AK Fitness & Yoga Hanoi
28A4 Phạm Hồng Thái, Trúc Bạch
Opening Hours: 5:30 – 21:00, 7 days a week.
Cost: 50k a go.
Location
AK Fitness & Yoga is in the popular “Old Quarter” area of Hanoi, around 1.5km north of Ho Hoan Kiem Lake. You’ll find it just a block away from TopGym Fitness and Yoga, which I visited a couple of weeks ago. The entrance is clearly visible from the street and it’s correctly positioned on Google Maps – simple.
Facilities
The gym is spread over three floors and you’ll find a studio on the fourth floor. I saw a dance class in progress when I arrived, the music was pumping and the locals seemed to be having lots of fun!
The ground floor is your cardio area, whilst the second floor has mostly resistance equipment and floor space. The top floor meanwhile broadly contains free weights and a few more resistance machines.
The temperature is mainly controlled by fans; the aircon I found was not in operation on one floor, and on another was pointless as the balcony doors directly below it were wide open. On the day I went, fans did a reasonable job of keeping it a bearable (but not ideal) temperature.
Take plenty of water and a towel – you’ll be needing both!
Take the stress out of a Day Out with Urban Adventures!
Weights
On the third floor you’ll find dumbbell free-weights up to 37.5kg, a few adjustable barbells and four or five bench press stations. They like bench-pressing in Vietnam! There’s also a squat machine and something similar which was set up as a shoulder press rack with a bench.
You’ll also find cable crossovers with a lat pulldown and row attached, along with a leg press, shoulder press and chest press. The rest of the resistance machines are on the floor below and you’ll find a reasonable range for both upper and lower body. The floor below also has a lat pulldown and resisted pull-ups bar.
I also found a preacher curl station and an inclined abs bench up here, with another abs bench and hip extension bench on the floor below.
The free weights area is pretty cluttered; it’s not a large area and although most dumbbells were racked, they were neither in order nor in pairs necessarily. I found quite a few disc weights and dumbbells on the floor here too, which didn’t help. You’ll find space elsewhere in the room to work though if more than a couple of people are already using this area.
Cardio
The ground floor contains all the club’s cardio equipment, which amounts to around eight treadmills, five crosstrainers, two upright bikes and a few vibration machines. (I’m reluctant to call the latter cardio machines, but they are on this floor!)
Functional Training
You’ll find a superb amount of floor space here at AK Fitness! The second floor is largely dedicated to it – you’ll find half the gym floor is fully matted with thick chunky mats and a fair few gym toys. I saw a small astro-turfed area too. They don’t allow shoes on either of these sections, which has kept them in good condition.
You’ll find five powerbags from 5-25kg, a few Swiss balls, a stepboard and a BOSU. There’s even a cool abs roller in the shape of a car! You’ll find kettlebells up to 16kg and I found medicine balls up to 9kg.
I also saw a yoga mat or two on the third floor. It was literally only one or two though, but bear in mind the functional area is fully matted and shoe-free.
Summary
This gym is superb value for money at 50k dong a go. The limited space around the free weights was probably the only slight downside, but as mentioned, easily remedied by moving your weights to another part of the gym. Considering the convenient location, walking distance (20 mins approx) from the Old Quarter, it’s great value for money.
Don’t mind travelling a few kilometres for a similarly priced gym with better aircon? Check out Olympia Vietnam, south of Ho Hoan Kiem Lake.
Alternatively, just around the corner from AK Fitness and Yoga, you’ll find TopGym Fitness and Yoga. It’s a lot pricier but with more modern facilities, including aircon!
Want an Overview of Gyms in Hanoi?
I went to several different gyms here and I’ve summarised, compared and recommended my favourites for each budget level. Check out Gyms in Hanoi.
Enjoyed this?
Check out my Five Top Tips For Keeping Fit Around the World and
How to Look Ripped on Your Travel Adventure – For Free!
Need Travel Insurance?
Check out my feature on Travel Insurance for Adventurers!