LA Fitness

I joined about five months ago and I have no major complaints thus far. When equipments are down, they have them repaired swiftly. The staff isn’t the friendliest considering that’s how you retain current members and lure new members. The trainers however, are somewhat friendly. A couple of the front desk staff could use a few pointers on being friendly.
Parking is plentiful and with this seasons first snowfall a couple of weeks back, they had contracted workers clearing and salting the grounds very quickly.
I’ve noticed that the fitness machines on the second level, treadmills, ellipticals, etc., could use better cleaning as you can clearly see dried sweat on the machines, especially the treadmills. The televisions on the second level should at least have the close caption turned on. With the music from the gym or members listening to their own music, it makes no sense to have the volume on. Another thing, staff should be able to turn to basketball and football games on request.
Maintenance can do a better job at keeping the paper towel dispensers full. One day, three dispensers on the first level were completely empty and there are only four dispensers ON the first level. Additionally, they can do a better job at keeping the hand sanitizer dispensers filled as well. One day, I saw the maintenance guy clearing the trash cans, but noticed that a particular dispenser was not refilled after he left.
The ladies locker rooms are kept clean, as well as the restrooms. Again, empty paper towel dispensers at times. The men’s locker rooms carpet needs regular deep cleaning as the smell of mold and mildew hits you in the face as soon as you enter (a birdie told me). Maybe they should pull up the carpeting all together in both locker rooms. Excessive amounts of dripping water (showered men & women) and carpet just don’t go together.
The staff will occasionally come from behind their desks and tidy up the free weight area by re-​racking the weights and other equipment, which is good.
When fitness or yoga classes aren’t being held, members can use the big room for additional exercising or use the boxing bags.
I’ve yet to use the sauna, pool, take fitness classes or do the spin class. I’ll update if necessary.

I just got my locker broken in and my bag was stolen. I told the manager about it he was very cold about it. I was told lockers get broken every week. Not Safe.

Friendly, and helpful staff. Music is kept at a nice level, not too loud. The pool area is clean, and well maintained. The jacuzzi is always hot enough, never cool! The locker room is also clean, and well maintained!

I was only a member for a few months. I hated the fact that their weekend hours are were so short when people with full-​time jobs can sometimes only make it on the weekends. And after not using my membership for two months and paying for it, I go to cancel and I cannot cancel at the location (they only let you cancel mon-​fri), even though I signed up at the location on a WEEKEND. They make it difficult for you to cancel your membership. I had to send a cancellation form via USPS. On their website, it says if you are sending in your cancellation you should probably get it certified mail which is bogus as hell (certified mail is almost $ 7) why doesn’t LA fitness pay to send it to their corporate office. I only signed up to play a little racquetball and maybe take some classes, wasn’t worth the money I spent.

Men’s locker room not safe even with a locked locker. Wallet stolen from locker. Alsip police said we were the second report today. Can’t leave things locked in car either as they break into cars too. Thieves used cc to buy a gas 3 times before it was shut down.

I am worried that this place is on the decline. It seems as though many of the lockers in the men’s locker room are broken and never fixed. For about three months they had a sign near the desk for the wallet lockers that it was ‘out of order’, and recently the sign was taken down but seemingly nothing was fixed. And the spa, well that is like playing roulette if it will be open or not.
The machines and weights are always working and are clean. There is plenty to do here for working out, which I suppose is all that matters. However, they only have four stair machines, and those can get crowded fast. I am not sure why they wouldn’t add more, and this considering they ‘sold’ 12 of those machines when the facility on 103^rd and Cicero closed. Why not just move them here knowing you would have a bigger crowd.
This place does its job, i just hope they start taking better care of the facility.

This gym has really gone downhill! I was there today and there were no paper towels available to wipe down machines. The ladies room was filthy with used paper towels and garbage laying around. When I inquired about the lack of paper towels the sales manager told me they were locked up and he didn’t have the key to get them and nobody could get them until Monday. I asked why they didn’t take some from the bathrooms and he said that was a good idea but not good enough for him to get up and actually do it! I also told him about the condition of the washroom and he said they didn’t have any female employees working to go clean it up! So basically because it was Saturday, probably the busiest day at the gym, cleanliness does not matter! My friend and I canceled our memberships before we left!

