While it does have a 4-star rating, St. Giles Boulevard Hotel actually has some solid health and wellness facilities (aside from the great breakfast buffet they serve!). During my stay I got to see its gym and saw some really good equipment. Other than the gym, the hotel has a pool that kids would undoubtedly enjoy swimming in.
Gym and Swimming Pool of St. Giles Boulevard Hotel KL: They Have All You Need to Stay Fit During Your Stay
So my stay here at St. Giles Boulevard Hotel was a mixed bag to say the least. There were some aspects of it that I liked and there were some design decisions that were rather head scratching (e.g. the towel rack placed above the toilet). Overall though my room was nice so I expected pretty much the same thing with the hotel’s other facilities.
The first of these I tried to check was the gym. Here’s the entrance with a sign detailing its business hours as well as the rules that you’ll need to follow while using the area and the equipment there. To enter, you can just use the keycard provided for you to access your room.
The first thing you’ll notice as you enter is this receptionist table that has a log book and towels of varying sizes on top of it. Of course, these towels are for the guests to use but like with most hotels, you’re not allowed to bring these home. There’s actually a bin here (not pictured) where you can leave your used towels for housekeeping to collect and clean.
Once you get past the door to the gym area, you’ll then be regaled with this view of the equipment here. Cross trainers are a great piece of gym equipment for people who don’t go to the gym much. They exercise numerous muscles and improve cardio while requiring minimal effort. If you’re traveling then I actually think spending an hour or so on these is a great way to stay in shape.
Aside from the cross trainers, there are also treadmills and stationary bikes here. Like cross trainers, these are quite easy to use which makes them ideal for people who typically don’t go to the gym. Off in the background you can also see some of the other equipment available here.
This is a closer look at the treadmills and the stationary bike in this area. So something I noticed about the gym is that a lot of the equipment here (at least in this specific area) isn’t just from one maker or brand. In most of the hotel gyms that I’ve been to, most of their machines are typically from a single manufacturer like how JW Marriott’s has Technogym equipment. Personally, I don’t mind this. My main concern really is that the equipment actually works.
Thankfully, the machines that I’ve tried here at St. Giles Boulevard Hotel’s gym have all worked without an issue. While it does show signs of wear, this Cybex treadmill’s console/control panel was still very functional. The buttons still worked and more importantly, the motor powering the belt didn’t seem to struggle when I tried walking on it.
The stationary bike also seemed like it was quite old but was actually still very functional. I think this is an E-Series upright exercise bike by Star Trac, a company known for making sturdy and user-friendly exercise equipment. Now I wasn’t able to spend much time on this but it did seem like it could take on a couple more years of use.
Here’s a closeup of the Star Trac upright bike’s console. What’s great about this is that the handles of the bike are shoulder level so you can really make sure that your posture is upright when using it. Moreover, the view of the pool area outside from here is actually nice and makes for a less monotonous workout experience.
Oh look, a Technogym treadmill. I just recently spent some time at the JW Marriott that’s also here in Kuala Lumpur (specifically Bukit Bintang) and the majority of that hotel’s gym equipment are also from Technogym. This one seemed like it is a lot newer and has fewer signs of wear than the Cybex earlier.
Other than looking newer, the digital console on this treadmill also seems like it’s much easier to navigate. If given the choice, my preference would be for this treadmill over the Cybex. Not only does it seem newer, it’s also the more user-friendly of the two by a mile. That said, I don’t think you’d really go wrong with either.
Perhaps the most surprising thing I saw here at St. Giles Boulevard Hotel’s gym is this power rack. I’ve been to more than a handful of hotel gyms this past year and I rarely saw this specific gym equipment. Heck, there were even some gyms that just didn’t have bar bells.
I kind of understand why most hotel gyms tend to not feature this kind of equipment though. The exercises that you typically do on this aren’t only complex, they can be kind of dangerous too especially if you’re not using proper form and weights appropriate to your strength level. For these hotels, having a power rack probably isn’t worth the potential headache from these accidents.
You could kind of see the hotel gym is trying to strike a balance of still having this equipment and minimizing possible accidents by setting the heaviest plate in the rack to 33 lbs. Typically, most gyms would have their rack’s heaviest plate at 45 lbs. Still, 33 lbs is kind of heavy and I really wouldn’t recommend using the power rack if you don’t regularly lift.
Another piece of gym equipment that you typically don’t see hotel gyms offer is the preacher curl bench. Preacher curls are basically an isolation exercise for the biceps and are typically geared more for body builders than your typical traveler looking to burn the calories they consumed from eating out. Again, this is something that you shouldn’t worry about especially if you’re a beginner or don’t have someone teaching you about proper form.
