Inside LA Fitness :

Off Topic
1

-Swimming Pool
-Basketball court
-Racketball courts
-Saunas
-250 pieces of cardio equipment
-200+ weight machines
-10 Benches (all in a line)
-3 Smith machines
-A bunch of other pieces of gimmicky sh1t
-1 squat rack

This gym chain is obviously pulling in TONSANDTONS of money, and they know what people want. I think basketball/racketball courts/pools and stuff are cool but as for the rest of it , you just have to question how well financial resources are truly being alloted in gyms across the country.

All of the metal and materials used for making all those machines and cardio equipment could have been used to make 500 Tonka Dump Trucks or a fleet of MegaZords for the Power Rangers to use.

2

I belong to one. I definitely get my $25 worth on eye candy alone, but would drop it in a second for a good hardcore gym or if someone gave me $5K for a good garage gym. It has one power rack, two squat racks, and a few terrible benches. What I don’t understand is that they’ll spend the money for seven different curl machines and eight different crunch machines, but they can’t get even one glute ham raise? It’s like a third the cost of just one of the 30 treadmills.

3

I go there too, typical commercial gym filled with a bunch of people who don’t know what they are doing.

-1 Cage and 2 Racks
-Hammer Strength machines

4

You know what’s even sadder? My gym has 2 benches and one squat rack, and when I get there on a Saturday afternoon and see almost every locker is being used, which means it’s very busy…and head out to the gym floor and none of those three things are being used. Fucking fuck.

5

[quote]Nards wrote:
You know what’s even sadder? My gym has 2 benches and one squat rack, and when I get there on a Saturday afternoon and see almost every locker is being used, which means it’s very busy…and head out to the gym floor and none of those three things are being used. Fucking fuck.[/quote]

This is sad to you? I would be rejoicing. If I find myself at a gym during peak hours and nobody is occupying the very few bench or squat racks I just might join up.

6

Isn’t LA Fitness notorious for perverts staring at chicks with big tits working out on the ellipticals?

That’s probably true for every commercial gym in the US but with a name like LA Fitness you figure there’s at least some silicone in the facility.

7

An LA fitness opened up near my house about 1.5 years ago, and i have been going there since september. I’ve never been to another LA fitness, but this new one is great for a commercial gym in my opinion. It basically has all the same stuff that OP mentioned. the DBs also go to 125 which is decent seeing as all the other gyms i trained it didnt go above 100.

Their benches and shoulder press racks SUCK though. It took me a couple months to really get used to the bench press racks there, and i still dont like them. Worst ive ever used, but not so bad once you get used to them i suppose. Another gripe is that they have all this shit ton of equipment, yet about half the clips on the cable machines are missing and they only have one of each type of attachment. One rope, one straight bar for press downs, one v bar…and the rope is falling apart. I know theyve got a closet somewhere full of this shit.

On the plus side, they have every piece of hammer strength equipment i could ever want.

Overall pretty satisfied with it.

8

I’ve been going to LA Fitness for a few years now. Each location is fairly similar but management can make a difference for issues like missing cable pins and what not.

My current spot has 1 power rack, 3 squat racks and a couple smith machines. 5 flat benches, 3 incline and a row of adjustables by the dumbells. Nautilus and Hammer equipment. Chin bars, dips… you can do some work even if it is a commercial gym. And the eye candy is fantastic.

OP, have you tried using the equipment available to see what happens?

9

[quote]audiogarden1 wrote:
An LA fitness opened up near my house about 1.5 years ago, and i have been going there since september. I’ve never been to another LA fitness, but this new one is great for a commercial gym in my opinion. It basically has all the same stuff that OP mentioned. the DBs also go to 125 which is decent seeing as all the other gyms i trained it didnt go above 100.

Their benches and shoulder press racks SUCK though. It took me a couple months to really get used to the bench press racks there, and i still dont like them. Worst ive ever used, but not so bad once you get used to them i suppose. Another gripe is that they have all this shit ton of equipment, yet about half the clips on the cable machines are missing and they only have one of each type of attachment. One rope, one straight bar for press downs, one v bar…and the rope is falling apart. I know theyve got a closet somewhere full of this shit.

On the plus side, they have every piece of hammer strength equipment i could ever want.

Overall pretty satisfied with it. [/quote]

I have a national LA Fitness membership for when I travel. I’m not sure there’s anything to whine about. They don’t care if you use chalk, deadlift, squat, etc. The dumbbells go to 125lbs in every one of their clubs. Only national chain I’ve seen that has that. They have great opening hours as well.

My pedantic complaint is their sauna is something like 130-140 degrees and I like mine 180-190. That and many of the clubs have 4 towel hangers for 5 shower stalls…

10

My only real complaint is they use those octagonal plates instead of round. Fucking shitty for deadlifts.

11

[quote]johnnytang24 wrote:

I have a national LA Fitness membership for when I travel. I’m not sure there’s anything to whine about. They don’t care if you use chalk, deadlift, squat, etc. The dumbbells go to 125lbs in every one of their clubs. Only national chain I’ve seen that has that. They have great opening hours as well.

My pedantic complaint is their sauna is something like 130-140 degrees and I like mine 180-190. That and many of the clubs have 4 towel hangers for 5 shower stalls…
[/quote]

Good points on the chalk and 125lb DBs. There are no powerlifting gyms within a 50 mile radius of me (and I train at one on the weekends) so commercial gyms are a necessary evil. LA leaves me alone when I want to load up a deadlift bar and chalk up, they have round plates, I can pull a DB bench into the usually empty power rack for benching with bands, lat pulldown stations that go up to 300, pool/sauna/hot tub, and the aforementioned “chicks with big tits on the ellipticals”, all for $25-30 in my area depending when you signed up. Way better than 24hr Fitness, IMO. Golds doesn’t have much presence by me. The fact that I can get enough work in there allows me to keep parking my truck in my garage instead of turning it into a gym.

