitness.
• The location is in the shady city-centre of Cape Town. It’s not the best area. Beggars are walking outside, along with irritating “parking attendants” demanding tips. There is an indoor parking garage a block or two away, but it’s quite expensive.

MyGym

MyGym, at 79 Roeland Street, was initially a little hard to find. This is because it’s on the second floor of a building without signage outside. However, once you’re inside it’s a friendly, decently spacious gym, and relatively close to the city center. It’s very affordable, with good weight-lifting equipment. This is one of my favorite gyms in central Cape Town. Here’s a few pros and cons:

Pros

• An affordable gym.
• They don’t lock you into lengthy contracts.
• There’s an infrared sauna available (if you pay)
• Good variety of machines
• Machines are mostly in good condition
• It’s spacious. There is rarely congestion. Perhaps only slightly from 5h30pm to 7pm on weekdays. Also slightly early mornings around 7am.
• The week-end hours are also convenient.
• Good choice for a relaxing pleasant workout.
• It’s an owner-run gym.
• The locker room was a safe space to lock away my backpack while working out.
• The “cycling & rowing” cardio section is not electricity dependent, thus its functional during power cuts.

Cons

• When you’re running on the treadmill you stare at the wall in front of you. [Update: They’ve now moved the treadmills to the windows – good to see them taking feedback into account].
• The treadmills are not good enough for tall men like myself. Generally, if you’re tall and muscular, you should use the modern, larger, expensive treadmills. I switched to their rowing and cycling machines, instead of running – to avoid injury on bad treadmills. It’s old trashy treadmills and doesn’t feel comfortable under the feet while running.
• There is no private parking available. Only public parking, with occasionally irritating parking attendants, which is typical of Cape Town public parking. Moreover, this also isn’t great if you e.g. bought groceries. You don’t wanna leave any valuables or even fresh groceries in the boot if it’s public parking where the sun will bake the groceries before getting home.
• It’s not the best neighbourhood. Some would say it’s an up-and-coming area. Upmarket restaurants, coffee shops, and apartment buildings are sprouting up in a district that’s otherwise sketchy by night.
• There doesn’t seem to be a huge selection of fitness group classes, but there should be a few.
• It’s a little dark inside at night during electricity “load-shedding”. In the daytime it’s well-lit with natural light.

Planet Fitness (@ de Waterkant)

Planet Fitness is a country-wide South African gym chain. The central Cape Town gym is located at the very central and upmarket De Waterkant neighborhood. There’s a free one-week trial at Planet Fitness (for locals). Fill in the form on their website to get the free trial (here’s the link). If you’re a foreign visitor to Cape Town, they do have shorter membership options in 2022. This includes a 1 month-pass @ R1500.

Pros

• Spacious gym
• Great equipment
• Very upmarket
• Secure basement parking, but it’s not free. There may be a parking rebate for gym members.
• Central Cape Town location
• There’s a very good choice of fitness classes. Pilates, Yoga, High Intensity Training, Zumba, and so on.

Cons

• Parking is not free. Outside it can be a hassle to find parking.
• Since the month-pass is expensive, they “force” you into a long-term contract with much better monthly rates. If you go this route, the contract can be cancelled by giving a few months notice.

 

The Sport Science Institute

The Sport Science Institute is the University of Cape Town (UCT)-affiliated gym, on the other side of the mountain over at Rondebosch. It’s located right next to the Newlands Rugby Stadium, with more than enough parking space.

There’s a large indoor heated swimming pool. Here you’ll find a free swimming lane or two, most of the time. During peak hours you could share a lane with another swimmer.

The equipment is new and modern. Nevertheless, it’s disappointing that there e.g. isn’t a pull-ups machine (which they do have over at Ignite Fitness). Since they have a lot of floor space, you expect a little more variety. It’s already a lot of variety comparatively, but it could be better. For example, an incline bench press & the weights-assisted pull-ups machine (great for back and shoulders).

