16 Best Philadelphia Gyms

12th Street Gym offers personal training and classes in aquatic fitness, body development, cardio conditioning, strength and balance, dance, fitness, and yoga. Amenities include an indoor pool, a tanning salon, locker rentals, towel service, and a café. The gym is located in Center City near the SEPTA and PATCO stations and has been in business for more than 25 years.

King of Prussia-based Algeo MMA & Kickboxing is a martial arts gym whose staff specializes in Muay Thai, kickboxing, self-defense, mixed martial arts (MMA), and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. There are classes for children and adults, plus a competition team and private lessons. Potential students may participate in a free, two-week trial course. Instructors include past and present pro-MMA fighters.

City Fitness is a health club that offers group exercise and personal training at four locations: Graduate Hospital, Northern Liberties, South Philadelphia, and Society Hill. Prospective members are entitled to one week of free membership or personal training. Classes include cardio kickboxing, “Butts and Guts” for sculpting and toning glutes and abs, plus Zumba, Silver Sneakers, and classes for arms, shoulders, and TRX suspension.

CKO Kickboxing in Center City hosts one-hour kickboxing classes for multiple age groups and skill sets. The classes fuse fighting styles and techniques to provide a full body workout and to burn calories. They are designed to promote balance, endurance, flexibility, hand-eye coordination, and self-defense. The gym’s trainers aim to assist participants in developing skills at their own paces and to ensure that classes aren’t overcrowded or overbooked.

Core Fitness offers personal training, group fitness, and physical therapy outdoors at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Waterworks Pier and indoors at the Ukrainian League and Urban Saloon. Membership options include pay-per-class, a 10-class package, or “HardCore Membership,” which must be for a minimum of four months and includes unlimited classes. Core Fitness also has physical therapists. SELF Magazine featured it in its Best Outdoor Boot Camp Classes slideshow. The gym is also a Philly.com Readers’ Choice Awards winner for best boot camp and physical therapy.

F.I.T. Gym – named for “focused, intense training” – has two floors of strength training and cardio equipment, including up to 250-pound dumbbells. It is designed for strength, weight, and cardio training, plus conditioning. Chalking, dropping, yelling, and sweating are encouraged. Group classes include spin, yoga, Zumba, boxing, step, and “Butts and Guts.” Personal training and tanning are also available.

Go Vertical is a Philadelphia rock climbing gym with 250 climbing routes up at a time and 20 or more new routes set up each week. The climbing surfaces cover 13,500 square feet. Other amenities include a 190-foot bouldering traverse for warm-ups, a learning wall for beginners, and a wall for children, plus classes for beginners, freestanding towers that feature top-roped routes and severe ceilings, and men’s and women’s bathrooms, showers, and lockers rooms. Street parking is free.

The James Shuler Boxing Gym, also known as Shuler’s, is for male and female, amateur and professional boxers who are at least seven years old who desire to get in shape, to learn boxing techniques, to compete as amateurs, or to go pro. Members of Shuler’s have gone on to become champion boxers at all levels, including title and world champions, Silver Gloves, Golden Gloves, the USA Knockout Team, and in the Olympics. The gym has been open since 1994 and is in West Philadelphia, near the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University.

Optimal Gym is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week in the South Street District of Philadelphia. Amenities include a state-of-the-art free weight and machine weight center, specialized cardio equipment, a strength training center, racquetball courts, basketball courts, an aerobics/dance studio, nutritional counseling, a boxing training room, saunas, a heated pool and hot tub, wireless Internet, locker rooms with private showers, and a rooftop deck. Group exercise options include boot camps and spinning, plus pilates, yoga, and Zumba classes.

Philadelphia Fight Firm offers Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and fitness training to people of all skill levels who would like to get in shape or compete as professionals or amateurs. Classes include boxing, Muay Thai, kickboxing, MMA Striking, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, MMA Grappling, and fitness-centric classes such as cardio kickboxing and cardio boxing. Free one-week trials are available.

Philadelphia Private Gym offers one-on-one personal training in a 4000 square foot underground gym half a mile off of I-95’s Street Road exit. It has treadmills, free weights, plyometrics, Nautilus equipment, and trainers who have more than 20 years of experience. The gym has been in operation since 1984. Tours are available by appointment.

Voted “Best of Philly,” Philly Dance Fitness offers dance-centric classes in its Center City, South Philly, and Midtown studios. Classes include Zumba, ballet, cardio belly dance, hip-hop impact jazz, pilates, striptease aerobics, cardio pop, dance party boot camp, power jam stretch, Bollywood, barre, and African dance. There also are ballet classes for children and yogalates classes for mommies and babies. Students may drop in or attend at discounted rates by purchasing membership cards. Additional options include private lessons, personal training, and parties.

Steelworks Strength Systems is a CrossFit and Olympic weightlifting gym in Brewerytown. Its staff fuses Olympic weightlifting, powerlifting, gymnastics, and endurance training to promote weight loss, energy, and athleticism in its members. It caters to men and women of all ages and encourages group training. Steelworks is owner-operated and has several CrossFit coaches.

The Sporting Club at The Bellevue, which is in Center City, has a 10,000 square foot fitness floor and hosts 120 weekly fitness classes. Gym members may access strength training and cardio equipment and an indoor running track, an NBA-sized basketball court, and an indoor pool. Other amenities include racquetball and squash courts, complimentary towel service, locker rooms with stocked vanities, yoga and meditation rooms, and a boxing ring. Members are entitled to discounted parking rates. Day passes are available.

The Training Station in Northern Liberties has barbells, plates, and platforms for lifting plus aerobic machines for cardio. The gym’s instructors teach indoor cycling, barre, yoga, and boot camp classes for skill levels from beginner to advanced. Amenities include no contracts, private changing rooms, ample parking, and a bike rack. Philadelphia Magazine named it Best of Philly and Best of Be Well Philly in 2012. The same year, Philadelphia Daily News Sports Week called it the Best Gym for Serious Runners.

Weston Fitness is an owner-operated gym that uses education and coaching to promote fitness for its members. Coaches tailor training to each client based on his or her fitness level, schedule, and goals. The gym also offers group classes including cardio kickboxing, pilates, piloxing, power lunch, power jam, rush hour, spin, and H30 Bounce.