When I first moved to Dublin I worked with a couple of Educo gyms for a couple of months. I had never heard of Educo gym before and was completely open minded about what they did and how they operated. All my health and fitness background had come from the Army and I was all about getting some more experience working with civilians and in a public gym.
In this article I am going to give my honest opinion on Educo gym and the way it operates. I will give my honest opinion on their supplements, nutrition, training and general value for money.
Nutrition.
Educo Gym start off with a 12 day “transformation”.The diet consists of mainly red meat, nuts, cream, cheese and their supplements. The diet isn’t unhealthy or bad but it’s extreme and unsustainable. A lot of people stick to it for the 12 days and get good results but long term it doesn’t work. They insist on cutting out chicken and turkey which makes no sense on a high fat / high protein diet.
They do offer other nutrition plans but again I find they’re all very restrictive and long term unsustainable. The fact they even have the same pre written plans for every client that walks through the door is a FAIL!
Training
I have tried and tested a lot of different training systems as a coach and personal trainer. Educo gyms training system revolves around a “time machine”. This is basically a load of machine weights stuck together. Personally I don’t believe in using machines as they encourage unnatural movement patterns and prevent stabilising muscles from working properly. These two things alone will increase the risk of injury.
Another major flaw with Educo gym is there no warm up policy. ANYONE who lifts weights should warm up properly. If you want to increase your risk of injury then this is a sure way to go about things to mention not warming up decreases your performance.
The programming Educo gym use is very bodybuilding focused. I haven’t got any problems with bodybuilding and have a lot of respect for what they do as I have done something similar myself with athletic physique competing. However bodybuilding programs don’t work for the majority of people never mind fat loss clients who seem to make up the main percentage of Educo gyms client base.
For example on Leg day a client will perform some high rep squats in a machine then finish off with a load of calf raises. Calf raises are not optimal for fat loss they are very small muscles!!
The same goes with the arms day, having a client who has 30-40lbs to lose performing multiple arm isolation exercises for fat loss isn’t really the best way to use their 20 minutes of training time. By the way that’s how long an Educo gym session last. I’m all for a quick training session but 20 minutes of isolation work isn’t good enough.
Educo Gym Instructors
To become an instructor you simply complete a 20 minute online computer test. Personally I believe that it’s too easy to become a personal trainer as it is but this just takes the biscuit.
Supplements
I use some supplements like creatine, omega 3, and a multi vitamin. These are cheap enough and can be bought in places like Tesco or a supplement shop. My major concern with Educo Gym and supplements is trainers are told to push them on clients the minute they walk through the door.
Regardless of the clients diet instructors are made to push supplements and make targets. Yes, targets, like a sales person. This went on in one of the Educo gyms I worked in and not so much the other but I know from personal experience and from former members and employees it happens in the majority of Educo Gyms
The supplements they provide wouldn’t be of high quality either and are definitetly overpriced. You can buy better quality supplements for a lower price in most supplement shops or supermarkets.
Conclusion.
Educo gym does provide accountability to someone and the diet isn’t that bad despite being too rigid to stick to long term. I think that Educo gym is overpriced for the service it provides. If I was paying that sort of money I would expect a better level of attention to my personal goals and needs. Instead what I get is a pre written program, pre written nutrition plan, the same as every other client!!
Here is just some of the feedback I received from this article.
