Lifetime Fitness

My family (2 adults and 5 kids) go there. We have been disappointed lately since we like to use the basketball courts. It appears Lifetime is now renting out the basketball courts for birthday parties and to soccer clubs (Loudoun Soccer) so we cannot even get onto the courts to play basketball or anything else.

I personally don't think they should be renting out the court space when they sold us on member rights to us the space but now they are renting it out to people who don't belong to the club.

 

Are they renting it out during "open gym" times, or is it being used during the times they had already had it booked for other activities?

 

I went and signed us up yesterday. Great looking facility and excited to use it. The cost was $160 for a family (two adults plus unlimited children under 21) per month. It was $129 I think for two people and $79 for one. What I liked about it was the indoor and outdoor pools since we don't belong to any pools where we live along with the large gym (two basketball courts) and incredible number of treadmills, ellipticals, bikes, weight machines, etc.. I was there about 4 - 4:30 PM and the gym was empty, the pool had one or two people there and the other areas were fairly empty as well. There appeared to be many cars in the parking lot, but inside there are so many areas that the crowds spread out well.

Has anyone done any of the basketball leagues and/or played pickup there? What did you think of them?

 

The open gym times are extremely limited to only a couple of hours a day. They sell you on the "great gyms" but then it is very hard to actually use them. When the club first opened, you could get into the gyms but not they are primarily renting them out during the peak times that people would use them.

 

The birthday parties are only on the weekends. We had my son's party there. They also do camps and activities for kids where they sometimes use one of the courts, so that may be what you're seeing too.

 

Are the kids camps, activities, swim lessons, etc. included in the membership? Or, are those extra fees?

 

Extra fees

 

I just signed up, and so far only had great experiences. I decided on them because of all the incredible amenities and the knowledgeable trainers.

So hopefully I will be able to meet the commitment I made to myself.

Marianne

 

Marianne... I thought I saw you there this afternoon around 3:00 -- maybe a bit before or after... don't recall exactly.

 

Wow Marianne you signed up with Lifetime...guess that bike you have in the house will become a clothes hanger now

 

Ok, looking at 3 gyms now. Gold's, Sport & Health, and Liftime. All seem to be offering some kind of deal. I'm lloking for a good price for me, kaos and koas girl to join - though unemployed, we do need to get fit and healthy (adults, that is) and can manage a low cost, without high enrollment.

Gold's is not yet fully built out, but offers $19.99 a month for 2 years then month to month for $199 enrollment fee.

Lifetime has no enrollment fee, some kind of activation fee to still get up front money and I have no idea the monhtly prices.

Sport & Health same thing.

I'm looking for good classes, Pilates, recumbant cycle, and swimming laps and classes. Koas a good trainer, weights, pilates or yoga, and cardio. Koas girl would be into most eveyrthing. She mostly needs to define her muscles and get some cardio and stretch/strength.

Please weigh in!

 

Lifetime's fees haven't changed. We haven't experienced a rate increase since we joined over 2 years ago. Remember also that they don't require you to lock in for a year, or two or three. They do month to month. But of course it's more expensive.

Lifetime has lots of different classes at lots of different times a day. I suspect they have more than the other two simply because it's much bigger, but I don't know for sure. They have all the other things you're looking for, too. If you join and Kaosgirl wants some pointers on the weights, I'll work out with her and show her around!

Check them all out at the time of day you think you're most likely to go. Are they crowded? (EVERYTHING is crowded after the new year, but come March it will thin out again.) Do they have the classes you want when you think you'd be able to go? Do you care about the contact vs. month-to-month issue? I think lots of people try Lifetime for a few months because they can. If you like it, stay. If not, check out one of the others!

 

Don't know much about the Gold's yet, but at s&h that's where you really get the most for your money when you join on a family membership. Family membership at Lifetime is well over $100, at s&h it's well less than a $100 and includes all family members. Sure Lifetime is huge and has tons of stuff, but are you really going to use all of it? You won't use 80% of what's there so why pay for it? s&h is closer, you don't have to deal with that horrible traffic on Waxpool, and it's cheaper. Then again, I am partial.

