LA Fitness

There's not much about this gym that I liked, so I can only recommend to you to NOT sign up for this gym. In fact, my biggest pet-peeve with it is that it is not very well-maintained and the management should be ashamed!

- For example, the staircase down to the gym is filled with dustballs and trash and nobody seems to bother cleaning it up!
- The showers are a disaster; not only does it kind of reek in there, but they also are either out of service or are leaking. (Seriously, some showers are on at full blast and simply can't be turned off. I brought this to the attention of the maintenance guy once and he just shrugged his shoulder...not sure how many thousands of litres of clean water they have wasted over the last few months!)
- The toilets area is just grosse and I've witnessed at least two floods - yikes!

Aside from the maintenance issue, the gym-floor itself is packed with equipment - it feels like you're in an EasyJet airplane; trying to squeeze in as many people without looking out for comfort. Sure, they have every equipment that you can think of, but sometimes I just felt like a caged hen! (Did I mention that the AC is also not working super-well and that it gets quite sweaty in there during rush hours?_

I know this seems to be one of the more affordable gyms in the city, but I urge you to not sign up here...go to the Virgin Active nearby.

I used the gym yesterday and the showers were very weak (power) after they changed them recently.

Be aware of the membership traps that LA Fitness uses to keep you for longer. We went in to Finchley branch to sign up for a 3 or 6 months membership and clearly asked for it. The head of staff (Rob) seemed very friendly and offered us a 6 months membership at the better price for 12 months. He said the promotion would expire that night so we accpeted that we signed a 12 month contract and he would change it to 6 months and would send us the ammended contract.
After waiting for a month, we went back to the branch asking for the ammended contract and that is when we realised that we were tricked. They said Rob had left and there was nothing they could do. Customer service is really poor, they didn't do anything and I bet they are happy about trapping another poor customer!

Had a monthly membership at the Waldorf location for 1.5 months -- so had the opportunity to try out the gym at different times over a decent/ representative period. I had high hopes as the location was just perfect for mid afternoon workouts (i.e. off peak time). Unfortunately, this was absolutely the worst professional gym I have ever used (and I have used many all over the world): overcrowded to say the least (even off-peak), with serious wait-times for whatever limited amount of benches, dumbbells, and machines are available; not all cycles actually work; really old equipment overall; unhygienic and just plain rank smelling gym; rude, unhelpful, and totally disinterested staff (other than those that sell memberships); severely cramped locker rooms; and a tiny pool that is useless the moment there are 2+ people. Also, membership agents will say whatever to get you to join -- read the fine print! Very difficult to cancel and will require phoning head office. I tried to hang in there but the place is just awful!

I had a weeks free trial at LA Fitness but I wasn't too impressed and didn't sign up.

The changing areas are carnage and now matter where you put your stuff there is always someone in the way when you are trying to change. The pool is potentially a big plus but I found it too small, crowded and a little dirty when I finally had chance to use it. There always seemed to be a pile of women messing around in there or aqua aerobics classes to give them the correct name.

The weights and cardio areas suffer from being painted in a dark colour which makes it feel claustrophobic. There is too much gear in there to make is user friendly. Overall, I wasn't impressed.

Date of visit: September 2010

They were doing three free sessions on the Internet. I filled in my details, got a missed call from a man, called back and got rebooked with Nadia. Nadia seemed like a good sales person: professional, well presented, not pushy, she seemed to know all the different schemes, but didn't know about other clubs and didn't seem to be that knowledgeable about fitness. I trained for free in an unventilated basement (when I was there the air conditioning had been shut down for works!). Nadia offered me £55 per month for 12 months or £66 for 4 months with a joining fee of £60.

Good Points: The reception area was pleasant enough - but who cares? - I don't go to the gym to drink coffee. The sales person was nice. At midday, when I went, it was full of people, atmosphere was good, people looked like they were there to work out. They had lots of cardiovascular equipment and a fair amount of free weights and machines. They also had two studios for classes, a spinning room, and a pool.

Bad points: The ceiling was low, they had no natural light and the place felt dark. They did have mirrors, but not by the machines - I would have liked to have seen myself when I was on the machines and cable crossover! Because the air conditioning was broken/off there was sweat everywhere - literally dripping from the ceiling and on the floor. The whole place felt sticky and dirty. The changing area just felt dirty. The walls were dirty and needed painting. The flooring was some kind of wood laminate - see Soho Gyms Waterloo for great flooring! I had to search for the handle for the cable crossover and it felt like they should have duplicated on such things. The dumbbells were a mess and I couldn't find the ones that I wanted. There seemed to be enough staff on the floor, but they weren't keeping things organised!

Conclusion: These guys cater for the mass market, members were paying about £40 per month, their gym is old, and they are more sales focussed. They have enough staff on the floor, but they need more cleaning/tidying staff - having the aircon break is one thing, but this shouldn't affect how organised/available your dumbbells are! As their rep said - They are Fitness First with a swimming pool.

Date of visit: September 2010


They were doing three free sessions on the Internet. I filled in my details, got a missed call from a man, called back and got rebooked with Nadia. Nadia seemed like a good sales person: professional, well presented, not pushy, she seemed to know all the different schemes, but didn't know about other clubs and didn't seem to be that knowledgeable about fitness. I trained for free in an unventilated basement (when I was there the air conditioning had been shut down for works!). Nadia offered me £55 per month for 12 months or £66 for 4 months with a joining fee of £60..........