They have a steam bath in the bathrooms. However, it’s currently closed for the scamdemic.

One of the best features is the spacious locker rooms. Thus, if you’re coming to the gym directly from work, there’ll always be ample space to get dressed for your work-out, and lock up all your valuables.

I checked out this gym, because I pulled a calf muscle while running on the beach. Thus, I wanted to rehabilitate with swimming. The location is otherwise too far out from central Cape Town. But it’s nearby for students of the University of Cape Town.

The 1 month-pass price, as well as memberships, seems to be at the upper end of the price range.

Pros

• Swimming pool available
• Plenty of machines
• Secure parking
• The locker rooms are spacious, clean, and comfortable, with secure storage space.

Cons

• Way too far out from the city center
• Still lacks one or two machines such as assisted pull-up machine
• It’s a corporate gym, pushing all the anti-health fake science “covid” narratives heavily with signage around the gym.
• Steam bath not operational currently, which is really stupid, but they claim they’re uncertain if it’s allowed by Covid1984.
• They force you to fill in a form every time you want to work-out, which is tedious, unscientific and unnecessary. But this is the Commie Sport Science Institute of Cape Town
• They heavily push their medical pseudo-science under false guise of fighting a “virus”. If you really need a swimming pool, there are other options in Cape Town.

 

Virgin Active

The first time I visited Virgin Active, I simply wanted to enquire about their rates. But since there wasn’t any salesmen on duty during the weekend, they let me in for a free workout.

Virgin active does have a policy to give a free day pass once every six months to prospective clients. The free guest pass registration form is on their website. You enter your phone number, and they SMS the day pass details.

The question of “Which branch is the best?” would depend on your preference. For example, Green Point seems like a slightly wealthier upmarket clientele than Wembley square, which is more down-to-earth locals. But this is totally subjective. As Green Point Virgin Active has had problems with break-ins to their lockers in the changing rooms. Thus, bring a strong lock and keep your phone & wallet in the small camera-monitored lockers at the entrance, or in your pocket.

Here’s a few more branches I’ve visited with a short comment or two:

• Tableview: Great to visit during weekends. I’m not sure if there’s congestion during the week.
• Claremont: Congestion nightmare on a Friday night. Smallish gym. Not recommended. The Sport Science Institute is a much better option if you stay in this part of town. Virgin Claremont could’ve put more machines on the bottom level instead of the Kauai restaurant. There’s 2 swimming pools which is strange considering these pools were almost empty while the actual gym area was packed.
• Foreshore: Very decent gym. The free weight area was congested during peak hours, but the machine area was almost empty, which made up for it. They also have a nice separate “monkey bars” area for gymnastics, pull-ups, dips.
• Wembley Square: There’s congestion during peak hours, but its a great gym for off-peak training.
• Greenpoint: Once more, try to avoid peak hours, but otherwise it’s a really good workout.
• Tygervalley: Too much congestion at night. Not recommended – unless you do off-peak.
• Century City: After-work congestion. Free weights section extremely congested. Machine area was still usable.
• N1 City: More of the same. I experienced some Loadshedding while visiting. Thus, sauna’s didn’t work. Plus, the only cardio available during the commie power cuts was the free-standing bikes, and the swimming pool. The weight section is still OK. There’s plenty of natural light keeping the gym well-lit during the day.
• Kenilworth Center: Close to Access Park. No Swimming pool. No Kauai. Smallest branch in the Cape. Good workout on weekends, thus off-peak training. The Week will probably be congested at peak hours. There’s a lot of construction going on currently, many machines are out of order.

