LA Fitness — Attraction in Lake View Township

In summary poorly run. Should have read the reviews before signing up.

1. Uncomfortable staff. The guy who signed me up gave me skeevy vibes from the get go. I later found out he had multiple complaints against him for hitting on women. But still works there.

2. Poor scheduling. I do not blame the trainers at all for this. The LA fitness staff scheduled my training session at sign up. I got a confirmation email, a call from the trainer to discuss my fitness goals, and a call from LA fitness staff confirming the training session. Then I called back to make sure the training session was with the person I scheduled with and they again confirmed yes. When I showed up that night, it turned out the trainer had an emergency and had to leave (totally understandable!) But the LA fitness front desk failed to notify me of this until I go there. Since she was the only female trainer, she was the only one I was willing to meet with (especially after my first encounter with the guy who registered me) and therefore they wasted my time.

3. Disrespectful attendees and no solution. During a yoga class, I was in the back of the room, which happens to be big glass doors/windows facing the weight room. When we were all in downward dog, I watched three people walk by, point, and laugh. I tried to wave them away, but they stayed there laughing for a minute or 2 before moving on. I notified 2 staff of the incident, but nothing really could be done about it.

4. For me the final straw was the lockers. There are signs up, somewhere, saying they will cut your lock if you leave things overnight in the lockers. I was not notified of this at registration. I just came in one night and my lock, and all my stuff was gone, including $100+ shoes. As I grew quickly frustrated, at least 4 staff came at me telling me "there were signs, you should have seen the signs." I'm definitely a get in and get out asap kind of person. I go right to the locker and right out. Work out. Change. Go home. I don't hang out in the locker room like some. I don't use the sinks, the bathrooms, nothing. I don't go more than a few feet beyond the entrance to the locker room. So I'm sure there are signs -HOWEVER I do believe it's unfair not to leave a warning note on the locker that the lock will be cut, not send out an email about lockers not being used overnight, especially not mention it at registration, and just throw the stuff away. They acted like I was the idiot for not seeing the signs, instead of understanding that some of us come in with our head down, focused on what we are there to accomplish, and not look around for some not obvious signs

5. If you want to cancel your registration be warned, you have to do it when a manager is present Monday through Friday 9am to 5pm or mail in a written notice to corporate. This information is in the agreement when you sign up, but I'm sure a lot of people don't take the time to read the fine print. Just fyi.

6. The ONE star is for the fitness training staff. Honestly, they're great. They're the only reason I kept going back even after having one issue after another. I highly recommend attending their boot camps if you decide to join.

But don't just take my word for it. Read other reviews. Multiple people have complained about the general staff here and managers and I now understand why. The lack of communication is their main issue, and lack of respect for their clientele.

Edit: The manager contacted me saying she did not authorize any locks to be cut, so if my things were taken, it was theft by another member cutting the lock and taking my things. She apologized for it happening, and apologized for how the staff handled the situation. She said normally when she authorizes a lock to be cut, she puts a 48 hour notice on the locker notifying them that the locker will be emptied. And then keeps their things in a bag at the front with the locker number on it. However, she said theft is pretty common. Personally I'm surprised somebody is going into LA Fitness with bolt cutters, but apparently that is not an...

I just got a membership here because it's a few blocks from my house and it's relatively cheap. Working out has been fine: there are lots of cardio machines, and the place seems clean ... BUT ... oh my god, the hard sell here! It's unreal. First off, when I came in to sign up, I was told the pricing for a membership for access to /all/ LA Fitness locations. Luckily I'd looked online beforehand, so I knew there was a much cheaper option to workout just at this location, which was all I wanted. But it was clear the staffer wasn't going to mention it, and he looked a little crestfallen when I did.

THEN ... I agree to do the "free consultation" with a personal trainer. Let's be clear: This is not a consultation; it's a used-car lot-grade hard-sell. After a 30-minute intake (which mainly consisted of this dude asking me asinine questions about my motivation and goals), I got about 15 minutes of workout, then 30 minutes of hard-sell. This guy tried every trick in the book to get me to commit to 3 sessions a week ($50 a pop, I think) for a year. I kept saying I wasn't prepared to make that commitment just then, but he kept pushing and kept pushing, with guilt trips and all.

At one point, HE SHOWED ME A CHART OF LADIES IN BIKINIS WITH THEIR BODY FAT INDEX MAPPED, AND ASKED WHICH ONE I WANTED TO BE. I was like, um, you mean, to look like? and he said yeah. So I picked on right smack the middle, 30%, who looked hot but curvy, and he actually countered with "How about 25%?" It was creepy beyond belief, and clearly shows they've got some standardized recruitment ploy (the chart was actually on a computer monitor that he pulled up for me).

Then, when I said I felt I was being pushed and was uncomfortable, he trots out some story about his 300-lb mother who got her stomach stapled and now vomits at every meal. I am not making that up. At this point, I'm thinking, screw this mess. So I use my classic out: "I need to discuss this with my husband before I can commit." Usually, that makes salesmen back down, but this guy would not let me leave. He kept pushing: "Is it the cost, or the trainings?" Finally, I said, "You know what? I'll contact YOU with my decision." Frankly, it was all so manipulative and uncomfortable, I'd be tempted to quit the gym altogether, except I'm guessing they'd just keep charging me. That seems to be their MO, based on the other reviews...

This is a very basic, bare-bones location without pool/hot tub or stream room, which is unfortunate. There are dry saunas in the locker rooms (which is great), but at least the women's one gets way too hot. Obviously I know saunas are supposed to be nice and hot, but sometimes you go inside this one and the air itself burns your ears. I've used saunas at all the other gyms I've been to and this is the only one that has been excessively hot.

The cardio floor is at ground level and i used to think I'd feel like i was in display trying to work out in front of the huge windows, but that's actually not a problem at all. I was spoiled at my previous gym because there was a separate room with equipment for women to use apart from men (if we desired), but here everyone is mixed together.

If you go, you might want to bring your water bottle already filled. There is no nice bottle filling station here, which I think is kind of weird. There are just a couple of basic water fountains with semi-cold water that doesn't taste very good.

Cleanliness seems adequate, at least in my experience. I don't do much here other than cardio so I'm not sure about the weights area and the strength training machines. I wish they had wipes out something different to clean the machines with, as the paper towels with cleaner feel a little ineffectual. Lots of people do wipe down after they finish working out, which is great.

When i signed up, i got about 5 calls on consecutive days from someone trying to register me for a personal training session but she fortunately stopped calling when i was able to finally answer the phone and declined the 'offer'.

The gym is regrettably not open 24 hours and closes quite early on weekends, at 8:00pm. I think the close times should be the same daily (10 or 11pm would be nice) rather than changing from M-Th, F, and Sat-Sun. Wish it were open later daily.

At peak times you may well have to wait for a cardio machine, because despite the high volume of customers, the building itself is small for a gym.

All of these things are up to a gym that is, as I said, pretty basic. But it is very close to home so it's convenient, and it has what i need in order to get in a great workout and I'm super glad...