Here’s another piece of equipment that you don’t normally see in hotel gyms. This is called a leg press machine and it’s relatively safe when compared to the power rack. When I was there the heaviest individual weight you could put on it was a 44 lbs plate though I think you could lighter ones from the power rack if this was too heavy.
It’s also relatively easy to operate and if the weights are too heavy then you could always use the safety levers (carriage stops in the instructions) to lock the foot platform in place. Just make sure to read the instructions before your set and you should be good to go. That said, leg press might be the worst exercise to do while traveling as it really fatigues your leg muscles. If your itinerary involves a lot of walking then good luck!
Exercises that I think fit travelers the most are probably yoga and aerobics. These typically don’t fatigue your muscles and can actually help improve your cardio (which is something you’ll need when you’re walking around a lot). Thankfully, the gym does have yoga mats here as well as aerobic step platforms.
The dumb bell is also a great exercise equipment when used right. It’s great for improving strength and muscle tone as well as enhancing your cardio. More importantly, it’s easy to pick up. There’s literally a weight for every fitness level and more importantly, some of the exercises you can do as a beginner with these typically don’t need to strictly follow correct form.
I’m not that big of a fan of stability balls and medicine balls but it’s still good to know that the gym has these here. Of the two, I think the stability ball (the large red ball on the floor) is better for beginners. It’s great for balance training, improving your flexibility, and strengthening your core muscles. More importantly though, it’s relatively safe as well as being beginner friendly.
Here you’ll find the gym’s cable machines. Compared to free weights these are generally considered safer and therefore, much better for beginners. Of course, you’re still going to need someone to instruct you so if you’re not familiar with these then you might want to stick to the other equipment or lighter weights.
Speaking of free weights, this is an adjustable weight bench where you can do your exercises with those. Some of the free weight exercises you can do here include bench presses, dumbbell rows, lying triceps extensions, and dumbbell flys (among many others). Additionally, you can do body weight exercises here. These exercises include (but aren’t limited to) step-ups, incline push ups, and triceps dips.
Going back to the cable machines, here’s one for chest presses. Again, this is relatively easy to use and is actually quite effective at growing your chest. Scared of doing the bench press? Well this could be a good alternative for that.
As I said in the previous image, this is relatively easy to use and you can actually just follow the instructions near the machine’s weight stack. The sign features instructions for both the positioning of your hands as well as the kind of movement you should be doing.
If you want to increase the weight just unplug the yellow weight selector pin to your preferred number of plates. Each has a weight of 12.5 kilograms and if you set the selector to the lowest plate then you’ll be pressing 250 kilograms total. Like I’ve been saying though, just set the selector to a weight you can handily press to avoid injuries.
While I did say that you could do a bench press on the adjustable weight bench earlier, there’s actually equipment here that’s specifically for that exercise and movement. This weight bench has a barbell rack and all you’ll need is to pretty much lay down on it and start pumping iron. Of course, make sure you do this with a spotter if the weight you’re benching is heavy.
Another thing you should remember if you plan to bench press here is that there might not be an instructor or staff around to help you if you don’t have your own spotter. I’m not quite sure if it was just when I was there, but I really didn’t see any instructors or gym staff here outside of the other guests working out.
As for guests who are already experienced at lifting weights, you will find a lot of the barbells here only have one set of plates on them. If you want to add more weights, then you’re going to want to head on over to the power rack and get plates there. This is understandable as again, the gym is targeted mainly at guests rather than hardcore bodybuilders or powerlifters.
Aside from upright stationary bikes, I also saw one recumbent bike in the gym when I was there. Now if you’re really tired or going through some kind of rehab then this is quite possibly the best exercise machine here for you. The calorie burn isn’t going to be as intense as with upright bikes or even treadmills but it’s still going to keep you moving comfortably which I think is really important when you’re travelling a lot.
Here’s a look at the recumbent bike. It’s also made by Cybex and has plenty of quality of life features that I think are honestly neat. A good example is the cup/bottle holder on the side handlebars that makes it so you don’t have to be constantly holding your water bottle during long sessions.
Right next to the recumbent bike is this ab crunch machine. Now, I actually don’t think this is any good. There are plenty of better exercises that you can do to strengthen your core. Heck, planks are overall better than using this and that exercise doesn’t require any machine at all.
If you do decide to use this ab crunch machine though, just make sure to check out the instructions for its use. I guess beginners might find value using this especially since planks do require proper form. While this can help strengthen parts of your core, just don’t expect to get 6-pack abs from using this. For that, you’re going to need a proper diet more than ab crunches and that can be pretty hard when you’re travelling.
If you’re looking to do leg extensions then you can find this beside the ab crunch machine. Doing reps on leg extension machines is actually a great way to build your quad muscles. Again though, exercises like this can cause leg fatigue so make sure you use the appropriate weight if you don’t want to hobble around the streets of KL for a day or two.
