High Octane Fitness is found in Pamankada, pretty close to The Dutch Grocer and Shiraz on Stratford Avenue. It is the best gym in Sri Lanka, need I say more?
The word around town is High Octane Fitness (HOF) is really good, oh my god, it’s so cool, you should totally check it out, blah di blah, so I decided to finally go there, only to have my mind blown. This is not a gym, it’s a massive warehouse with enough weights and machinery for the entire soviet army.
The floor space is roughly about the size of a rugby field, no exaggeration, maybe even more. The cardio section is upstairs, housing treadmills, cross trainers, cycling and rowing machines. Downstairs they have all the machine and free weights and a couple more treadmills and rowing machines. Check out the photos, I saw some machines I’ve never seen before, and one of the trainers kindly obliged in giving me some demonstrations.
They have a separate room for special workshops like zumba and taebo and spin classes. Have a look at their website or facebook page for some more information. Personal trainers charge the pretty standard rate of Rs. 1,000 per session.
Apart from the enormous size of the place, there are loads of things that set HOF apart from the rest of the competition. But the first thing I should mention I think is the sheer class of the entire place – all the machines have their logo embossed into the cushions, they’ve got some great workout supplements and members have free access to a DVD library – pretty sweet.
They’ve also got something I haven’t seen in other gyms before – a shake shack. They basically just make you a protein shake or pre workout for about 400 rupees. It’s good for someone who has never tried it before, or if you forgot your shaker at home you could make do by spending some money.
By the entrance there’s also a Roots stand and a Laundromat– pretty brilliant place for the smoothie bar and I guess there’s some convenience there in having your clothes dry cleaned while you sweat out inside.
This gym screams out royalty, for Rs. 60,000 for an individual annual member, it doesn’t seem too bad considering everything. It is a bit out of the way from Colombo and that’s really disappointing, but if making the trip there isn’t a problem then this is the best gym membership you can get.
