LA Fitness — Attraction in Wayne

For the past 7 months, I worked at LA Fitness as a yoga instructor and as an aqua fit instructor. I received many complaints about the regional manager, Joy Jesperson, from clients and from co-workers. She was demeaning, racist (in that black and brown customers complained about how they were treated and she refused to teach at black majority clubs), and never showed any empathy to her instructors. I reached out to her manager about the complaints that she was racist and to explain how she created a hostile work environment and my classes started being taken away. Joy Jesperson actually showed up to one of my classes and sent all the patrons home when she had no right to do so. I wasn't paid for that class. When I complained that I was being retaliated against, they fired me.

LA Fitness of NJ and NY is one of the worst work environments I have ever been subject to. The clubs are also often dirty. I know a yoga instructor that brings her own mop to the Lodi location because she feels so bad that the patrons have to do yoga on a dirty floor. I would rather work for the mafia at a strip club as they seem to be more organized and efficient than LA Fitness. LA Fitness has three different people in charge of scheduling and one woman lives in Boston. I never understood why you would have a woman in Boston scheduling classes for all of NJ. She would often ask me if I could get from one place to the next in 20 minutes and I would have to respond with something like, "it is physically impossible to drive from Paramus, NJ to Parsipanny, NJ in 20 minutes on a Tuesday at 5 pm." It was incredibly frustrating to constantly be explaining why I couldn't substitute a class when I shouldn't have had to in the first place.

I felt that time was constantly wasted there and they were always in such desperate need for substitutes, that I allowed my own time to be abused and underpaid for. I was physically exhausted, anxious about the phone calls and text messages at 10 pm from my manager, and straddling an uncomfortable, ever-growing divide between how much I cared about teaching yoga to the patrons and how I knew I deserved better treatment as an employee.

Training at Crunch Fitness in Clifton has been so organized and straight-forward that I am filled with hope that this will be an amazing company to work for. LA Fitness had zero training before I started working there. I was interviewed, then given a start date for my classes, and that was it. I have only spent two weeks at the gym in Clifton, NJ, but everyone, especially the manager, Erica, has been so welcoming and helpful that I feel like I can finally breathe easily at work again. Opportunities to learn new skills, like facilitating stretching for clients, have already presented themselves and I could not be more grateful for the chance to fill the hours that LA Fitness wrongfully took away from me.

The Crunch motto, "NO JUDGEMENTS. NO LIMITS," means a new start for me. Maybe I will feel finally accepted here. Maybe I will finally feel appreciated here. Maybe I will work here for a long, long time. Whatever the outcome, I am grateful for the chance to find out and thoroughly optimistic that that I will find everything that LA...

The only reason I'm giving this place 2 stars is because i used to come here in 2013-2014 and it was very conveniant for me conidering I worked nearby at the time. I had been a member of LA fitness for almost 10 years. Just over the last year I had signed up to a different gym and cancelled my membership at LA fitness because I thought another gym was more convenient and I was seeking a change in atmosphere. I have recently been considering signing back up with LA fitness and it had been some years since I worked out at the Wayne location since I moslty went to the Clifton locations. Earlier today I went to check out the Wayne location with a friend of mine, figuring I can get a pass for the day and get a feel for it since it had been some years. The workers up front immediately told me that I was not allowed to workout unless I paid $16. This upset me because it made me feel like a stranger who was unwelcomed to LA fitness after being a loyal member for almost 10 years. After stepping out and making a phone call, I was told to go speak with George who may actually even be the General Manager of the Wayne location. As I was waiting aside while the girl at the front desk was speaking to Geoge about my situation, I was met with an awkward and univiting stare. After making me feel very awkward, they finally yelled for me to come over. As soon as I walked over, George had made a comment to me that resulted in him and the whole sales staff behind him to laugh. Im not even sure what he said but it was rude and unprofessional. I ignored it and immediately felt very uncomfortable. George did not even greet me, I greeted him and his facial expression was not a pleasent one. It was obvious that I already inconvenienced him. I explained to George my situation and that I was interested in signing up eventually, but I just wanted to see how I felt coming back to the wayne location since I had not worked out there in a really long time. George made me feel unwelcomed, questioned my intentions, and hinted that I was not serious. He then asked why I would want a free pass for the day after cancelling my membership 7 months ago. Again, he made me feel unwelcomed. I explained to him that I had not been to the Wayne location in a long time. I then asked him why it was necessary to pay $16 for a day pass.. more then half of what I used to pay monthly. I told him that it was unnecessary and asked him what they do with that money. He could not give me a straight forward answer and his face turned red. Hypothetically, if I came for 30 days and paid a reasonable $5 fee for a day pass, that would be $150 for the month. That would be 5x more then what i used to pay on a monthly basis. How does that make sense? This was a very disappointing visit and an extreme inconvenience after a 30 minute drive. I would say to everyone who was considering a membership at LA fitness to not even bother because they would leave feeling very dissatisfied and insulted after feeling forced to pay a whole month's membership at other gyms just for 1 day at LA fitness. This is not the LA fitness I remember and used to love. What happened? I also told George that I was likely going to leave a bad review and he...

Where do I begin? This place is a five-star masterpiece, a temple of fitness where sweat meets laughter in the most gloriously absurd ways. From the moment I walked in, I knew I was home—assuming home is a place where mirrors reflect your red-faced huffing and the air smells like determination and slightly too much Axe body spray.

First, the staff. These people are saints disguised as personal trainers, wielding clipboards and motivational one-liners like weapons of mass encouragement. My trainer, Joey, has the uncanny ability to make me believe I can deadlift a small car while simultaneously roasting my form with a grin. “You’re lifting like you’re trying to hug the bar!” he’ll say, and somehow, I’m laughing through the pain. The front desk crew is equally delightful, greeting you with smiles so genuine you’d think they’re paid in protein shakes (maybe they are?).

The equipment? Oh, it’s pristine. The treadmills hum like they’re auditioning for a sci-fi flick, and the weight racks are so organized I’m convinced they’re curated by a fitness librarian. There’s a quirky charm to the slightly squeaky elliptical that’s become my personal nemesis—it’s like the machine is cheering me on with every creak. And don’t get me started on the water fountain; it’s the coldest, crispest sip of heaven after a set of burpees that felt like a near-death experience.

The atmosphere is where this gym truly shines. It’s a bizarre blend of hardcore lifters grunting like they’re summoning Thor and yoga enthusiasts who look like they’ve achieved inner peace mid-downward dog. Somehow, it works. The group classes are a riot—Zumba feels like a dance party where everyone forgot the steps but is too sweaty to care, and the spin instructor’s playlist is 90% early 2000s bangers that make you pedal faster just to escape the nostalgia.

Cleanliness? Impeccable. The locker rooms are so spotless I’m tempted to eat off the floor (I won’t, but I could). The staff must have a secret army of cleaning ninjas because I’ve never seen a stray towel or a smudged mirror, even during peak hours.

If I had to nitpick, I’d say the gym’s Wi-Fi could be stronger—uploading my post-workout selfie shouldn’t feel like a cardio session of its own. But honestly, that’s like complaining that your Michelin-starred meal came with a slightly bent fork. This place is a gem.

LA Fitness turned my reluctant workouts into a daily dose of joy, pain, and inexplicable camaraderie with the guy who always hogs the squat rack. Five stars, no question. Keep the protein bars stocked and the good vibes flowing—I’ll be back tomorrow, probably regretting that extra...