 

Pros

• Swimming pool included.
• Some branches have both a sauna and a steam bath.
• With membership, there’s potentially the perk of also getting access to other Virgin active branches across the country. But check first if it’s the case with your specific membership.
• There’s a large floor area with wide range of modern workout machines.
• There are health restaurants at some of the branches, e.g. Kauai or Nü.
• They’re open until 8pm during weekends.
• During the weekend it seems uncongested and pleasant.
• There’s plenty of parking space in the attached parking garages (Wembley Square/Claremont/Foreshore). Gym visitors get 2 hours free parking. There’s a parking card validator machine close to the exit of the gym. The negative is if you ever go beyond 2 hours, you’d have to pay the full ticket price. Green Point and Tableview branch has all-day free exclusive parking right outside the gym. This is better than the parking garages.
• Free day pass to prospective members every six months.
• They have a member app to book classes during the day, e.g. yoga, abs, cycling, pilates.

Cons

• The shorter memberships e.g. for 1 month, or a regular day pass, is the most expensive rates in Cape Town (Month-pass R1850. Regular day-pass R350).
• Thus, they almost “force” you to become a 12-month contract member.
• You could freeze your contract if you go overseas. But they’ll charge you a monthly admin fee for this (around 50% of regular rates). Thus “freezing” only saves you 50% of membership rates. Is it really “freezing” then?
• You’d have to stick to the agreed upon membership timeframe in the contract e.g. one full year. If you don’t need the membership after 6 months, they’ll still bill you for the 2nd half of the year.
• There’s often bad congestion during the week at evening and night-time peak hours up to 9pm. Not all branches have the same closing time, but e.g. Wembley Square closes at 10pm.
• There’s complaints online about some gym members having a hard time to cancel the bank debit-order. Or being charged more per month than initially promised. We don’t know the exact story of these complaints. It may be that they didn’t properly read the T’s & C’s of the contract. Still, bank debit orders always seem more risky than simply paying cash or with a card.
• If you don’t use the swimming pools (many branches have two), your membership fee still subsidizes Virgin’s swimming pools.

BUC Fitness Club

BUC (Bodies Under Construction) Fitness Club is probably the best gym option specifically in Sea Point. It’s a medium-sized gym, with modern equipment. Typical of Sea Point, it’s pricier than most other Cape Town gyms. At least, not as pricey as Virgin Active. Month passes are less expensive at BUC than Virgin, but Virgin’s yearly contract may be cheaper.

There is also a Sweat 1000 training room right next to BUC gym. However, this is administered separately from the gym, and not included in membership. Sweat 1000 is a 50 minute to one-hour intense fitness session, in the same vein as Crossfit (price R230 if paid once-off).

BUC gym’s opening hours are very standard and similar to other Capetonian gyms. On Google Maps, the hours are listed as closing at 8pm on weekdays. However, this is an error. BUC gym is definitely open until 9pm during the week.

Pros

• BUC was never over-crowded when I visited.
• You can pick a day-pass, week-pass, 2-week pass, month-pass, or annual pass. Thus plenty of membership options.
• Good modern gym equipment, including freemotion machines.
• The treadmills are top notch, with a view of Lion’s Head Mountain and Sea Point.
• It’s located in The Point Shopping Mall. Thus, you could run a few errands such as buying groceries after visiting the gym
• There is secure basement parking. Checkers gives you discount on the parking if you spend R150+ on groceries.
• It’s an upmarket gym.
• They’ve got friendly receptionists who you can phone, easily, if you want to check their current rates. This is true for almost all gyms in Cape Town.

Cons

• Compared to other options, BUC is more expensive (Month-pass currently +- R1350 p.m.). The 2-week pass (R850) is more expensive than a full month-pass at other Cape Town gyms, such as MyGym in Roeland Street.
• It’s not the biggest gym in Cape Town. It’s medium-sized. Thus, at least it’s not a small bare-basics gym. But since it’s medium, it’s also not the most well-equipped in the city.
• The steam room in the men’s bathroom is out-of-order (for the past 2 years already).
• Basement parking is not free. Outside of the shopping centre it’s hard to find parking.
• I’m no fan of their changing room locker system, as you can’t use your own lock. You set the lock using a mechanism. Pick a number from 1 to 44, and a letter from A to Z. Thus, with patience, criminals can potentially figure out your combination in 10 minutes, while you are training in the gym.