12

[quote]johnnytang24 wrote:

[quote]audiogarden1 wrote:
An LA fitness opened up near my house about 1.5 years ago, and i have been going there since september. I’ve never been to another LA fitness, but this new one is great for a commercial gym in my opinion. It basically has all the same stuff that OP mentioned. the DBs also go to 125 which is decent seeing as all the other gyms i trained it didnt go above 100.

Their benches and shoulder press racks SUCK though. It took me a couple months to really get used to the bench press racks there, and i still dont like them. Worst ive ever used, but not so bad once you get used to them i suppose. Another gripe is that they have all this shit ton of equipment, yet about half the clips on the cable machines are missing and they only have one of each type of attachment. One rope, one straight bar for press downs, one v bar…and the rope is falling apart. I know theyve got a closet somewhere full of this shit.

On the plus side, they have every piece of hammer strength equipment i could ever want.

Overall pretty satisfied with it. [/quote]

I have a national LA Fitness membership for when I travel. I’m not sure there’s anything to whine about. They don’t care if you use chalk, deadlift, squat, etc. The dumbbells go to 125lbs in every one of their clubs. Only national chain I’ve seen that has that. They have great opening hours as well.

My pedantic complaint is their sauna is something like 130-140 degrees and I like mine 180-190. That and many of the clubs have 4 towel hangers for 5 shower stalls…
[/quote]

Yeah ive gotta say, they really dont seem to have a problem with anything there. I see guys using chalk, wearing no shirt…sometimes if im in a real hurry i just head straight there from work with my jeans and work shoes on still, no one has ever said a thing. And most of the guys that work there actually look like they lift.

However, the eye candy really kinda sucks at my LA, at least compared to some other gyms ive been to. This is probably most likely to do with the crappy neighborhood its in though.

13

I worked as a trainer at one of the “signature clubs” and the only things that really bothered me is the hexagon plates (which my current gym has so I didn’t/don’t do anything from the floor) and the benches are too low to the ground and there’s a separate head pad on them. Makes it hard/awkward to get in the ideal position unless you like having the back of your head wedged between two pads.

14

[quote]audiogarden1 wrote:

However, the eye candy really kinda sucks at my LA, at least compared to some other gyms ive been to. This is probably most likely to do with the crappy neighborhood its in though.
[/quote]

I have studied this in some depth. Find an LA near any of the following:

A) Community College
2) Panera Bread
#) Cosmetology School

Once in a while, one can stumble across an LA Fitness situated between all three. It’s like the nexus; the triumvirate; the intersection of the three planes of the Illuminati. Keep this secret secret.

Enjoy.

15

[quote]johnnytang24 wrote:

[quote]audiogarden1 wrote:

However, the eye candy really kinda sucks at my LA, at least compared to some other gyms ive been to. This is probably most likely to do with the crappy neighborhood its in though.
[/quote]

I have studied this in some depth. Find an LA near any of the following:

A) Community College
2) Panera Bread
#) Cosmetology School

Once in a while, one can stumble across an LA Fitness situated between all three. It’s like the nexus; the triumvirate; the intersection of the three planes of the Illuminati. Keep this secret secret.

Enjoy. [/quote]

Well for the sake of convenience i go to the one that i do because it is closest to my house. There is one about 20 minutes away in Oakbrook, but i dont want to make the drive.

Mall in the neighborhood that my LA fitness is in = people get raped and cars get stolen and you’re lucky if you aren’t the only white guy in the entire place.

Mall in Oakbrook = bunch of high maintenance gals shopping at Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus.

You can probably guess which gym would have the better eye candy.

16

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
I worked as a trainer at one of the “signature clubs” and the only things that really bothered me is the hexagon plates (which my current gym has so I didn’t/don’t do anything from the floor) and the benches are too low to the ground and there’s a separate head pad on them. Makes it hard/awkward to get in the ideal position unless you like having the back of your head wedged between two pads.[/quote]

Yes, this is exactly my problem with the benches. They are lower to the ground than any i have ever used. I am not a powerlifter by any means but even with a bodybuilding approach to my training, it really sucks benching when you can get absolutely NO leg drive at all. Especially since i am 6’3

17

[quote]Nards wrote:
You know what’s even sadder? My gym has 2 benches and one squat rack, and when I get there on a Saturday afternoon and see almost every locker is being used, which means it’s very busy…and head out to the gym floor and none of those three things are being used. Fucking fuck.[/quote]

I hate that too. Where do those people go? what’s in the lockers? shoes?

18

Also, greatest gym of all time for the visuals has got to be Sports Club LA in Beverly Hills. I worked out there for a week while on a temporary job in LA. I worked out during the day and couldn’t believe the quality of the indolent class that shared that schedule.

19

They opened one less than 2 miles from my house. I took the tour and there’s no way I’d leave Retro Fitness for them even though its alot closer.

Reasons being:
-The sales guy was a sleezeball.
-The benches suck.
-The basketball court is decent but it’s packed 24/7 and impossible to get a game. I luckily ran into a friend during the tour who warned me about this. And it was packed at 2 pm on a weekday when I went.
-No fuckin parking.

20

[quote]comus3 wrote:
Also, greatest gym of all time for the visuals has got to be Sports Club LA in Beverly Hills. I worked out there for a week while on a temporary job in LA. I worked out during the day and couldn’t believe the quality of the indolent class that shared that schedule. [/quote]

Haven’t been there, but Las Vegas Athletic Club is like a free nudie bar. All the working girls go there to maintain. Sucks to work out there since it’s so packed, but damn if there isn’t some motivation.