Bad First Impression!
On Saturday May 3^rd, 2014, I came into the Alsip, Illinois, LA Fitness to sign up as a new member. After working with a rep. I decided to enroll.
As I was sitting with the rep I started to get alerts from my bank stating that I was being charged duplicate (3) charges by LA Fitness while I was still sitting there completing the enrollment.
The rep apologized, he spoke on the telephone to the «Operations Manager» whom he said instructed him to back out of the transactions and that my money ($ 279.00) would be returned to my bank account within 1 business day– by Monday. At that time I could come in to complete the process. I agreed to come in Monday after my funds were returned. So I am still not even a member!
Monday, Tuesday now Wednesday have come and gone, no funds have been returned. I called Monday afternoon at the Alsip Il club and asked a young lady to speak to the Manager. She informed me that the Manager was not available and after putting me on hold to speak to the rep, she returned to inform me that it would be Tuesday when I would receive my refund.
I have also spoken to a representative at LA Fitness headquarters at 949−255−8100, the agent (Yasmine) informed me that it will take 3 – 5 business days for the transaction to «Fall off» which is UNACCEPTABLE. I was then put on hold to speak to a manager and then hung up on TWICE.
4 days later NO REFUND AND STILL CANT WORKOUT!
NOT HAPPY

OMG, this gym told a nursing mom that the only place she could nurse was in the bathroom toilet stall! INHUMANE! Illinois law states breastfeeding mothers can nurse anywhere they are allowed to be. As a member of the gym, she can nurse anywhere in the gym without a cover. This is basic life and death needs, feeding a child! And not allowing it at your gym is illegal. Patrons at this gym often look more indecent and should be asked to go change rather than a nursing mom providing basic food to their babies.

I’ve been a member since they opened. They have gone from bad to still bad. The management is terrible. The woman who is usually at the front desk, Inga, is surly and unfriendly. I just called to ask a question and she said, «You’re gonna have to hold on,» put me on hold, and left me for 5 minutes. I called back, asked the same question, she mumbled the answer, I repeated it (apparently incorrectly), and she repeated it back loudly as if I were stupid. Rude; should never be at a customer service job.
My main complain has always been the timing of water classes. They’re at 6:00pm, which doesn’t work for anyone who has a job not in the immediate neighborhood. I went through the manager, through the district manager, up to the corporate office to ask why they couldn’t have class at 6:30, and their answer is «because that’s when the class just is. It works for the other locations. No one else complains.» Well, if then paid any attention, they would see that at the start of the evening class, there are only about 5 people; everyone else is late because 6:00 DOESN’T WORK FOR MOST PEOPLE. But they don’t care. And they don’t offer a later class. They suggest I go to another location; well, guess what? I paid for THIS location because it’s close to my home and when I joined, they said they would add more classes.
They can’t keep decent water class instructors and they use substitutes who have no idea how to teach an effective water class. Now they’re doing water zumba, which makes no sense because it doesn’t use the water effectively as resistance, but they eliminated the other classes so you have no choice. Some of us do water class because of knee and back issues; that’s the number 1 reason I joined but at this point, there’s only one good class a week (Tom) that is available at a time a working girl can go. So I’m paying $ 8.50 a class. It’s ridiculous but my other options are to go elsewhere; not really an option.
The pool is always either too cold (usually) but occasionally WAY too HOT, which is gross. They finally removed the thermometer so we can’t even check it to complain officially to the corporate office, not like that does any good. Half the time the pool room is freezing and the other half, it’s so hot you can’t breathe with the chlorine fumes. When you mention it at the front desk, they say «Yeah, yeah, yeah.» All of us complain but it never changes.
When things break, it takes months to get them fixed because they have to wait for corporate to give approval. Hooks fall off the walls and take months to be replaced. Things are rusty and dirty, wallpaper is falling off the walls, bandaids stay on the side of the pool for weeks. The floor is disgusting and people wearing those water shoes (and sometimes not even really water shoes, what the hell?) walk across the filthy floor and right into the pool with the shoes on; there should be a rinse sink right next to the pool for that if they’re going to allow those shoes in it. Mats are missing in spots on the slippery floor and people slip all the time, including instructors (one of whom broke her wrist.)
I could go on, but who would read it? Certainly not LA Fitness; they don’t give a crap. I wish someone else would open a nice gym with a pool and water classes nearby but LAF seems to have a monopoly in the area now so I’m stuck.