RBSI Gym

The Renaissance Body Science Institute (RBSI) is on the 4th floor of a building in Bree street, in the Cape Town CBD. Surrounding the building parking is expensive. But there’s a few visitor parking bays usually available on the ground floor to gym members (free of cost). It’s a small gym, but they’re generally quiet. Thus, the fact that it’s small doesn’t matter as much. The machines seem very new.

During the commie government’s electricity loadshedding, RBSI is definitely still well-lit enough at night to lift weights. However, the only cardio devices that function without electricity is the rowing machines.

Pros

• It’s an inexpensive monthly pay-as-you-go rate of around R650. Thus they never force you into lengthy contracts. There’s another option of R400 if you only visit 9 times per month, which is also a good deal.
• There’s an electrical sauna in the bathroom. The staff will put it on if you ask 30 minutes before you need it. Once the sauna is fully heated, it’s quite good – around 80 degrees Celsius.
• Secure storage, showers, and dressing facilities in the men’s room.
• Central location
• No congestion in the gym.
• Great views of Table Mountain and Lion’s Head.
• Clean upmarket gym.
• Towels available at the gym front desk. Useful if you want to shower & sauna afterwards.

Cons

• Weekend hours aren’t good. It’s open Saturdays from 8am to 12 (noon). And closed on Sundays.
• On weekdays it closes one hour earlier than other gyms: 7pm on Fridays, and 8pm Monday to Thursday.
• Since it’s a small gym, don’t expect a massive range of machinery. This is the only reason I don’t always go back to them. I’d like more choice in machines – but they lack space for more machines.
• I don’t like the Carpet Flooring. Rubber floors (i.e. hard floors) are better for gyms, and in general. Carpets obscure allergens which can cause e.g. asthma.

Treadmill running speed is configured with touch buttons on a video screen. You get used to it after a few runs. The video screen on the treadmill is a nice further touch, but be warned: watching the CNN news channel while using the treadmill may leave you braindead.

Conclusion, there’s more pros than cons. Worst peeve is the bad weekend hours. Schedule other fitness activities for the weekend, e.g. hiking or yoga.

Velocity Gym @ Houtbay

This one is really only for those who stay in HoutBay or Llandudno. It’s a relatively small gym consisting of 4 exercise areas. On the large bottom floor, there’s the weight-machine zone, and the cardio zone. While on the top floor, there’s the free weight area, and the yoga room.

The screw up in this gym is the free weight area gets too congested. For example, everyone has to fight it out for the right to use the Bench Press. Yet I didn’t even visit during peak hour.

Price of a daypass is R130. Month Pass is R1050. Let’s now summarize the Pros and Cons of Velocity Gym:

Pros

• Cleaners actively keeping the gym clean
• Upmarket vibes
• Situated right next to the beach. Thus great views out of the windows.
• Plenty of classes e.g. Yoga, Pilates, RIDE, Power Core, Bootcamp. Thus it may be a good gym for fitness-class fans.
• Great Steam-Bath in both bathrooms.
• Showers with soap.
• Safe parking right outside. You can see your car from inside the gym.
• There are small lockers for your valuables, plus larger lockers for backpacks and clothes.
• Large cardio space, compared to the small free-weight area.

Cons

• The main criticism is the free-weight area is way too small.
• This means you must go during a timeslot when the gym is emptier.
• Far from the centre of Cape Town.

CityRock Gym @ Milnerton

CityRock’s the place to go for all Cape Town’s Climbers, but there’s also a small gym section. The range of machines is similar to other small gyms. The benefit is that climbers can now meet their weight-lifting, cardio and climbing needs under the same roof.

The daypass for the gym section is R180. However, if you show up within the last 90 minutes of the day, they only charge R100 for entrance to the gym.

