staff look grim at LA gym (kettering northants) (LA Fitness in general)

Member Name: pania22

Product:	LA Fitness in general
Date:	26/05/09 (200 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: clean, well equiped and comfortable

Disadvantages: bloomin miserable staff!!!

Ever since the age of 17 I have frequented many different gyms. in my younger student/new cop days it was the free, slightly musty, back of the garage station gym or the local council gym, through to my flush days of £60 per month esporta!
Due to injury and relocation I left my last gym and have recently been at the stage of wanting to rejoin.
Shopping around my local area I wasnt exactly spoilt for choice. My eyes rested on LA fitness's excellent website following a google search and my interest was piqued.

The start....

Following a brief phone call, I arranged to attend the gym along with my partner who was from out of the area and not interested in joining in the slightest. "not an issue" say they and along we go. When we first entered the immediate impression was of a calm and tidy place with excellent facilities that were kept with an obvious sense of pride. A tour of the premises revealed a warm, clean pool (none of the horrible yelping and shoulder raising that occurs when warm body meets icy pool water) sauna and steam room, along with my personal relaxing favourite. a jacuzzi!!
Moving on further to the main gym area it was apparent that the area had been set up with busy periods in mind. Never again would i que for a treadmill or bench press.
besides the studio and consultation rooms the single most impressive thing here was the "LA Spin" studio. Purely for the cleanliness and standard of equipment that it contained. I have not yet had the courage to display my gluteus "truly max"imus in such a setting but cant wait to get started once my ham strings look like that of a baby gazelle rather than a water buffalo!

following a lovely relaxing gym and swim I took the decision, fully supported by my partner to join then and there. A gym for me has been as much of a mental benefit rather than just physical and as such it made sense. it had everything i needed in a compact and rather cheap box.

So how much does it cost?

well, £32.34 for a month for myself on a corporate membership. £38 per month for non corporate. A standard £35 joining fee applies to all members but the "kick start" programme allows this to be returned in certain circumstances. Off peak and swimming only memberships are also available on quotation from each individual club.

For joining i received a starter pack full of helpful hints and tips, along with 10 free passes for my partner (nice to know he comes to see me for my company and not for the free gym!! ;o) ) and a half hour free personal training voucher. I also received a water bottle, waterproof gym bag that is proving very handy as a shower bag, a padlock for the lockers and a sweat towel.

So now to the drawback. Since joining i have been constantly impressed with the cleanlines and standard of the facilities. However the staff leave quite a bit more to be desired. If there is a problem with the kit, or if i have a general question, i look around and the gym has suddenly developed a staff sucking vortex, causing all salary receivers to vanish instantly. The training staff do not acknowledge you when you walk in and the time i have sought advice of a trainer he quite frankly appeared bored with the whole debacle and then tried to pressure sell his services to me. it was almost "if its free i dont want to know, if you'll pay me to tell you this then i'm yours".
I have often stood at reception waiting to order a drink, ask a question, or book in and waited without acknowledgement for a good few minutes and felt invisible at times.

The gym does what it says on the tin. it is perfectly adequate for my requirements and a very comfortable environment to relax in for a few hours, if only the staff were slightly mroe happy to be there!!!

Summary: only for seasoned gym bunnies due to lack of staff support