I see a lot of negative reviews and complaints below, and I won’t deny those folks the right to their opinions, but I find this place to be consistently clean, well organized, and in good repair, despite its heavy usage. Maybe that’s because my primary comparison is the incompetently managed South Loop location (for more on that hot mess, see my earlier review), where many pieces of equipment are out of order on any given day, sometimes for weeks on end. By comparison, at Alsip I don’t know that I’ve ever seen an out-​of-​order sign on a piece of equipment. I like the bi-​level design, and the interior is spacious, with plenty of equipment (that actually works). Plenty of parking, the showers and soap dispensers work, locker room isn’t gross, and the spa is nice and hot. For a mass market gym, this place is Ok. (Plus you typically find a lot of hot guys — collegiate and 20-​something Catholic school and blue collar suburban/​South Side Irish types.)

I love that they have a variety of equipment to work out on, tons of classes at varying times, and especially the heavy bags in the group fitness room. The staff is usually really nice and I’ve liked the trainers I’ve worked with. However, the place is kinda dirty. There’s gum smashed in almost every cup holder on the ellipticals and the locker room (and gym itself, actually) usually smells pretty rancid. But, I expect that from a gym. Just wish it was a little better ventilated.

I went here when it first opened the staff on opening was horrible. You had the trainer that made fun of people the fat front desk lady who was to busy doing other things when a big robbery happened. (They have wooden lockers lol)
Now to the pros and cons
Pros
+It’s a gym to work out
+It has a Pool and Hot Tub
Cons
— Its a gym where people steal and have to watch your Property at all times did I mention the locker room has all wooden lockers?
— Even after opening the staff neglected cleaning and were to busy doing other things
— Wooden Lockers (I had my MCRD Bag I had on Day 1 of boot camp stolen.)
— Hard to cancel (You have to write in and pay a month ahead of time)
— Kids hanging out hogging the basketball court and then coming out to flirt.

They need better ventilation systems. It gets really smelly and stuffy in there quick.
It is a pretty crowded gym if you like working out with a lot of people in there.
Monday evenings are the busiest times of all 7 days.
I am a regular at this gym, and yesterday i noticed for the first time that they ran out of paper towels and hand sanitizer dispenser throughout the gym were either broken or had none.
They need new garbage cans because the ones they have can hit your hand as you throw in the garbage and makes your hands dirty again. They need the cans where you can just shoot it in the can.
That’s all my thoughts on this gym for now. Hope it helps.

I was a member of this gym when it first opened and it was very clean and fresh then. I joined again and the place looks so dirty. For example, I was running on the treadmill and there was a lot of dust being collected, turning into chunks, at the front of the machine (front of my feet) — very gross.
This gym is SOOOOO crowded between 4−7pm! Oh my goodness, good luck finding parking. This place looks like a mall during the Xmas season. It is a fairly big gym with a variety of activities (bball, swim, tennis, classes, etc).
I have tried a couple yoga classes and I am very satisfied with the instructors (Maggie and Maureen). They keep in mind that some people are new or are not as strong as others. One of the yoga classes I attended played upbeat music which to me, ruins the ambiance and focus of yoga.

This space itself is great, the staff and company policies on the other hand suffered several important faults.
1.) I was told by an employee of LA Fitness that trainers purposely do not train you to be independent, they train you to be dependent on them for working out so you essentially never grow out of them. I noticed this right away– I used several trainers and they all skirted most of my questions and requests. Such as, what should I do until I see you next time? What is the reason for doing these exercise in this order? How should I arrange my work outs? Why do we do so many exercises that I can’t do alone?
2.) Calling this place is a mess, expect to wait on hold, be hung up on, or forgotten. Even my trainers complained about this, in regards to scheduling with anyone besides them personally.
3.) Customer service is inconsistent, everyone seems like they want to be somewhere else or working out instead. They check personal cell phones while you pay them for their time, they socialize too much with other employees and clients. Not that anybody is flat out rude, or even that I blame them, but it is obvious their management doesn’t really keep an eye on them. It gets old, especially when you pay a lot of money.
4.) Classes are hit or miss. I have gone to many and would return to about half. One of their yoga classes is particularly horrible. The clients flop around like fish out of water and receive no guidance or feedback from the speedy paced instruction. Again, seems no manager is even checking in on these classes to see how they run, which in my opinion is less then great. Fine if you want to test a new thing out, but I would not return for consistent work outs.