To see the rest of my review for The Gym Vauxhall go to: http://fit4nothing-reviews.blogspot.com/2011/03/la-fitness-london-wall.html?spref=tw

For a start Qype EC2M isn't Dalston! it's right in the heart of the city!


However the fact that this LA Fitness is at the heart of the public transport system and has good cycle parking right outside is one of the only things that is good about this branch of LA Fitness.


I joined on a super deal last year (2010) and have stayed as it is pretty good value around £30 no membership fees or contract and they have thankfully upgraded me for free to all club membership so i can use some of the better branches from time to time.


The gym: Staff! Often grunt at you on entry and that is on a good day, although this has improved a little over the past six months it needs a hell of a lot of management 'kickup the butts' to get them to smile, greet u and stop talking to their colleagues.. it's like we are a mega inconvenience! Just rude in my book.


The changing rooms: Dirty! Very Dirty.. Toilets. stink, leak only 2 cubicles, 2 urinals not really adequate for a gym this size and without a door doesn't make the changing rooms smell any better.. Lockers need an upgrade badly. Particularly dirty during the weekend, seems no-one cleans anything from close on Friday to Monday morning.. not pleasant


Showers, ok but could do with a refurb, don't smell good. Not enough of them and often a queue at busy times and absolutely bizarre that this is the exact time that someone decides to clean them and half of them are out of action. No cleaning at the weekend.. nasty.


Gym, ok - pleasant enough and functional. Old machines, and worth noting that all the running machines all have a different pace.. some quicker, some slow! Don't bother mentioning it, they won't bother doing anything.. Summer and AC... wear a singlet it is hotter than the middle east.


Pool - great, although some of the staff go to extreme lengths to remove you for not wearing a cap! Like you want to wear a cap to do 5 lengths after a workout in a pool that never has anyone in it.. Sauna pretty good and clean, Steam room.. always dirty, why don't they ever clean it..


Value for money? for the discount price yes... but not a penny more

Working in the city, eating the rich often over-priced food makes it apparent that you have to do something to ensure that you'll be able to fit in your clothes 365 days from when you bought them.

Personally, having been a health professional for a number of years in a former life, i have something to confess: i hate gyms.
I don't dislike the fact that you have to keep healthy or that the masses need a place to focus the drive to shift calories, what i detest are the attitudes of the staff.

For this reason, before joining i scoped out this place like a sniper on a Black Ops mission. What I didn't expect was the totally sane and relaxed way that the sales staff didn't try to re-sell me my right kidney in order to finance my gym regime.

I've 'road-tested' a few of the trainers: Ike, Sal and Derek and they're A-OK. Great attitude, helpful to the point of embarrassment and no hard sell and a free taster session to boot. Though my regime consists of kettle bell, some cardio and a lot of swimming, there's a lot to do here. Everything from spinning to lap-dancing classes.

If you want to get involved, ask for Rob, the big Kiwi, he or his team will work something out for all budgets. Remember it's a city gym, so it may not be cheap but you will be pretty. Plus, if you really want to affect a lifestyle change, strip away the gyms, the hype and take a look at the person standing right in front of you in the mirror.

Some advice: peak locker room times are 12.15-1.20pm and 5.30-6.15pm. Either go off-peak or if that's not an option, once you've joined, drop your clothes in the locker early AM and saunter down at lunchtime to get changed.

Unfortunately, i don't know what the ladies changing room is like at peak time usage, but i've had to wait for a shower in the gents. Tsk.

I've been a member here for about a year and the most encouraging sight is that i've yet to NOT see the guy who cleans up. Dude is always there either cleaning the showers or the changing rooms keeping the place clinically clean.

Though it is tight down there, it's a lower basement after all, just go for yours and get on with it. No one ever toned up by looking at the human being next to them. The swimming pool is mini-me size but that just means you have to do twice as much work. Space is at a premium in the city you know. Anyway, just get your sweat on and stop making excuses...

The City, and the UK in generally frankly, is pretty poorly served in terms of gyms. The LA fitness on London Wall is the best of a bad bunch for me.
I've been a member of this branch for a year now, and what has previously been said is definitely true, too many personal trainers - a few of which have been known to take your place on a station when you turn around to pick up your drink!


The pools isn't bad, its small as you'd expect in the middle of the square mle, but I've found that if you go between 10 and 11:30 am you will have the pool to yourself.


The lack of water in the gym is a bit of a pain - I find myself breaking my workout into two halves, refilling my water bottle at half way.


Can't comment on the music as I work out with headphones on (on my blackberry using the very impressive GymTechnik app and a timer to get m rest periods in correctly).


I mainly lift weights, so would love it if they added a couple more pieces of equipment, but that's just being picky. It's convenient in terms of location. and much better than the local Fitness Firsts. It is also less than half the price (for me) of Virgin Active, which if I'm totally hones didn't seem to offer that many more facilities than LAF.


So in summary, reasonable facilities, but the best VFM you can get in the city. I wish it were as good as the Reebok in Canary Wharf, but then again I much prefere working in the City to Canary Wharf so those are the breaks.