Life Time — Local services in Plymouth

This is a review for Plymouth lifetime--mostly for the Kid's Academy (daycare/childcare). So I’ve always loved working out at lifetime clubs—I have on and off my whole life (the off period were when I lived out of state or not close to a lifetime). I’ve always been amazed at the high quality of instructors, the trainers, the staff from the people at the front desk to the maintenance staff, the clean, pleasant facilities, I could go on and on.

Now that I have a thirteen-year-old, I also want to comment on how amazing their childcare set up is. Thinking about working out here but worried about leaving your little one? Especially if you’re a stay at home parent, or your child is only used to a couple of caregivers (example my daughter only has 2 “babysitters” for the most part)--Don’t worry! The childcare staff will help you through it. I was extremely anxious in the beginning, and I only came sporadically (about once a week). When I did come, my 10 month old daughter just cried hysterically every time, and then I picked her up after about 15 minutes of crying (which was my choice). The providers gently encouraged me to come more frequently, as in ideally every day for a little bit, so as to help her get used to it. I just found myself dreading going because, to make a somewhat clichéd analogy to working out, I didn’t want to go through the proverbial pain to see a potential gain. I just kept telling myself it would never work for my kid though, so I put my membership back on hold. However, because I still had 30 days, as you have to give 30 days-notice, Shawn urged me to at least give it a shot since I’d paid for that period. He did so in such a gentle, non-judgmental, encouraging way. Shawn, like everyone else at Lifetime, including Susan, was so encouraging of us to just keep trying, but was also understanding if I felt it wasn’t working. So, I decided to recommit to trying, and take the providers advice of going a couple of days in a row. After only 2 days of going in a row, especially thanks to Courtney and Emma, my daughter lasted for nearly two hours!! I couldn’t believe it. Now we’ve gone on and off, at least a couple of times a week for the 1.5 months, and it’s working for us! I try not to leave her for longer than about 1.5 hours, since she’s still pretty young, though if she’s doing well it’s SO exciting to have time off.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve peeked in, and I can tell the providers are doing the best they can to make my child feel comfortable. Of course, I realize they can’t be tending to just my child since there are plenty of other children there, but I really do think they do a very good job with both reassuring the kids AND the parents. I also have really appreciated that they’ve put up with my wanting to check in a bunch, and have really essentially held my hand through this process.

To be honest, I still am an anxious Mom—though my anxiety has nothing to do with the quality of care and everything to do with just hoping my child isn’t having an off day, especially as she’s still getting used to things) to

I thought about naming additional names, but there are at least 10 people I’d put down, and I I would then definitely be leaving people out, so I’m not going to put additional names down, but please know I am grateful for each and every provider!!!!! Overall, I want to express my thanks to the AMAZING staff at kid’s academy/kid’s play area at Plymouth Lifetime!!! If you’re nervous about joining Lifetime or rejoining because of having had a kid/kids, you should...

November 2018 Update

We've been members for about four years now, and I'm dropping my rating from 5 stars to 3 stars. Bottom line: The club has gotten significantly more crowded in the past 6-12 months. Early evenings and Saturday mornings have gotten crazy busy on a regular basis, in particular in the weight training area. All four of our family members avoid going between 4-7pm on weekdays now. There has been a lot of new housing construction to the northwest of here, and I just don't think the club can handle its current membership level.

We've really enjoyed our time here, but are starting to wish there were other options in the area.

Initial Review from 2014

Gosh, after reading the negative reviews, we almost didn't check this health club out. Glad we did though. Signed up two weeks ago and the family has been happy with the decision. Machines are new and updated as of July 2013. Parking can be trying during peak times, especially now that it's January, but once inside there always seem to be plenty of open machines. Showers are clean, staff is cordial, and there are tons of things to do.

We got a good signup deal, and a few extras were tossed in. With the kickbacks from company health insurance, rates are reasonable. Only negative so far was the initial corporate policy of trying to oversell add on features like personal trainers and such, but it wasn't that bad, and in the end the salesperson was great: we didn't feel pressured to add on anything we didn't want. So far, so good. Very satisfied.

January 2018 Update

Just thought I'd add an update to this. Our family has been going here 3-4 times per week for the past three years now and still are really satisfied with everything. Staff has always been pleasant and helpful, machines are maintained regularly, and generally speaking, we find the facilities very accessible. They seem to be regularly updating machines and cycling out older items.

With that said, it is a busy place, for sure, and if you absolutely must use a specific machine or space at a specific time, you'll likely be disappointed. Our family uses the exercise area (weights, strength machines, aerobic machines), gym, and pool, and sure there are times when the pool can't be used because of HS swim team or the gym has some sort of party going on. But the schedules are posted online and so you can always check and plan ahead if you have something specific in mind. With a bit of flexibility, we've found little difficulty in using anything we want.

Even in peak times, it's pretty easy for me to go through a workout getting access to every machine I want. Sure, I'll end up hopping over and coming back to a few machines because others are using them, but with rare exception I can get through my whole workout without having to stand around waiting for something. I can say that I've almost never had any problems getting on a treadmill, elliptical, or bike.

The only exception to all this is .... January. The place is crazy busy then—especially the first two weeks—and we avoid that 4-8pm timeframe during that time if at...

No one told me when i joined that this is actually a community center. I thought I was joining an exclusive high end PRIVATE health club for members only, but this facility not only offers discount memberships to city residents, but also daily passes and even low income family vouchers. If thats the way they want to run their club, fine, but they should advise members. Its overcrowded, parking, lockers, showers, classes, floor machines, pool deck chairs- plan to wait if you go during peak hours.

Prospective members should really be advised that pool availability is extremely limited due to not only their own swim team use, this pool is rented out year round to the local school swim teams and synchronized swim teams. Its literally mobbed with kids and parents afterschool, early evening and weekends, the locker rooms are jammed with unsupervised children,, lines for showers, and the hot tubs are "kiddie pools" after practice is done despite this being clearly posted as against the rules. Lifeguards pretty much ignore many safety rules in favor of chatting amongst themselves, I have brought this to management attention to no avail.

The facilities are nice, but get dirty faster than they are cleaned with all the crowds. During peak hours and even some off peak, fitness classes are overcrowded, yoga is practically in need of a "take a number" before class system. Locker rooms are dirty and overcrowded. And the monster dust bunnies in the corners of the workout floors never go away, ever. Ew.

No way would i recommend this club to anyone, unless of course they like working out in an overcrowded messy, noisy and at times unsafe environment.

Im not impressed with staff, they are either only interested in what they can sell you or you are invisible to them. Just ugh. The dude that signed us up would be better suited to used car sales, way too much pressure, actually told me that if I didnt sign up that day "I see you doing nothing" as if he was convinced I'd just blow fitness off and never set foot in another health club. He almost convinced me to go somewhere else, and now im not so sure I shouldnt have. With all their public subsidizing from swim teams and the city, this club's rates should be lower than the average gold club membership for non resident members, but its not. We get to pay full price to support a community center for a huge and massively, rapidly growing city. If you are reading reviews for helpful info, I;ve noticed some of the best ones seem to be written by people who have just joined, I've been a member for 6 months. It took me a few weeks to start seeing all this, and it was just this week I found out about the city/club...