Gyms

Gyms in Barcelona are of a high standard but membership is usually required for most health clubs and country clubs. Municipal sports centres (known as polideportivos/poliesportius or centros deportivos/centres esportius) often offer a ‘pay and play’ system as well as formal memberships.  

Gyms in Barcelona tend to have swimming pools and saunas, and in some cases spa facilities, which means that there is a crossover of sports centres and health clubs. ‘Pure gyms,’ that concentrate wholly on cardiovascular training, free weights and fitness classes are not as common as gyms with swimming pools, due to the hot weather.

Do note that when summer arrives, gyms become significantly less busy, as members flock to the beach or nearby mountain areas such as Montserrat.  However, outdoor pools and solarium areas are often packed in the pre-holiday months of June and July.

Can Ricart
Sant Oleguer, 10
Raval
Paral•lel
93 441 75 26
www.canricart.com
Can Ricart is an open-plan gym with a range of fitness classes. There’s a large free weight and resistance area downstairs, with cardiovascular machines and exercise mats upstairs. There is a 25m indoor swimming pool, which can get very crowded in the evenings, and a small outdoor solarium with about 10 sunbeds.

A spa pool with water jets and Jacuzzi is open to all. However you have to pay a supplementary membership for the spa area and sauna

Standard membership costs EUR 33 per month for use of the facilities at anytime. There is also a half-day tariff of EUR 24 per month, which allows use of the facilities until 14:00 every day. One-off entry to the pool costs EUR 10 per person.

Pilates

Pilates was first developed in 1945. Based on eastern traditions, European training methods and Greek and Roman exercises, it is an invigorating workout designed to strengthen body and mind. It is essentially a more rigorous form of yoga, centring on similar principles of flexibility, posture and strength, but the movements in Pilates are quite different.

Pilates is beneficial for helping patients to prepare for and recover from surgery or pregnancy and is particularly popular with athletes because it helps to prevent injury. Many health clubs and gyms now offer Pilates classes.

Area Pilates
C/ Laforja, 101
Sarrià-Sant Gervasi
Hospital Clínic
93 209 10 63
www.areapilates.com
This centre uses Pilates equipment for individual and group classes (maximum four people). You can do allegro, fitball, bosu, elastic resistance or work with multi-sized balls. Each room is dedicated to a different Pilates method.

One group class costs between EUR 30 and EUR 36 (depending on the chosen method) and the monthly fee is EUR 105 to EUR 130 for one-55-minute class per week. Located in the Zona Alta area, classes are attended by professionals and well-to-do residents of the district.