Fitness Evolution — Local services in Laurel

I have had nothing but negative experiences with this gym. The men’s bathroom is absolutely disgusting and never cleaned. The toilets seats are drenched in pee and there are literal unemptied garbage cans that are filled with used toilet paper after people have wiped. I want to gag every time I enter the bathroom. The stalls are frequently out of order and there is a major plumbing issue like once a week.

There is a sauna, but people smoke weed in it and put weird overpowering oils in there. There are always a group of guys with their tripods set up in front of the mirrors taking pictures making it impossible to change or walk through. There is a 100% chance you will get athletes foot from using the moldy showers that never get cleaned. I went to take a shower once and someone had literally taken a dump in the stall and it hadn’t been cleaned.

There are unracked weights scattered all over the gym and the employees never pick them up. There are always unattended yoga mats and gym equipment spread all over the Astroturf, so it’s literally impossible to stretch or do any exercises there due to the unattended gym equipment the employees never pick up.

The front desk people stalk you on the camera and will randomly come up to you tell you to re rack weights before you are even done using them, which is a paradox because the employees don’t actually re rack any of the weights or pick up anything in the gym.

Once, a front desk employee came up to me to yell at me because I had a little bit of water on my shoes…. This was on a day when there was a torrential downpour and I had to trek though the overpacked parking lot that cannot accommodate the gym at peak hours.

Any time I called the front desk to inquire about holiday hours, I got nothing but attitude from the chola girls that worked the front desk and have even been told “I don’t know”…. Ma’am, it’s literally your one job to provide customer service and I’m pretty sure there is the holiday schedule sitting right in front of you.

And do not get me started on cancellations. I’ve never met such a combative and penny pinching “small business” before… I would have expected this type of corporate behavior from a big chain, but not a mom and pops gym.

Peak hours are the worst, and there are staff and trainers that are more preoccupied with getting in your way with their tripods and cameras taking selfies and workout videos than actually doing their job. I was literally told by a staff trainer to switch racks so that he could take videos of himself in the mirror and because he absolutely needed that particular rack for the lighting.

Overall I rate this gym at a one star and do not recommend.

Updated review:

You will notice in the owner’s response, he does not address the pervasive weed and drug problem going on in the bathrooms. People hotbox in the sauna, particularly in the evening.

He doesn’t say anything about the staff and trainers with all their tripods and selfie stations set up all over the gym, blocking everyone’s way.

The owner is deceptive about the terrible parking situation because the parking lot is not just for this gym. Approximately 1/4 of the parking is taken up by freight truckers for the businesses next door. There are always cars and sketch people crowded in front of the pawn shop and beauty school. There are several junk cars that have been rotting in the parking lot that have not been moved in over a year and are rusting away and all the tires are flat, but still have not been moved.

The gym is in a sketch area with a lot of drug and crime. In the parking lot along the fence these are often candles there and a memorial for a victim who was killed there. For the last few weeks that I went here, there was a guy walking in the parking lot asking for free money, who clearly had a serious drug problem. In just a few weeks, he went looking from normal to covered in sores and clearly unhealthy. It was very sad.

I fail to see how a gentleman who clearly had a drug issues can wander the parking lot for weeks and no one...

I liked this place when I lived in MD. Then I had to move. If you want to cancel a membership and you can’t physically go to the location to do it, they make it nearly impossible to do so. You can’t call them and cancel it. You gotta jump thru 97 hoops and they still might not cancel it. I paid this company YEARS of fees and I haven’t stepped foot in that gym since I left the state. They feed off military members that are constantly on the move. Spencer, the owner, has made an absolute fortune off people that do not use his services. Proceed with caution.

Lemme go a step further. After reading the reply to my review, I’m utterly appalled. I worked for a small business. For 20 years. Right down the road from your establishment. I would never trash a small business out of “spite”. Have you ever moved? Packed up a family..cats, dogs. You think the first thing on my mile long list of things to do was cancel my $20 gym membership? What I’ve always loved about small businesses is the fact that you get the non corporately, family feel you don’t get with national chains and large companies. You can call the owner or an employee who you know by name and they will help you. Not this place. They follow the most corporate set of “small business policies” I’ve ever seen in my life. I sent you a letter, years ago. Maybe you never got it. Who knows? The point is, it’s 2024. People use email, digital signatures. That way, when there’s an issue..there is a clear paper trail. The fact that you replied to this with anything other then an apology for being so unwilling to work with me to simply cancel a membership and then actually tried to guilt trip me for writing a review that was nothing but honest absolutely makes me sick. Your customer service is severely lacking. Anybody with an ego as large as the person who responded to this message has no business handling anything resembling customer service.

Updated: While I appreciate the fact that I will hopefully no longer be billed for a membership I reached out about cancelling many times in various forms over the years...the facts still remain the same. There was only a swift response to this issue when my wife resorted to leaving a negative review visible to the public. if she didn't. I would likely still be in the same boat. It is what it is. If you want to run a "small, family owned business". Then maybe consider updating your processes to reflect that instead of blaming me for throwing shade at you. It should be as easy for me to stop giving you money when I'm ready to as it is for you to remove it from my account month after month. I had a membership at LIFETIME Fitness. One of those big corporate gyms. Crazily enough, when i decided to cancel it (NOT IN PERSON) they simply did it. Stop playing the victim here. Maybe by chance you personally hadn't heard of this until now, but i can tell you for a fact there's more then one employee or manager that has and this was the first time its...

I absolutely love this gym! I've been a member for about 10 years. I love the constant renovations and new equipment the gym purchases so customers are abreast with the latest and best. The pricing is extremely inexpensive. The classes are amazing-Angel and Rashan are everything!!! Take a class with them and you will never be disappointed.

I didn't give my review 5 stars because sadly, I had a terrible experience with Glay-the newest cycle instructor. The first day I attended her 6 am class, her energy was high but she was rude. I thought she was simply having a bad day. Therefore, I went back the following week to the same class. She didn't speak (say good morning or anything)-just went right into her playlist and riding (I thought okay, fine she is just focused and in the zone). About 25 mins later, I get an alert on my phone that I need to check in to my flight for the next morning. I simply reach for my phone during a break in the class and attempt to check into my flight. She immediately yells "Girl, you and that phone." I ignore this statement. She continues to repeat the same statement. I finally say "I am checking in to my flight for tomorrow." She replies "Well this is not the class for you if you need to do that...the phone is a distraction." I've NEVER been told this in all my life or ever at this gym. I'm not sure how using a phone distracted her from riding a bike or teaching a class. Actually, in class so many people are often recording or taking pictures of their progress or sessions so I was very confused by this statement. She would even go to her ipad to view her song choices-is this a distraction? I understand she is older but 1) if she stated in the beginning of class that phone usage is prohibited in class-I would have been aware of her policy 2) came directly to me and asked if I could put away the phone because it is distracting her then I would have stepped out and used the phone then returned after.

Either way, this did not warrant the comment "this is not the class for you if you need to do that" even during a break. Her attitude is rude and lacks professional customer service which isn't a good fit at this gym. I hope this comment brings awareness to the problem and resolution. The matter has been reported to the manager and assistant...