California Centuryon Quận 1, Saigon
6th floor, Saigon Centre 65 Lê Lợi, phường Bến Nghé, Quận 1, Ho Chi Minh
Class Timetable (go to Saigon Centre Centuryon and click on the week/timetable you want from here)
Opening Hours: 6:00 – 22:00, 7 days a week
Cost: 400k per day
Location
California Centuryon is located to the East of the popular area of Ben Thanh. You’ll find it inside Saigon Centre, a large upmarket mall – take the lift up to the 6th floor.
Facilities
Top of the range from everything I saw. Even the decor resembled that of a five star hotel. Not that I’ve stayed in many of those since taking off travelling, but you get the idea! Naturally in a club of this calibre, there is free drinking water. However towels are only available for rent, starting from 15k dong. The towel stand looked to be permanently manned – warranted due to the volume of people attending the club.
The entrance floor of the club hosts all functional training equipment and… a boxing ring – a common feature of gyms in Ho Chi Minh, I’ve noticed. Upstairs you’ll find the main gym and changing rooms. Above that, there are 2 studios, one for general classes and one for Spinning.
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Weights
Dumbbell freeweights go up to an unusual 42kg, whilst barbells are labelled in pounds and go from 25-115lbs. They go up in 5lbs increments but alternate between straight and curled.
You’ll find a squat machine and a Smith machine next to a slightly out of place assisted chin ups machine, which is located far away from similar machinery. The duplicated cable machines, with 2 each of lat pull downs and cable related equipment are located on the other side of the gym. You’ll find a couple of sets of pull up bars here too, together with resistance equipment. I found 3 bench presses, 2 of which were set to flat and one declined.
There is a decent range of resistance machinery for both lower and upper body. Everything in the club is extremely modern – no rusty connections here! Additionally there are loadable resistance machines for you heavyweights, including lat pulldowns, chest and shoulder presses.
Cardio
You’ll be able to find in excess of 20 treadmills here, and much needed too, given how busy it was! You’ll also see around 7 crosstrainers, 2 rowing machines and 8 bikes (4 upright, 4 recumbent). I also found 2 of the modern, curved, non-motorized treadmills. There’s also a Jacob’s Ladder here, a piece of equipment I first took to in Canada last year.
Functional Training
The entrance floor hosts a large extensive functional training area, where you’ll even find a handful more cardio machines, including a couple of steppers and stairclimbers. You’ll find a substantial boxing area, including several spaced out punchbags and a boxing ring with gloves and pads. There is also a sizeable rig, together with TRXs, Swiss balls, BOSUs and ViPRs. You’ll also find battleropes, plyoboxes, lots of kettlebells, a rack of regular medicine balls and some Dynamax (leather) medicine balls. Additionally you’ll find some good quality clean(ish!) mats. The area is spacious and in pristine condition.
Studio and Classes
Go up another floor from the main gym and you’ll find 2 studios opposite each other. I was lucky enough to see a dance class going on in one (with full on party lighting!), whilst the other studio is for Spinning classes. The main studio currently has around 44 classes per week, which include Zumba, Tai Chi, Body Combat, Body Pump, Yoga, a range of dance classes, abs and core classes and toning classes. There are also around 14 Spinning classes, nearly all of which are held in the evenings.
Summary of California Centuryon HCMC
California Centuryon Saigon was the most expensive gym I found in Ho Chi Minh, but you get what you pay for. The main downside was that it was packed out with people – rather like the city of Ho Chi Minh generally! Admittedly I went at 16:30 on a weekday evening, and although the large spacious club coped well with the number of members, it was a challenge to get the weights I wanted at times. I can certainly see why the club is popular though. If I went again, I’d aim for earlier in the day in the hope of a quieter workout!
Want an Overview of Gyms in Saigon?
I’ve been to eight different gyms here and I’ve summarised, compared and recommended my favourites for each budget level. Check out Gyms in Saigon.
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