My flatmate and I joined LA Fitness in Leeds in about February of this year. Being a person who is very active I have been to lots of gyms before but decided to have a look round LA Fitness as it is in the centre of town and seemed to be fairly quite. The fact that the person who showed us around the gym was your stereotypical sales person who only seemed interested in getting us to join should have been enough for me to leave immediately, but for some stupid reason I actually signed up to standard 12 month contract that they have. This is a legally binding credit agreement that must be paid even if you stop going. Was I dumb or what, but more of that later.
On my first time using the gym I was shocked to find that the lockers can only be locked using a particular size of padlock, which the gym just happens to sell for the extortionate price of £5. Still at this point the TV’s in the changing rooms kept me mollified to the situation. As with everything else at LA Fitness the size of the changing rooms isn’t big enough for the amount of customers in peak hours. Another thing that pissed me off on various occasions is that even in a place that you have to pay £39.99 per month to use – the toilets where still nasty, all too often being blocked up with toilet paper and feces.
The gym itself was always clean, and has a nice atmosphere. It has multiple running machines, exercise bikes, rowing machines, and other machines that are good for warming up or general fitness training. There is also a small area for stretching and exercises such as sit-ups and press-ups. Separated from this is the weight lifting area which has all the usual machines to train various muscles as well as a smaller area specifically for free weights. There is a separate room for class’s that do cycling, and another larger room to host various sessions of Aerobics, Yoga, and other class’s.
The pool area is situated between the male and female changing rooms and has windows to the main gym area and a windowed ceiling to let sunlight in though the day. The pool is fairly small although in fairness most gym pools are, at one end of the pool there is an adjoined spa (which is a pitiful attempt of a spa). The pool area also houses the Sauna and Steam Room, both of which can comfortably fit about 6 people, anymore starts to get a bit too much.
The staff are all fairly friendly and helpful when it comes to asking questions or buying things from the reception desk at the entrance. They sell a whole host of supplements, drinks, fruit, and energy bars at the counters which can be enjoyed while sitting down in front of the telly in the reception area.
So far this has been quite a positive review so you may wonder why I only rated the gym as poor. Well there are two reasons:
Firstly the gym is too small it is always packed from about 5pm until 8pm, which for most people working the average 9 to 5 is a real pain in the butt. Every day I found myself queuing for equipment or being conscious of the fact that others were waiting for me to finish using something.
Secondly is the fact that you can only join by signing a contract to pay by Direct Debit for 12 months. This wouldn’t usually be a problem but when I went to the gym to advise them that I was not able to use there facilities for various reasons they were not helpful in the slightest. Having refused allowing me to cancel my membership I requested that it be put on hold for a few months until I was able to return – which they also refused to do. Now obviously having signed the agreement I was aware that I would have to pay a total of 12 months payments, but I was appalled by the lack of service in the fact that they were not willing to be just a little more flexible about the payments as it would be no loss to them allowing me to put my membership on hold for a while. Also the attitude by the manager in Leeds and the people I spoke to at the head office was atrocious.
Conclusion: overall I would advise anybody to look elsewhere, as there are many gyms that are a lot better, most of which don’t need a monthly paid membership. Also La Fitness are not at all flexible with the membership they provide which could leave you paying for nothing more than a plastic swipe card if you go travelling or aren’t able to use the facilities. The gym itself would be ok, but the place needs to be big enough to cope with the amount of members they have.