 

I think it all depends on what your family as a whole needs and uses. If it was just my husband and I or my kids were older, I'm sure we'd be at S&H and away from the Waxpool traffic nightmare. However, I have 3 small kids and we are at LTF because of them - indoor & outdoor pools, climbing wall, summer camps, swim lessons, friends who go at the same time as our family and from what I'm told a much better/larger kids center. I also enjoy working out with friends who live in Sterling and so wouldn't be at S&H or Golds. The only downfall to LTF in my opinion is the driving there, whether from home in the morning or there at night.

 

I think LTF has it all from what I've experienced. Classes are so varied, you could easily find what you're looking for unless you have work/school constraints - spin, cardio, strength, body pump, zumba, pilates, yoga, stretch, core, you name it. Dedicated lap lanes and of course all the cardio & weights.

 

My family joined S&H because it was close to home. We got in when they were offering the pre-opening rates. I am not real satisfied with the gym. They change/drop group classes too much. The gym is crowded. There are alot of kids working out there so your daughter might like that.
I can't wait to get back to Gold's when this membership is over.

 

I'm a member of both Lifetime and the new Gold's. I can't really speak to Sport and Health.

The first thing is that it is going to be hard judging Gold's until it is fully built out. Currently there isn't even a real locker room at Gold's just a bathroom with one shower and some wall lockers in the general gym area.

The price point is the big difference I pay $80 a month for LTF and $20 for Gold's (2 year contract). That is the reason I joined Gold's right now. I thought the $20 was temporary so I wanted to get in on it and if I like it then I may someday drop LTF.

Gold's will be 24x7 but only the part that is open now will be 24x7 from what I was told. We will see how that pans out.

Some things that I can say with what is open now.

• Gold's has TV's hooked up to their LifeFitness elliptical machines. No ellipticals have TVs at LTF. Having said that LTF has six different types of ellipticals and the current Gold's has only LifeFitness. They both have FreeMotion machines for weights. I like the ones at Gold's better but many are the same.
  
• Very limited free weights right now at Gold's but that will definitely change when the full gym opens.
  
• More younger guys/gym rat types at Gold's so far but that is to be expected at Gold's. That is no big deal and Gold's will have a women's only area.
  
• The LTF pools are much better than Gold's future pool and I can't imagine the Gold's basketball courts being as nice.
  
• Even at peak times I've not had to wait for equipment at LTF. I usually go later so then it is less crowded. LTF also has plenty of parking. Too early to tell how busy Gold's will be and if that parking lot can sustain all the traffic/congestion.
• The classes will probably be similar but check them out to see what place has instructors you like.

If you are looking for a deal because of the job situation I'd go with Golds but you get a lot at LTF.

In the end pick a gym that you will go to regularly the best customers for gyms are those that sign up and don't use the gym.

 

I belong to Golds. I pay $30 a month, and this allows me access to three of the Golds gyms - Ashburn, Sterling and Clocktower in Centerville. The $20/month promo only allows you access to the Ashburn one. I generally go for the group exercise classes, and occasionally work out on the weights. The old Ashburn location closed in December. Until the new Ashburn location opens, I've been driving over to the Sterling location for classes. Some of the instructors have been saying that the new gym in Ashburn will be nicer than the Sterling one. Gold's is heavily into the Les Mills programs - Body Step, Body Pump, Body Flow, Body Combat, Body Attack. They also have non-Les Mills classes like free Step, strength conditioning, boot camp, zumba, kukuwa dance, yoga, pilates, cycle, kettle bell, etc. They have a very varied and full schedule. I'm pretty sure that the Ashburn one, when it re-opens, will be similar.

I had also tried out Lifetime for a week for free. The kid's area is huge - but I did notice that there were tons and tons of kids there. seemed like crazytown. Gold's has a kid watch room also, not as big as lifetime, but still very big, just that the number of kids per sq.ft. is much, much smaller.

 

so who has the best classes (i.e. step, spinning, zumba)? does anyone have any feedback on fitness first?

also, the lifetime and sport & health pools - are they crowded?

i want to join a gym with an individual membership and it seems like the only one that's reasonable for that is fitness first (interested in golds but don't want to do a 2 year commitment since i'll be moving).

thanks for starting this post - very helpful.

 

Right now, LTF pools aren't crowded. You can always get a lane. There's always room in the leisure pool to just dink around.

Much like the Broadlands pools, the outdoor pool can get crowded on a really hot Saturday afternoon, especially if it's a holiday weekend.