If you want to climb as well, you’ll need to rent the climbers’ boots and the waist-harness, or bring your own. The cost of renting is R100. However, you still need to know how to use the gear, thus an intro class is essential to new climbers. I recently did an intro “top-rope” climbing class at CityRock. Below are a few observations.

Top Rope Introduction Course

• To start, they teach how to tie the most important rope knot. This is tricky at first but I got it by the end of the class.
• Next, they teach how the ropes work to ascend the walls, while your buddy (or the instructor) anchors the rope at the bottom in case you fall. We all did a practice climb. It was an adrenaline rush to climb that high, then abseil back down. A lot of faith is put in the sturdy harness strap not failing. But this is climbing. My finger muscles were fatigued after that climb, since getting a grip on the rocks is the essence of the sport.
• My criticism is they don’t demo the solo climb auto-belay section. They simply take you there, and leave you to practice. Thus, they basically ask you to climb 5 meters, then jump down unsupervised and hope the belay system kicks in and stops you from falling. The system didn’t kick in when I tested it at 2 meters (maybe because it wasn’t high enough up). But as a beginner you’re supposed to hold thumbs for 5 meters. The first auto-belay climb should be demonstrated and supervised by the staff. Because if you’re a solo climber, the auto-belay is the only way to practice until you have a climbing buddy.

Pros

• Good Cardio section. Noticed four new treadmills during my last visit.
• There’s a small barefoot climbing wall right next to gym.
• Daily fitness classes on offer, such as yoga & abs workout.
• There are secure lockers, and a clean changing room.
• Vida e Cafe provides the snacks & coffee.
• There’s secure parking available. In peak hours, e.g. 5h30pm, you may need to park right outside the secure section. As the parking gets very full.
• Learn a new skill by booking a climbing intro class at Cityrock.

Cons

• City Rock is Cape Town’s climbers heaven. But the gym is off course mediocre and small, as its not their specialization. R180 is expensive only for a gym session, unless you also squeeze a fitness or yoga class into your visit. Or include a climbing session if you have the skills and gear.
• They should offer proper introductions to the solo climbing auto-belay walls. Especially since climbing can be a dangerous sport, I don’t see myself signing up at a gym like this without properly supervised demonstrations to beginners. Especially considering I paid for an “intro class”, you really expect to be “shown the ropes” properly also with regards to solo climbing auto-belays.

Sea Point Outdoor Gym

Sea Point Promenade has a decent small outdoor gym. There’s no free weights. It’s more of a calisthenics body-weight training option. You could combine a workout with a scenic run along the Sea Point promenade. For me, it’s a last resort kind of gym. For example, when the regular gyms were closed during the commie “lockdown”, both in 2020 & 2021, this outdoor gym was a last resort workout option. Bonus: No mask-nazis in sight (ignore them and their pseudo-science, anyway).

In the video below, BarRookie demonstrates a nice outdoor workout at Sea Point Promenade Gym:

 

Other Fitness Options

Apart from the plentiful gyms, there’s also great

• Yoga options,
• Crossfit boxes
• Boxing gyms
• Krav Maga self-defense training
• Mixed-Martial Arts (MMA)
• The Long Street steam baths
• Sea-kayaking at Three Anchor Bay
• Hiking up Table Mountain, Devils Peak, and Lion’s Head.

Thus, you’ll never run out of new fitness options during your next visit to Cape Town (South Africa).

What’s your favorite Cape Town gym or fitness activity? Have you been to any of these gyms, or is there another gym worth mentioning? Comment below!

The above gyms are reviewed like a snap-shot during the specific time when I visited. Shoot a message to healthtraveljunkie@gmail.com if you’d like to be included in this article (in exchange for a free day-pass or two), or if you want the snap-shot to be redone!

Further Cape Town articles

• Cape Fruit: Top Picks From Cape Town
• Cape Town Wellness Guide (from 2018 – contains hiking info)
• Cape Town Health Shops
• Cape Town Food Markets