Park Center Health & Fitness

About 3 ½ years ago, I was experiencing a series of chest and arm pains indicative of a possible heart attack. My physician directed me to go to a hospital emergency room, and I was diagnosed to have a heart disease: my right coronary artery was completely blocked, and I had to get an emergency «roto-​rooting» of the artery.
After recovering from the procedure and becoming cognizant of my mortality, I decided to forestall any future occurrences of this condition. For a few weeks, I was assigned to a hospital-​run rehabilitation program, and then I decided to follow up with an advanced cardiac rehab program run by Northshore University HealthSystem at the Glenview Park Center.
The staff at the cardiac rehab group at the Park Center were extremely kind and knowledgeable. They showed me ways to regain my body tone, build up my stamina, and create a program for me to look and feel as well as possible, given that I am somewhat older than Methuselah. They took my vitals and charted my progress — and I was really proud of my accomplishments.
After losing a significant amount of weight and regaining my strength, both my cardiologist and internist suggested that I could transfer out of cardiac rehab and work out among the general population at the Park Center [“general population” sounds like I’m serving time at a penitentiary].
I have now been a patron of the Park Center for about three years. I have enjoyed coming there almost every day for a one-​hour workout and checking out the «talent» exercising there. The staff has shown me how to use the more advanced equipment, and calibrated the settings and weights to fit my personal needs. As I continued to progress, they encouraged me — and I felt good about it! Even some of the trainers, who are supposed to charge me for their expertise and time, have given me body toning tips. Also, they furnish complementary toiletries.
I could ramble on about all the things that are available at the Park Center, but you can see other Unilocalers’ reviews on those issues.
The only gripes I have are fairly minor: they shut the place down for a week for cleaning, which is an inconvenience, some of the lockers are broken, and some of the exercise TVs are tuned to channels I don’t like — and you must know that my tastes in TV are impeccable.
PS: My heart is great, my vitals are excellent, and I feel better than I ever expected.

I really like this place. Lots of equipment and very friendly staff (especially the night and weekend crew). There’s a bunch of classes offered at convenient times, although they could add more midday and weekend afternoon ones. My personal trainer is wonderful… he really makes it worth the $ 70 per session. Used the pool and hot tub once and it was a little… gross. For me, it’s ok as I don’t swim often.
The members can be rude. They leave their towels and equipment everywhere and don’t clean up after themselves. I have heard altercations with staff because the member was being rude or belligerent. They treat them like trash although many of staff are in college, already highly educated, or are retired after having successful careers. Management cares about their members and listens to suggestions and complaints (although in the end they make final decisions and there’s nothing you can do about it… so suck it up instead of writing comment cards incessantly).
Pro tip: Get to know the staff personally and they will go out of their way to make sure you are happy.

I have been a member since the fitness center opened. This is a mixed review as the center has decreased over the past few years.
The good:
No cell phone rule is strictly adhered to.
The facility is clean as compared to other work out facilities.
Towel service included.
The staff is friendly and courteous.
The bad:
The floor space is very small.
The facility closes for a week once a year to clean (this does help but is inconvenient to the consistent workout people).
Management will listen to complaints but never do anything about it.
The awful:
There are a number of outside training/​health companies that use the facility and the numbers are now over-​running the members so the members are a second thought to management
If you choose to work out after work between 4:00pm and 6:30pm be prepared to share the area with at least a dozen teenagers that are 14 years old or younger. Management allows this to happen because the children are part of an after school (babysitting) program.
This used to be a nice place to workout for adults but now is overrun with unsupervised children,

I bought a ten-​class group fitness passport and was going to use my last class today on a Zumba class. My mom came with me and had to purchase a day pass since she doesn’t have the passport. So she buys it and we get in a huge line that keeps getting bigger and bigger. We decide that we don’t want to be in a crowded class, especially since Zumba involves moving a lot from side to side. We get out of the line and go back to the fitness center front desk and tell Carol what our situation is. She then says that she is going to go check how many people are there and leaves. The other people at the desk ask us if there were 50 people (as if we would count!) and then we say no, but that it’s too many people for our liking and comfort. They then talk about how it’s a huge room that has fit 70 people before. Carol had also tried to convince us to take another class but we had said that we were particularly here for Zumba and could take tomorrow’s Zumba class instead. We asked for the pass to be transferred to tomorrow and did not request a refund. Anyway, Carol comes back and says that we’re fine to go to that class. My mom says that she can’t do crowded classes and that she wants to come tomorrow. We also had just gotten out of the line! Carol just decided to argue with us about it instead of transferring the pass right away. She just said «well tomorrow is gonna be full, too» and I reply to her that I go to the Sunday class and that it is nowhere near as full as the Saturday one. Then she just doesn’t say anything and my mom asks her if she is just refusing to refund us. She meant to transfer the pass, not refund. Anyway, Carol was like «I can’t refund you. I can just change the date.» And we say that that is what we have been trying to do the whole time. With an attitude, she begrudgingly changes the date of the pass and says nothing else to us. It was obvious to us that Carol was treating us this way because my mom is Latina (so am I but racist people usually only assume Latinos are dark.). Once I am done with my passport tomorrow, I am never coming back to this place. They have some great teachers but it’s not worth dealing with Carol and the horrendous parking situation. Thanks, but no thanks.

I’m rating them based on their classes only. I’m going to try out more of them, but I’m a fan of the Werq classes especially. I’m not a member so I haven’t used their locker facilities or the open workout space or track.
All my experiences with the front desk have been lovely. They have a really nice and efficient crew.
I also attended a kids pool party here once. It was nicely done as you would expect. No snafus.
They have a kids club but the hours are very limited with nothing in the evenings.

Facility is very welcoming, always exceptionally clean, staff friendly and always available. Track, which is free for non-​members is very nice, with great views of the lake and Gallery Park. Locker rooms are awesome.
With recent expansion, they have a plethora of classes available.

Considering i’ve been going here for four years for various things, I don’t know how I missed reviewing it. Park Center has everything you need without the bells and whistles of the bigger clubs like Five Seasons and Lifetime. Free weights and machines, personal training, good cardio machines and classes, an great swimming pool and even babysitting. There is also an open gym and they have basketball and volleyball leagues.
It’s very reasonable for Glenview residents and in a very convenient location a couple of blocks away from the Glen Town Center.

I love this place and trust me, I’ve tried them all. Bally’s: gross; Lifetime: too expensive, xSport: well, it’s xSport. The Fitness Center at the Park Center has everything you need: it’s clean, machines are well organized and maintained regularly, and staff is friendly/​knowledgeable. They have a great training program catering to all ages (literally, most of the trainees are either 14 year old athletes or 75 year old grampa’s). The space inside isn’t of gargantuan proportions like some others around, but it’s hardly an issue once you get into your routine.
The rundown:
Cleanliness (+)
Free Towels! (+)
Nice Locker Rooms (+)
¹⁄₈ mi. Track (Free to the public, but sometimes gets crowded) (+)
Spin Classes (+)
Spacious Weight Lifting Area (+)
Basketball Court (+)
Swimming Pool (+)
Limited Cardio Equipment (-)
Busy hours during the week are usually early mornings and 5pm-​7pm. Also, don’t bother heading in earlier than noon on Sunday. It’s just packed.