Koko FitClub of Needham

Let me first preface this review by saying I absolutely abhor most exercises and was quickly on the path of melding into my furniture. I remember one of my friends mentioning he joined this last year and proceeded to transform himself while researching gyms suitable for total gym dummies like myself. I figured I’d give it a shot dragging my poor sleep deprived SO along in the process. We signed up for the $ ³⁰⁄₃₀ day trial easily on their website and Paul, the owner contacted me quickly to set up an initial «Strength Assessment» for the next day.
I noticed immediately when I arrived the gym itself is quite small, very intimate, welcoming and clean! A trainer greeted me at the front desk and took down my basic information in the survey then helped acquaint me with the machines/​program. A week or so later my SO and I both received handwritten welcome/​thank you notes from the trainers we worked with for our Strength Assessment. What a nice personal touch! The staff here are all extremely personable and helpful! They definitely take the time to get to know each member and help address any concerns. For me, I was always worried about whether I was doing the (new) exercises correctly and the trainers are always eager to work with you to achieve the proper form/​technique. I enjoy the variety of ~30 minute strength training and ~15 minute cardio workouts programmed. I sometimes also check online to preview the next session’s routine and personal stats.
On the one hand the gym size is good so you will know the trainers well and recognize the regulars, however, with only 5 strength training machines and 5 cardio machines (3 treadmills, 2 ellipticals) there’s sometimes a waitlist of 5 – 15 minutes. Parking here is usually a breeze unless it’s peak hours as they have their a lot in back along with another public lot shared by other business across the street. They also have 8 lockers and 2 changing stalls if you are coming from work but sadly no showers. I have been coming here 3 – 4 times a week with my SO for the past month and just enrolled in the «Koko Unlimited» $ 99/​month membership (the price seems to have increased from previous reviews and is a little steep compared to your Planet Fitness). They were able to apply the $ 30 trial fee to the $ 79 «Start up kit» which includes the personal USB and key for front and backdoor access anytime between 5am-​11pm!
I will update the review in a few months if we are still as dedicated and noticing results, or if the initial novelty wears off. For now I am glad I joined and taking the first step in a healthier lifestyle.

As five-​year members of Koko, my husband and I are still addicted to the variation in both strength and cardio workouts — and the ever-​friendly support of both staff and members! Crossing the birthday-​threshold into a new decade has been no problem, since we’re stronger than we were in our 30’s.

Koko is effective, and the results are highly measurable and simply communicated to each member in great detail through the mykokofitclub site. The staff are all very friendly, helpful and professional, and the members love going to the gym!

Koko’s automated, personalized approach is unique and terrific. It’s a very efficient use of time to get fit: Get in, work hard for 30 minutes on specific exercises, and get out. It yields great results. It has a very friendly, supportive atmosphere. It’s very cost-​effective for a personalized program. It offers no BS.

I used to pay a personal trainer $ 45/​hour to get the same workout that I find at Koko any day and any time I want. What’s not to like?

Koko is a good value, and a nice balance between self-​training and hiring a personal trainer. You get three of the major benefits of a personal trainer — automatic progress tracking, a workout plan that’s easy to follow, and a professional on-​hand to answer occasional questions about form – at a fraction of the price. Of course, there are many other benefits to a personal trainer – Koko isn’t designed to completely replace one. But it gets the job done for me – I just want to be moderately fit and healthy. If your goals are to be an Olympic athlete or you need major motivational help, Koko might not be sufficient.
Koko also offers nutrition tools, but I haven’t tried them (don’t personally feel that I need to change my diet right now).
This particular branch is clean and well-​run. The trainers are friendly and knowledgeable. The vibe is relaxed and mature. No nonsense or long lines for machines (with the exception of peak times during peak season).

I love love love this gym. I was a Workout World/​Planet Fitness member on/​off for years and wasn’t that into it. I barely liked going & never really saw results. I paid my $ 10, went a few times — did a little elliptical, a little weights, whatevs. This gym is 3 minutes from work which makes it super convenient, but I actually LIKE going. I have never been able to say that about another gym. Adam F’s comments below pretty much sum up the process. You literally get a personal training session every day and the staff is super nice and really helpful. I admit I was skeptical that a 15 minute cardio workout would do anything until I actually did it. They are definitely challenging! I highly recommend this gym. It’s unlike any other gym out there.

