LA Fitness - Signature Club

Tried out a big chain this week with LA fitness. They only offer a three day pass, but that's enough for me to lift two days with a yoga class in between.

I think this encapsulates the
crowd here on a Saturday nicely.

This is mostly a young professional crowd, which makes sense given its uptown location.  I happened to come in during meat head hour.  There were tons of guys wearing tank tops to show off their guns and full sleeve tattoos.  The guy to girl ratio was like 20:1, which is nothing really atypical. The gym bunnies I saw were dressed more to work out than to been seen. This was different from the trophy wives I saw at Equinox. 

I actually saw a douche doing dips without his shirt on. He wasn't even facing the mirror so it was for pure show.  Not my cup of tea.  There are also some older bodybuilders here. I would imagine they enjoy showing off to the young crowd and feed off the young energy.  I know I would if I were in their shoes.

When the sales rep was giving me the tour I commented on how nicely laid out the hundred of dumbells were.  He smiled and nodded his head, saying he was OCD.  I almost responded with "You'd love lifetime athletic then". Thankfully I caught myself.  I have to be careful now, don't want them to realize I'm up to something.

Layout/Facilities

The gym is a signature series club, which is their upscale club.  What this means is they offer fancier equipment. The guy told me they have the latest models in machines.  Honestly I don't see how one chest press machine is different from another but whatever.  The actual gym is also twice as big as a normal LA fitness.  For example, they have 50 spin machines and three TRX suspension cages.

The rowing machine and the Squash
courts and the cardio machines.

They also have the fanciest rowing erg I've ever used, the thing was very... different in the cable's tension; it felt more realistic. I want to take this opportunity to apologize for the poor photography. I don't feel comfortable with taking pictures in a gym. I mean, people are self-conscious as it is, and I don't want to make it worse.

 The gym also has a saltwater pool, which is only rivaled by Equinox.  There is also a nice large hot tub, but when I was there it was unavailable as it awaited repair.

I was also impressed with the number of squat racks they had (5!!!!).  When I showed up in prime lifting time (12:30 on a Saturday) I was able to find an abandoned rack.  The douche who used it before couldn't have been bothered to re-rack his weights.  I get the feeling this is a common occurrence in this gym. They also have five bench racks, but they were being used, causing me to wait for over four minutes for one to clear up.

Cheap(er) protein.

I was a little sad to see they did not have any bumper plates, but this very much feels like your typical globo gym that focuses more on isolation exercises than compound lifts.  Nothing wrong with that, it's just not what I personally am looking for in a gym.

There is also a basketball court on the second floor, which I was told was very popular for pick up games.  They also have a group fitness room that is very nice. mirrors on two walls and punching bags lining another one.

A nice bonus here is the juice bar.  They sell protein on the cheap here.  They sell dented bins here at discounts. I think this is a great idea. I mean, if the container is still sealed, then what does it matter if the container is shaped differently? I guess people like their things perfect.

Classes

Only attended one Yoga class here. It was exactly what I needed, a peaceful, relaxing stretch one.  As we listened to Kenny G's rendition of "my heart will go on" the male instructor did a very good job of setting up clear instructions. Nothing was hard to follow. Honestly I liked this one more than the one at Equinox, but I'm not a yogi who does standing splits.  The class was a nice size, quite a few people but no where near crowded.  Lots of women as would be expected. Perhaps they all hide up in the cardio floor

For the yoga room, they have a stack of nice mats but no disinfectant wipes, so I would bring your own mat. I was kind of surprised that this isn't something that is required to be provided. At Equinox everyone just tosses them into a box to be cleaned by the staff (You know, the other half). 

Surfability

It's low pressure, but I don't like the sales tactics used here.  They ask me reasonable questions like "what other gyms are you looking at" and then disparage the gyms that I list. Like I said "24 hour fitness" and the first salesman was like "that place is disgusting" and I told the lead salesman "Tom Landry" and he responded with "well if you like working out with old people then enjoy".  I don't like how they feel the need to bring down other gyms.  Instead, just talk about how your gym is better. Let your product speak for itself.  Unless, of course, you don't think your gym is better.

....When I mentioned that one reason why I was hesitating was because they didn't have bumper plates. The lead salesman said "Well you won't find gyms with bumper plates."

"Oh yeah Tom Landry has bumper plates AND a real platform. So does Equinox."

"Yeah but Tom Landry only has one platform"

Really? That's your response??? One platform is, mathematically, infinitely more than zero platforms. It is also, in my mind, infinitely better.  Just own up to the fact that your gym might not be the best fit and move on. You'll get a lot better opinion of potential customers.

Days in: 32

Amount paid: $0

I should mention now that I'm a month in that I've made a spreadsheet of all the gyms I'm aware of here in Dallas, and I think I can go for another 14 weeks just using trial memberships, that's four months of working out for free.  Also, if I can somehow stretch this out to six months I can start over with a lot of gyms because they only allow trials every six months.  Once I'm out of the free trials I plan to switch over to introductory rates, like the 30 days for $30 promotions you see every once in a while.

UPDATE:

So I've spent an additional two weeks here thanks to a special my apartment was running, and I thought I could add a little more insight as to what it is like working out here.  Regarding the equipment, I don't have too much more to say, but I do have a better idea of who goes here during the 11am-1pm section of the day.

When compared to the other gyms I've been to, the most unique thing here is the number of women working out.  There are a lot of them here. And I'm not talking about cardio queens riding the elliptical up on the second floor (I don't go up there so I have no idea). I'm talking about women doing real, honest-to-God resistance training. As I'm typing this out on my phone there are five women in the weight section doing: lat pull downs, bicep curls, sumo squats, leg press, and deadlifts. Plus, they are doing this all on their own, without a trainer.  So hot.

They aren't really dressed to strut their shit, they are dressed to perform.  However, to a male lifter nothing is hotter than a woman who understands the value of resistance training and isn't afraid of doing something with weights that aren't in neon colors. It's like a gamer who notices a girl playing League of Legends. You've found someone who has similar tastes and values as you do.  To me, a woman who isn't afraid to do heavy resistance training is a sign of confidence and someone who values their health.  Someone who understands the empowerment that comes along with knowing you are strong.  Also, I can't think of a hotter combination than yoga pants and squats.

There was one girl who was doing actual squats (not a half-rep Harriet), and I overhear her talking to a guy, in an eastern European accent, about how she was getting back into competition shape again. So yeah, there are some female competitors (in what I don't know) who lift here.

Other than that, I also really appreciate the cheap protein and shakes/smoothies they offer here. Generally, I think of smoothies and whey protein as  an inferior replacement for a steak and sweet potato hash.  They are called supplements, not necessities, for a reason.  However,  the convenience of being able to have something immediately after your workout can be really nice sometimes when you are in a rush.

Even though I won't be signing up here, I will continue to buy the cheap protein here. What costs $70 and GNC costs half that here.  They have even cheaper prices than amazon or ebay.