MMA Gym Fitness Center
285 Võ Văn Tần, Phường 5, Quận 3, Hồ Chí Minh
Opening Hours: Mon – Sat: 5:30 – 21:30, Sun: 6:00 – 21:00
Cost: 50k per visit!
Location
MMA Gym Fitness Center is located to the North of Benh Thanh, 10-15 minutes walk from the main area (which I’m defining as being around AB Tower). The gym is spread over several floors and is well marked from the street – you’ll need to look up though!
Staff spoke minimal English but were more than capable of communicating the great price! At 50k dong, this is my cheapest workout in Ho Chi Minh yet.
Facilities
This is predominantly a boxing gym, so I wasn’t sure what to expect from the weights section of such a facility, especially given the low price. But I was pleased to see it has a good selection of weight training equipment and a fair range of cardio machines. The gym is spread over around 5 floors (I lost count!), with a couple of those dedicated purely to boxing bags, pads and gloves.
MMA Gym is not air-conditioned; however, I attended during rainy season in the afternoon when it’s not desperately warm. You’ll sweat, but for me it was an easily bearable temperature. Doors and windows to outside were open on this floor.
The top 2 floors, which they label 3 and 4 are taken up with boxing equipment. Floor 4 consists of boxing bags, rings, gloves, pads, some light weight dumbbells and even a light kettlebell. The third floor comprises more gloves and pads, along with a few mid-weight dumbbells and further punchbags. There’s even a boxing ring!
The more standard gym equipment is located on floors 1 and 2. Each of these floors has 2 separate rooms, so it is very much a case of checking out where the things you want to use will be at the outset. Still, climbing a flight of stairs a few times will help to keep that heart rate pumping!
Check Out Amazing Day Trips with Urban Adventures.
Weights
The first floor consists of entirely weight training equipment. The main room at the front of the building contains a Smith machine, dumbbell freeweights up to 34kg and 3 bench press racks at 2 different inclines and 1 flat. You’ll also find several adjustable barbells here.
The second (smaller) room on this floor contains several loadable resistance machines. These include several shoulder presses, a seated row, a pec dec and a lat pulldown.
The second floor also contains a good number of weight training equipment, along with some cardio machines. You’ll find some pull up bars, a cable crossover station, preacher curl station, lat pulldown, leg extension and leg curl in the main room on this floor. To the back of the building, the smaller room has 2 leg presses, inclined abs benches and a resistance machine for hip extensions.
Functional Training
Still on floor 2 in the back room, you’ll find a Swiss ball and a yoga mat here. Although there isn’t a huge number of standard gym toys, you will find ample space for floor work in several places; I recommend the boxing floor which has loads of punch bags and a clear run for walking lunges and other floor work.
Cardio
The cardio equipment here is of reasonable quality and condition, although not the most modern I’ve seen. I found 3 treadmills, 1 Spin bike, 1 upright bike and 2 crosstrainers.
Summary
MMA Gym is a total bargain! At just 50k dong, this is the cheapest gym I’ve found, with Luna Gym and Spa coming in at 75k and Mach’s Gym costing 70k. These 2 gyms are however more central to Ben Thanh than MMA Gym. This of course depends on where you’re staying and how much you like walking in the heat / hopping on the back of motorbikes! I was initially concerned that a boxing gym might not contain much in the way of weight-training equipment, but certainly this place had everything most weight trainers would need. With a max dumbbell weight of 34kg, this might be a little light for some though.
Want an Overview of Gyms in Saigon?
I’ve been to several different gyms here and I’ve summarised, compared and recommended my favourites for each budget level. Check out Gyms in Saigon.
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!