Let’s Go to Castle Hill Fitness! – A Gym Review

If you’re a frequent visitor to this site, you may be thinking, “a GYM review?! I only come here for food, and lots of it!” Well, my dear sweet reader, to eat all that yummy food, we gotta keep a balance of exercise. And while I can usually motivate myself to work out, sometimes I need a little extra kick in the pants. Luckily, I got to check out Castle Hill Fitness, which opened up a second location off 360 in Austin less than a year ago.

Their downtown locale has been kicking for quite some time, but the 360 Castle Hill Fitness gym offers some unique goodies. Let’s hop on in!

Castle Hill Fitness Bikes — Pedal like you’ve never pedaled before.

Castle Hill Fitness Has Some Real Class

Far and away my favorite part of Castle Hill Fitness’s 360 location are their classes. They are PLENTIFUL and hit all kinds of varieties.

Want to sweat like crazy? Go nuts with a cardio class. Craving the biggest calf muscles? Power ride classes will work your legs out like magic. Wish you could do the “Wobble” without looking foolish? Check out the “Everybody Dance” class.

In fact, I took my first ever Pilates class at Castle Hill Fitness and was immediately reminded of how inflexible I am. But I felt energized and loose afterwards – that’s all you can ask for from a workout.

Castle Hill Fitness Pool — Don’t pay any attention to my wet footprints on the pool deck.

Time for a Pool Party

The 360 Castle Hill Fitness location has an aquatics area with a pool, a hot tub, a sauna, and a steam room. They are all wonderful in their own unique ways. The sauna was a delightful way for me to cool down (I know that sounds bonkers) after a workout. Nothing like sitting in some dry heat for a solid sweat.

Perhaps I’m a wimp, because I could only manage a couple of minutes in the steam room before I had to tap out. I suppose that’s a good thing, though. Come on in, sweat out your problems, and get out all in the time it takes to listen to an LCD Soundsystem song. You see, their songs are all excessively long. I hope more than four percent of y’all got that joke. Also aren’t jokes much more fun when they’re explained?

Anyway, the pool is half the size of an Olympic-sized pool, so you can swim laps to your heart’s content. My favorite thing to do in the pool, though, is the Hydro HIIT class. Hosted by Danny and Jeremy, you’ll get your butt kicked in the best way possible. We did sprints with a bungee cord wrapped around our waists, lifted water weights, and tried all kinds of kicks with paddle boards.

I was a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to keep up with things – especially since I had done a cardio class before this one, because I’m BONKERS – but there was such a cool sense of community in this class. We had people ranging from teenage girls to a man in his 60s, and everyone was able to go at a pace that was comfortable for them. I can legitimately say I had never done a water aerobics workout before, but I dig it a LOT.

Castle Hill Fitness Endless Rope — Go ahead, try to find the end of this rope. IT DOESN’T EXIST.

How’s the Actual Workout Area?

In a word, you’ll be set. Well, that’s three words, but you get the picture. There’s a ton of machines and free weights, and I never had to wait for anything. That’s not the case at several other gyms I’ve tried out. There’s always a line around just the 25-pound weights exactly when I need them. Since I’m the most important person in the world, it’s a little disheartening to not be rewarded immediately. Luckily, this doesn’t happen at Castle Hill Fitness.

As far as non-free weight equipment, I was a big fan of the “Endless Rope,” which, as the name suggests, is just a big ol’ rope that you can pull FOREVER. Or at least until your arms fall off. I typically hate a lot of triceps workouts, but this one was awesome. Even just a minute or two made me feel like I had just lifted like five cars. I love that efficiency.

If you’re in a fitness rut or just need a little extra motivation, go give Castle Hill Fitness a try. They offer free trials if you’re not quite ready to commit, plus special deals for veterans and teachers. Now let’s get fit.