The staff here is great, and the concept is good for some people. As a younger person, I did not feel like the workouts pushed enough and they got very repetitive. I lost my motivation to go. I think this workout is great if you are middle-​aged+ and trying to stay at a baseline or increase a basic level of fitness, but as a 20’s something, it was not sufficient. Some people will love this place, other people will not like it at all.

I joined Koko 7 months ago after coming in for a free trial workout and was blown away. I do have a lot of strength training in my background from college, so I was one of the people who could go to any gym and know what to do without an instruction manual. With that said, I was doing the same «beach muscles» workout over and over again and it was getting boring. Boredom eventually lead to lack of going.
The staff at Koko are fantastic. I worked very closely with Paul, one of the owners. The staff are all Koko users themselves, so they can attest to the results you will get.
The SmartTrainer machine itself is a multi-​purpose gym machine with a touch-​screen monitor and USB port. When you join, you are given your own USB drive that you plug into the machine with each visit. The machine will take a look at your previous workout and performance and come up a workout factoring weight and pace. The workouts take about 35 minutes and there is NO REST. You will definitely feel it at the end. The machine also mixes up the pace to prevent muscle memory from getting in the way of your results; some days you will focus on ultra-​slow movements, while others will be more explosive.
Cardio is done on either an eliptical trainer or a treadmill. The treadmill workouts are all based on powerwalking, and not running. These are also done with a virtual trainer. You plug your headphones into an MP3 player attached to the machine, and pick your workout. A trainer will instruct you on what incline and speed to adjust the machine. The key to getting results from cardio is High Intensity Interval Training, and all their programs are challenging and deliver an impressive calorical burn.
I’m knocking off 1 point based on the limitations of the SmartTrainer machine — this does not reflect the staff or the company. Perhaps in the future, locations will have a free-​weight area that patrons can use. I did miss some «I lift things up and put them down» exercises.
Also, the price has gone up from some of the reviews from a year ago. It is presently $ 79/​mo plus a start-​up fee. It is still a better value than going to Boston Sports Clubs or Fitness Together since you are getting a personalized workout everyday.
If you have a Koko near you, I would certainly encourage you to go in for a trial.

First of all — the staff here is truly awesome. If I could give the staff 6 stars I gladly would. They are truly helpful, kind and great people. When you need help, they do all they can to help and it is clear they genuinely care. My concerns are really with the overall program.
The program itself is actually quite innovative, and I think they are on to something here. When you compare their approach to the typical free style gym, KoKo is much better. You have a structured program that you know has a purpose, and the task of keeping your progress bar in the blue bar helps you keep your focus and maintain a good pace. This kind of workout is what all workouts should be like.
So — what’s the problem? Every person has their own style/​preferences. For me, several pieces frustrated me completely. For others, this frustration will never happen. I did not feel these in the first 3 months, when everything is new and non repetitive. I recommend you give KoKo a try and see if it works for you. I bet there is a much greater chance you will love it than get frustrated.
Here are the weight training issues that got to me:
1. A few of the exercises don’t make sense. From the first time you do them you find yourself wondering «did the guy decide he needed an exercise that used that attachment?» There are only a few like this so this was not a biggie in itself.
2. A few exercises are very painful for me. Whether its my back, or my shoulder, which I broke a few years ago, a few are downright painful to do. You can skip them, but part of the nature of this program makes you feel punished if you do not do everything and perfectly. Its designed to push you — which is not a bad thing. But over time this gets frustrating.
3. A few exercises are very awkward for me. Being over 6 feet tall, I find a few of them difficult to do as designed without hitting limits, hitting the machine, extending into someone else’s work out area, or just not doing it right.
4. I don’t want to keep increasing weights. When I started I made it clear I was not interested in raising a lot of weight. But the program does not take this into account at all for you. My weight total probably increased by about 50%+ which was not what I wanted. It is constantly pushing your weights up. You can lower them, but it just raises it again shortly after. You’re in a constant battle with the program. Why do I want to constantly fight it?
5. The program system can be petty. I understand and value the scoring system they have. You can get a perfect workout (1000 pts) by doing all the exercises, at 100% pace, within 30 minutes. But there are little things it does to punish you that will just tick you off. There were times I should have gotten a perfect workout but did not. 100% pace, under 30 minutes, no messages, but a 996. Asked about it and the answer was, yeah, it seems to do that sometimes. I once hit the pause button for 10 seconds while I properly adjusted an attachment. That was a 25 point punishment! All of this is small petty stuff, but in a system designed to reward you with a perfect — how else should we feel about petty point deductions?
To the KoKo staff’s credit, when I shared the above items with them they indicated that they could have worked with me to help with some of that. But it sounded like a manual process that would have needed constant tweaking by them. I very much appreciate their willingness to do that, but it misses the mark of what I want — better control for me to manage it.
A few suggestions to KoKo:
1. Allow the users to design their own program — somewhat. *YOU* know what you want from us to make a complete work out. But *I* know what I need/​want in order to have it work for *ME*. Give users a lot more control over options in their online settings for programs. Some examples would be:
a. Allow me to remove some exercises from the routine. For example, for bicep, maybe have the user select at least 3 of 5 exercises from a list. If I select 3+, then have the routines use those in their cycle. But give users some control to eliminate certain ones that really just do not work for them.
b. Allow a user to specify their weight goals. If someone does not want to be increasing weights — then don’t do it. It may be your company, but its my money.
2. Stop the petty stuff with the 1000 point system. The only thing that should matter in the score is: complete all exercises, 100% pace score, and 30 minutes or less. Hitting a pause button or taking slightly longer on a set irrelevant to the program.
So — bottom line for me — while I could not agree more that having a program plan is 1000% better than the dumb freestyle gyms — I still need/​want *some* level of control of what I am doing. Without that, it still becomes a frustrating routine that ends up driving me off. KoKo is clearly on the right track to making exercise and weight training enjoyable — but they need to tweak it a little more to really make it work.

