“High End Experience” of CanDo Gym, Edgewater NJ Fails to Live Up To The Hype And The Price

The CanDo gym in Edgewater, NJ is one of three in a local chain of high end ” Fitness Clubs” with the other two locations in Short Hills and Princeton New Jersey. It’s not clear how a “Fitness Club” differs from a gym, but it claims to offer superior cardio, weight and full spa services through the attached Koi Spa.

Can-Do Gym in Edgewater New Jersey fails to live up to the hype, especially for Men

Promises to provide the “Rolls Royce” gym experience but delivers Fiat 500 service

Spread over three floors in the Promenade shopping area in Edgewater NJ the CanDo “Fitness Club” is medium sized, high-end gym that provides cardio, classes, weights and child care while you work out.The first floor houses the reception and some cardio equipment, the 2nd floor is primarily Cardio equipment, with a few weights and class rooms, the third floor is primarily weights, stretching area and class rooms. The Women’s locker room is located on the 2nd floor and the Men’s locker room is on the third floor

With monthly dues in excess of $90 and a joining fee of $250 this gym caters to a middle class clientele.

Aggressive Contract That Raises Red Flags For The Perceptive Reader

The first thing that a potential new member of Cando will see is the aggressive membership contract that contains many egregious statements. The sales staff will often gloss over the details, especially given the confusion of the price levels and the general anticipation of working out at the gym, but the reality is that the devil resides in these details. This contract even has a clause that states that you may cancel your membership if you die. The initial contact is for a year, of which you cannot get out unless you “lie or die” (Realistically, how many members die or are permanently disabled every year) They do also allow you to exit the contract if you move more than 25 miles away from any of their clubs, although driving 25 miles to a club is unrealistic for most people.

Even after a year, Can Do does not automatically cancel your contract, but they convert it to a month-to-month “open ended” contract raising the monthly cost to $100. Members who fail to fill out a “cancellation request” will still have to pay every month, regardless of any instruction they make to the bank or the credit card company, even though their contract had expired.

The sales staff at the Edgewater location blames head office for the egregious formulation and wording on the contract and their required militant adhesion to policy.

Massages For Men

Sports massages are available through the spa, women will have this service in the beautiful Koi spa that is attached to the gym, but men will suffer the indignity of getting their sports massage in the men’s changing room.

Types of Equipment

Other than the spacious and clean rooms where the various classes of Jazzercise, take place , there are cardio machines, weight machines and free weights
Lots of Cardio equipment, which means never having to wait long (If ever) to get onto a cardio machine

Cramped Equipment Conditions Lead To Hidden Dangers

Because the Edgewater Location has very limited space and to maximize the amount of equipment, there are many cramped conditions within the gym. The weight area is one particular example. It’s not clear how it happened, but the third floor of this gym, where the weights are located, has some problems including inadequate spacing between machines and benches. Quite often one person lifting weights runs a very risk of having their weights touching another person’s workout (machine or weights) The potential of the weights being interfered with.

Friendly staff, but pretentious clients

All the staff at Can Do Edgewater are friendly and they keep the gym impeccably clean, but this gym attracts many pretentious clients. Quite often you can see some women “barely working out” in full make up, clearly looking for dates or just “to be seen”. This is of course not the fault of the gym, but it’s the Gym’s whole feel that brings in these types of people who would never wipe down a machine (for fear of breaking a nail) and who enjoy using the fake weights (Plastic versions of weight plates, made to resemble real bar weights, but only one-tenth of the weight)

Planet Fitness Guy

Another phenomenon often seen at the Can Do Gym is the guy from the Planet Fitness commercials “I lift things up and I put them down” carrying around his gallon bottle of home-made creatine and juice, while Planet Fitness shows these types the door, Can Do is not picky and will welcome in anyone willing to pay their premium gym prices.

Poor Weekend Hours

Although Can Do opens early and closes late on weekdays, they close early on Saturday and Sunday – this is in line with the habits of the very clientele that they want to appeal to, professional women and married middle class moms who are free all week to work out and are busy with their family on the weekend.

Less Than Stellar Parking

It’s not the gym’s fault, but it is a significant consideration that the huge underground parking lot is perfect at non-peak times, but an aggravation to have to park over 500 feet away from the gym entrance in a dimly lit parking lot at the peak times. This effect is caused by the shopping mall above that will fill the parking lot quickly after 5PM weekdays and on weekends.

CanDo: Perfect for working women or mothers, generally bad for men

Clearly with its child care, spa services and bias towards cardio and classes CanDo is perfect for the professional woman who demands the best. For men however, this Gym offers very little other than the meagre weight area and very limited spa service. It’s no secret that men who use this gym are supporting services that they do not (or are not allowed to use) especially the services on the comprehensive class list.

Story Resources and Fact Checking:

CanDo Edgewater Contact:
Sales:
Manager: Rob Silva
Operations Manager Neil DeLa Cruz
(Former Manager of New York Sports Clubs in Fort Lee, NJ