The lat pull down machine is a gym equipment that I also think is good for beginners. It’s great for improving your pulling strength and lowkey will help you get a wider back. It’s also relatively easy to use though you will need to make sure you’re following proper form to get the best results.
Much like with the other equipment here, there’s also a sign with instructions on proper positioning and movement that you can find near the weight plate of the lat pulldown machine. I think I’ve been saying this for a while now but also make sure that you’ve set the weight selector pin on the plates/weights that you can realistically pull down. This prevents overfatigue and possible accidents.
So earlier you saw a leg extension machine which works the quad muscles. If you want to work your hamstrings then you’re going to want to use this leg curl machine instead. Take note though that you can only do lying leg curls on this machine. Depending on your goals, a seated leg curl might be better and unfortunately, I couldn’t find a machine for that here.
Another piece of equipment that I don’t see often in hotel gyms are those for back extensions like the one in the image. Now my opinion on this machine is similar to ab crunches. I don’t really think it’s good and there’s a chance doing this without proper form might worsen any back condition you might have.
Aside from the back extension machine, other rare gym equipment (for hotel gyms that is) that I came across here include this sit-up bench and to its right, hip adduction and hip abduction machines. The latter two were quite the surprise because I think it was the first time that I saw them outside of the regular gyms that I frequent. Now are these any good? I’m actually not sure since I don’t usually include these. What I will say though is that I very much like the variety of the gym equipment here. It’s honestly one of the most complete hotel gyms that I’ve been in when you factor in the equipment.
Swimming Pool
As you probably noticed earlier, the gym and the pool here at St. Giles Boulevard Hotel are both on the same level/floor. Swimming is only allowed from 7:00AM to 7:00PM though you could still access the pool area past these hours. I ended up coming here quite late but interestingly enough, it was still enjoyable.
A huge part of my enjoyment had to do with the view. If you’ve been following my reviews and write-ups, I always talk about great views and that’s because I genuinely enjoy them. The nighttime view here was also great. I particularly loved the KL skyline at night thanks to the myriad of lights from the tall buildings here in Mid Valley City as well as in the distance.
The pool area itself was also nice to look at. From this vantage point you can see the hotel’s gym. You’ll also notice the depth indicator of this end of the pool. At just 1.2 meters this is actually the pool’s deepest end. Now, this isn’t surprising as hotels like JW Marriott also have pools with the same depth.
Now despite it being past swimming hours, you’ll notice in the image that there are still people here. And really, it’s not that hard to figure out why that is. I mean, just look at this view!
Here’s a sign warning guests that there are no lifeguards on duty. Unfortunately this is very common with most hotel pools that I’ve been on so you will need to make sure you’re around if you have kids swimming here. Even with the shallow depth, accidents can still happen so it would be better to err on the side of caution.
If there was one thing I would’ve wanted the hotel to do, it’s to extend the pool hours but make it only for adults. It would be a great way for guests to cool down at night and I’m pretty sure the pool side bar here would benefit from the nighttime crowd. That said, I do kind of understand that the country is pretty conservative so extending pool hours might be an impossible request.
If there’s one thing I didn’t enjoy here it was the lounge chairs. They were pretty low and for some reason, I just couldn’t feel comfortable sitting in them. I would have preferred they added some padding on these chairs but considering you probably aren’t spending the whole day here then this is probably just a nitpick on my part.
The lights here in the pool area were also quite bright. This, together with the fact that it was relatively cool here, probably contributed to there still being people in the area even with the pool already closed for swimming. Another reason for the bright lights is probably to discourage swimming at night.
Since the pool is relatively shallow, you’re going to want to ease into it through these standard straight steps/escabanc. Again, the pool is only 1.2 meters deep so diving is heavily discouraged.
If you have very young kids then you can let them play here in the kiddie pool. This is beside the pool steps and is just half a meter deep. Now despite this being shallow, you’re still going to want to watch over your kids because… well, they’re kids. Again, it’s better to err on the side of caution especially around pools.
One thing I liked about the pool here is that it’s actually relatively large. The one at the JW Marriott seemed like it only had half the area of this pool. Don’t worry though as the depth is uniform so as long as you’re watching over your kids, then you shouldn’t have any issues with them getting into an accident here (knock on wood).
For a 4-star hotel, St. Giles Boulevard has a more than functional gym and an okay pool. Both of these facilities looked like they were well maintained when I was there and I think most people would enjoy either of these areas. There were obviously some issues especially with the lounge chairs and the lack of instructors/lifeguards but I think these are to be expected. Overall, my experience with these amenities were positive though admittedly, yours might end up being drastically different from mine.
Ever spent time at St. Giles Boulevard Hotel’s gym and swimming pool areas? In case you have then we’d be happy to hear all about your experiences with these facilities! Make sure you share them with us down in the comments!