I joined this gym 2 months ago and I have lost 9 pounds!
It’s just like having a personal training session. They are legit 30 min workout that give you results. The members are all really nice and range in age and strength. The trainers are all very friendly and have no issue helping. I love this place!

Koko team in Needham ROCKS! Thanks for the visit. Made a visitor feel very welcome.

This place rocks.
Hours are 5 AM to 11 PM. –Try to beat that.
$ 59 per month for a Personal Trainer. –Try to beat that.
Clean, Friendly, NO G-​D Dam F — ing attitude. –Try to beat that.
Do NOT go here… It might get too busy !
Just kidding, my hope is if you go they will expand and shorten my drive time from 11 minutes to just around the corner.
PLENTY OF PARKING ! Especially at 5 AM.

My fiancé joined KoKo Fitness a few months ago and absolutely loves it. The concept is awesome. It’s perfect for people who are total gym dummies: the machine plans the workout for you, there’s no guesswork involved, and the point system is motivating. You can also see all your results/​upcoming workouts online… and I hear an iPhone app is coming soon. Paul, Sarah and Adam are really great people and have been super helpful with getting my fiancé acclimated to the exercises and giving him tips. I definitely see the results. If I worked a bit closer, I would join in a second. It’s totally worth it!

I’m been going to Koko fit for about 2 months. It’s been really good because I get my work out done in just a half hour. I’ve been to Gold’s, BSC, Beacon Hill, YMCA, and the JCC… basically all the gyms out there. But I really like Koko because it’s never too crowded, work outs are quick, and the results have been good.
It’s circuit training so you don’t focus on one body part per day, but you get a good full body work out. I signed up for a year because it’s a very good deal in comparison to the other gyms and what I get.
If you join and say you were referred by Devin C. then they’ll give you a month free when you sign up… plus I’ll get a month free so we all benefit!

So I’ve only been here to check it out. And I’m really thinking of joining up with this gym. The guy that i spoke with was very informative and very helpful and polite. It’s a small gym so less people which is fine with me. The program itself seems pretty cool. A little bit on the pricey side but i think you get your moneys worth.
Heres the math: you join a gym for like 50 bucks a month or so maybe 40. Now if you want a personal trainer in the mix thats 60/​hour. RIDICULOUS!!!
However the way that this program is. you get training but with out a person. The computer is your personal trainer and it sets up programs that are meant for you and your strength.
So far I am a fan. Ill be joining asap!