Love this place to death! The staff here is kind and care about your progress. Ken has been extremely helpful with training. I’ve been able to increase mobility in my injured shoulder thanks to him.
malcolm ford
Sep 5, 2023
5
I love fuel fitness so much at the durham location. Such a diverse group of people that all form such a comforting environment for me to work out at! Kenneth Burks the athletic director always makes sure to check in and keep me on my game, so with good staff and a good environment, this place always makes the gym the best part of my day! I highly recommend this place to anybody who loves going to the gym and wants a supportive staff!!
Kyle Rosinke
Aug 31, 2023
3
This review is for 3 months in the summer of 2023. I only used the weights and cannot comment on the classes or personal training. As a reference, I've been weight training for 18 years, mostly at public gyms.
Positives - Usually not too busy and don't need to wait for equipment
-Abnormally large selection of kettlebells
-Good selection of dumbbells, except for heavier ones
-Older machines are nicer than newer models that you find in many commercial gyms
-The staff allows people to take shoes off and use lifting chalk, meaning they care about performance more than vanity
-They offer a week free trial without any hassle, which is nice; many gyms don't offer this.
-Steel plates, from 2.5-45lbs are much nicer than rubber coated plates for most lifting. They have old school deep dish plates, which are nice.
Negative - Only 3 squat racks and no deadlift/olympic lifting platforms. Nowadays, it's expected that a gym has lifting platforms.
-Very old bumper plates with sharp steel edges. I've never seen bumper plates like this before.
-The floors are lumpy, making deadlifts and cleans annoying (since there are no lifting platforms)
-Given that they have twice as much cardio equipment as they need, parting with this equipment provides ample space for additional lifting platforms and squat racks. The use of space in the facility could be easily improved.
-Most, if not all of, the barbells are bent. In addition to new bumper plates and platforms, they need some nice new bars.
-They recently changed their hours and are only open for a short time on Sundays. Sunday afternoons are no as busy as rush hour on a Monday (not sure what they are thinking here)
-This gym is relatively expensive. They market as $30 per month, but that isn't accurate. I signed up June 21st and it cost me $95.21 (monthly fee, sign up fee, undisclosed fees). I was billed $29 on July 1. I was Billed $78 on August 1 (annual fees). I expect to be billed $29 on September 1. In all, my monthly cost to attend this gym was $77. If it wasn't for the convenience I would have chosen to go someplace else. I have a membership at Crunch Fitness ($16 per month plus a $50 annual fee), but that would have been a longer drive. As a note - Crunch Fitness has an abundance of bumper plates and lifting platforms (are you paying attention, Fuel Fitness?).
-They require over 30 days notice to cancel a membership and not have the next months fee deducted. Feels slightly predatory.
Overall, this isn't a bad gym, but needs to make improvements. All it takes is for a Crunch Fitness or another cheap chain to open a location in Durham to put this place out of business.
Dakota Becerra
Jul 24, 2023
5
I am here for 3 days and I needed a local gym. I found Fuel Fitness and I was greeted by very helpful, respectful staff! The gym and bathrooms are very clean. Thank you Fuel Fitness! ✊🏽
Bonnie Lambert
Jun 21, 2023
5
Awesome gym. Great work out. The gym was super clean, great equipment and staff.
Alexandre Borrel
May 31, 2023
5
I recently joined this gym and it has exceeded my expectations in every way. The familial and friendly atmosphere is really what sets this gym apart. The staff is always welcoming and knowledgeable, which makes for a great workout experience.
One of my favorite parts of this gym is the cycling class. Daryl, the instructor, is fantastic! His energy and enthusiasm are infectious, and he creates a challenging and enjoyable workout that pushes me to my limits. I always leave his class feeling energized and accomplished.
The gym itself is also well-maintained and clean, with a wide variety of equipment available. The sense of community here is strong, and everyone is supportive and encouraging of each other's fitness goals.
I highly recommend this gym center to anyone looking for a great workout experience. The familial and friendly environment, coupled with the amazing cycling class and Daryl's instruction, make it the perfect place to work towards your fitness goals.
Samantha Weiss
Apr 3, 2023
5
I love the gym! I love the community I have become a part of. I love the upgrades and branding recently. I love the staff. I love the classes. I love the diversity of machines. The price is great and I'm very grateful to have found Fuel, it's becoming a very important place for me physically, mentally and socially. Special shout out to Amanda, Allal and Carter...and the front desk folks! they're always welcoming and friendly. I highly recommend!
Alex Mooring
Mar 31, 2023
3
Fitness world was better. They changed to fuel fitness about a year ago and management has made some questionable decisions. In the past six months they have been adding new equipment and a good amount of it is not useful. Spent 3000$ each on 4 different “fit benches” that are not any more useful than any of the benches that are already in the gym and end up just getting used as seats and racks for small dumbbells. They added a strip of turf that’s actually pretty nice except for the fact that they did not buy a sled to go with it so there is not much actual reason for the turf to be there and it just ends up getting used for people to bring there equipment on and do normal lifts that do not require turf. When they rearranged the gym to put the turf in is where everything went downhill and a large amount of loyal hardcore lifters left as soon as they did this for this reason. Squat racks do not have mirrors so you just end up staring at the person in front of you when you are lifting and all other machines are crammed together as if a 4 year old designed the layout. Overall it is brick and mortar surrounding bars and plates so not horrendous.
Eli Crowley
Mar 27, 2023
3
Fitness world was fire, new management started doing unnecessary things. Squat racks have no mirrors, a 3 year old could get across the turf area under 8 seconds, im almost touching other people while I bench, decided to buy “fitbench” the most I’ve seen people do with them is use it as a chair. Keeps getting worse wish they would ask for customer feedback. Still a building with bars and weights so not that bad. Them new massage chairs are fire.
