After waiting countless months for the new Onelife gym to finally open, we have gotten much more than we anticipated. Was the long wait worth it? If you appreciate a quality gym, then yes.
The Onelife gym, home to hundreds of Jackson-Reed students, that used to be located on Brandywine and Wisconsin, right next to school, has now moved to the newly constructed “City Ridge” located at 4000 Wisconsin Ave NW.
After the gym was open for two weeks, I finally decided to see what the riveting talk was about. I did a full tour and here is what you need to know.
First, the equipment is a 10/10. Unlike the previous location, you can have your machine without having to wait in a queue. All of the machines are in pristine condition and arguably the same as Equinox, a high-end gym located right next door.
Second, the facilities are also a 10/10. With the new gym comes a pool, sparring room, recovery center, refreshing locker rooms, new classes, and overall more space. With the improvements, there is no need to worry about having no AC in the gym, machines breaking down, and all of the crowded space sharing benches and machines. When talking to the OneLife employees about the new studio experiences, they shared a list of the different classes they offer at the gym: Signature (specific to you), Aqua (swimming classes), cardio, cycle, HIIT (body weight exercises), mind/body, senior, and strength. There are also the classics like Zumba, yoga, and cycling.
Although the old location was more accessible being right outside our school, the new building offers much more resources. For example, the old OneLife only offered a few benches to work out, after school the gym was often packed, and you might have had to wait your turn to utilize the equipment. On top of that, the old Onelife didn’t have a strike/sparring gym let alone a pool that supported aqua classes.
Third, the location and accessibility are 8/10. The new Onelife is still close to JR but requires either a steady walk or drive up the street (at least the 33 bus takes you right up that way). In this category, the old Onelife is hard to beat, yet I think it’s definitely worth it.
The biggest problem with Oneliife is the fact that you can’t walk into the gym without seeing someone you know from school, except this was also the case at the old location. If you want to go to a gym where there are no familiar faces, don’t come to the new Onelife gym.
The Onelife on Brandywine and Wisconsin, previously known as Sport & Health, was a place that many students went to for years. Having this new location open up will forever take away the old gym that was ingrained in school culture. The old gym will always have a place in our hearts, but the pros of the new location will make the work out experience better for all of us.