I’ve been a member of this gym since the day it opened. The first year it was open it was a 5 star place. The staff was nice and friendly, the place was very clean and not crowed. Unfortunately that is no longer the case. The gym is now over crowded, has dirty locker rooms/facility’s and the staff, though not all, are just plain rude. A good portion of the clientele are quite frankly very shady as well. I guess its the area.
This gym was shut down for a day by the Alsip Health Department due to no paper towels and toilet paper. This has been an ongoing issue and is only recently starting to get slightly better.
On the positive side it is fairly affordable and very convenient. I typically now go to the gym in the morning when they open to avoid the crowds and the garbage that it seems to attract in the evening.

LOVE LA fitness, they deliver Lifetime Fitness standards cutting out the overpriced extra crap like a 3^rd «Family Only» locker room that I don’t need. Or a Mini-​water park inside and outside.
Anyways the locker rooms are always clean and never smell, I mentioned once that someone made a mess in the one shower stall and they sent someone to clean it immediately.
For the dingle-​berries posting about stolen crap read the signs at the club, they DON’T advise leaving keys or phones in lockers, they have FREE secure lockers all over, that will hold your keys and phones. Next, LA Fitness shares a parking lot with Home Depot, Jimmy Johns, and several other businesses. Its called a strip mall, they share parking and yes people with nothing better to do in life sometimes go to strip malls to steal stuff.
Don’t leave your GPS on your window or your laptop on your front seat and I’m pretty sure your won’t have any issues.

If I could give this place Zero Stars I would!
My boss’s laptop was stolen in the parking lot here yesterday. The police said this has been a huge problem for awhile, and LA fitness is not working to resolve this!
Here is what happened when she called the office:
I called today and asked for the GM. He said, «You were lucky, someone got their car STOLEN on Monday and yours was the 3^rd break in this week» Thanks for giving people walking through your doors a heads up! I am livid. He is waiting for some «Crime Alert» half slips of paper to arrive in the mail from the corporate office. Can you believe that?
So, if you want to go to a crappy gym… and get your stuff stolen? Rock it out at LA fitness.

I recently went to a yoga class on a Tuesday at 4:30pm and thought it was a joke… like literally I was LOL’ing. The instructor seemed like she had trouble holding the yoga poses and leading the class. I felt like she did not have adequate training, and I couldn’t help but laugh as I held my yoga poses. Yeah I felt immature snickering to myself, but it was funny as hell. There were times when she would just walk around and we’re holding a pose for so long that I think she forgot track of time. There were times when she went really fast and 15 mins before class ended, she was surprised that we still had time left. So to kill time we just repeated all the yoga exercises we just did but in double-​time. I guess this class was therapeutic in the sense that laughter helps relieve stress.
There was another time I went for a yoga class, and the instructor was excellent! She held the poses correctly, went slowly, included breathing techniques, etc. This was on a Wednesday at 7pm.
The gym itself is nice and clean. I would recommend hand sanitizer pumps rather than soap pumps for equipment so they’re multi-​functional. The locker room and bathrooms are clean. Oh if u plan on using their boxing gloves, think twice cuz they are smellier than hard boiled eggs. And sometimes they’re still sweaty from previous users. I highly recommend you bring your own boxing gloves!
The staff is pretty friendly. They always seem available if you need anything. When I was at Lifetime Fitness, the people at the front desk would always tell me, «have a nice workout» and something as simple as that really motivated me and I really appreciated that. I kinda wish they’d do that at LA. It creates a friendly and motivating environment! :) When we enter and leave the gym at LA, no one really acknowledges us. They act like we’re not even there sometimes. I guess I was spoiled with the hello and goodbye greetings at Lifetime. I mean being that friendly with your clients makes them loyal customers right? Overall though, the staff seems approachable, caring, and friendly.
Busy gym = 5pm-7:30pm = too many people = smelly and stuffy