Mach’s Gym Ho Chi Minh
Huyền Trân Công Chúa, Phường Bến Thành, Quận 1, Hồ Chí Minh
Opening Hours: Mon-Sat: 600 – 21:30, Sun: 10:00 – 18:00
Cost: 80k dong per day or current offer: 480k per month if you train 6:00 – 14:00. Or 600k per month all day.
Location
Mach’s Gym Saigon is located in a very convenient part of district one. You’ll find it a short walk away from Independence Palace, in Ben Thanh district. It’s correctly marked on Google maps – you just need to turn off the street to enter a courtyard-like area / open space and the gym is on your left.
Facilities
I found Mach’s Gym to be great value for money. It’s been renovated since I last visited a year ago, with a new hard floor, to replace the old carpet. The price of a session hasn’t changed though – yay! The club now looks modern and is well airconditioned. This medium sized gym is good for weight-training and cardio and hosts a small functional training area.
Take a towel and water – I wasn’t given a towel and I couldn’t see free drinking water, but you could buy it. Also, you find small lockers in the main room – take your own padlock.
The size of facility and equipment hasn’t changed much from last year, only the floor. Equipment is all in good condition, but nothing to write home about. The club is well-maintained though and a great balance of quality and low cost.
They also do protein shakes, though I didn’t get one.
Take a towel and water – I wasn’t given a towel and I couldn’t see free drinking water, but you could buy it. Also, you find small lockers in the main room – take your own padlock.
The size of facility and equipment hasn’t changed much from last year, only the floor. Equipment is all in good condition, but nothing to write home about. The club is well-maintained though and a great balance of quality and low cost.
Weights
At least half of the gym’s space is dedicated to weight training. Mach’s Gym Ho Chi Minh caters well for weight trainers, with a generous range of resistance equipment as well as free weights.
You’ll find dumbbells up to 40kg and a few adjustable barbells. They’ve also provided two bench presses (one flat and one inclined) and a set of pull up bars for your upper body. There’s an additional set of pull up bars attached to the squat rack, along with a Smith machine.
I found three plate-loadable machines, namely a leg press, pulldown and shoulder press.
Interesting I also found some “Freemotion” machines – for bicep rows, triceps, chest and calves respectively. These are basically resistance machines where you use a pin to select the weight, but then train with cables in 3 dimensions – great idea, and they kind of make up for the absence of a cable crossover.
They’ve also provided three abs benches and a hip extension bench.
Functional Training
Considering how well equipped the rest of the gym is, the functional training area here was a little disappointing. I couldn’t find any mats, although I saw someone using one, so perhaps they are hiding somewhere. Perhaps more relevantly, there’s not much floor space to put the mats. You’ll find some space near the dumbbells, but naturally those lifting weights would train here. You could easily create some floor space elsewhere though if the gym is quiet, which it was when I went on a weekday morning.
The limited equipment includes some kettlebells and medicine balls, a step board, Swiss ball, skipping rope and an abs roller.
Cardio
The cardio area takes up a significant proportion of Mach’s Gym (over a thrid of it). You’ll find a good range and quality of equipment here to suit most people’s needs. I counted ten treadmills, three crosstrainers, two Spin bikes, one upright bike and a stepper.
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Summary of Mach’s Gym
I really liked this budget gym, especially as it offers a cheaper rate if you train from 6:00 – 14:00 only (as I normally do!). Mach’s Gym is a great choice if you’re into cardio or weights and is well located. The aircon level was comparable to other more expensive gyms in Vietnam – awesome! Don’t expect temperatures as low as those in Western gyms, but arguably, many of these are too cold anyway!
Want an Overview of Gyms in Saigon?
I went 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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