Life Time Fitness

The staff I’ve encountered are all very friendly and fun.
It’s a small gym but it has everything I need to workout on. Although it gets busy there after work & on Saturdays, I’ve never had a problem finding an open cardio machine to work out on.
There’s swimming pool, hot tub, track, classes, and personal trainers. There is plenty of parking space in the strip mall parking.
The only complaint I have is that the women’s locker room is too noisy, both because of talkative gym members and also because the cleaning staff is constantly cleaning –dragging around a huge towel collection bin back and forth, that makes the most loud and grating sound ever. It’s like nails on chalkboard! I’m happy for the cleanliness, but the noise factor is really annoying.

This gym is close to home for me, but I usually go to the St. Louis Park location, since like many of the reviewers said, this gym can get quite crowded. The worst is Thanksgiving Day — avoid this place at all costs on holidays! I came for the Turkey Jam on Thanksgiving morning and there was literally not a square foot of space left in the studio, and I came 15 minutes before the class started. An old lady literally laughed at me and told me that I need to come early on holidays to get a spot in the studio. Thankfully I was able to make it to another Lifetime location so I still had my Thanksgiving morning workout, it was just too bad I had to drive to two gyms that day.
That being said, I do enjoy the yoga classes over here. The steam room in the women’s locker room doesn’t stay warm all the time like the steam rooms at other Lifetime locations, so make sure you press the button before going in. Showers are nice and big, but it seems like only one side of the shower room gets hot water and all the showers on the other side are cold water only — at least in the ladies’ locker room. There is mouthwash and lotion in the locker room, which is nice.
Dry sauna and hot tub are in the pool area, and the pool temperature is decent and not too cold, though I have been impressed with all the Lifetime pools. The pool at my old gym, before I switched to Lifetime, was always way too cold, and I needed to wear a rash guard to keep warm if I wasn’t going to be swimming very fast, but I have not had to do that at Lifetime. Plenty of free weights and weight machines here, but no assisted pullup machine. This gym is nice if you go during non-​peak times.

This Fitness Club is so noisy. Respective clubs do not slam locker doors as hard as they can. I don’t know if people are mad or just rude. They hog all the space to sit down. To do it over I would join a club that has less selfish people. YMCA is good club but then you have all the kids to contend to.
Just stay away from Lifetime it’s too crowded the way it is.
Good luck seatching

UPDATE: 10÷4÷14 — This is now my HOME location since June 2014! It’s the best… I LOVE IT!

Hot Snot!
This place is huge! They have EVERYTHING!
I’m blown away how huge this place is. You walk in and there is a café and clothing store right there. Stairs are leading every which way and it overlooks the bottom floor where there are rows upon rows of cardio machines. After finding my way to and through the locker room, a kind soul led me upstairs to the indoor track. The running area was phenomenal! An indoor track looped around their TEAM fitness area and had intentional treadmills and ellipticals for runners. I felt right at home and excited to get going.
Like other Lifetimes, the people who attend are great, the trainers look on skeptically-​like you’re their next sale, and it is an overall vibe of «push it.»
If your an extrovert athlete, enjoy heaven.
If you are an introvert athlete, seek a less populated gym.

I get a contact from the GM telling me if I came back, the managers would be my main point of contact, who would ensure I was treated properly.
Don’t you people understand that if you are a decent manager, your people don’t get away with the crap like I experienced? What is wrong with this picture?
I don’t want to be flagged as a «customer service issue» where everyone is walking on eggshells and is on their best behavior because I complained. I want to see the people as they operate on a daily basis with just any old person. If they are going to be jerks, they will be jerks, but at least I can see how LT really is.
I am so turned off by my overall experience, I don’t think I can go to any Life Time.
I’m going to LA Fitness instead, where there is a diverse membership who seem to just want to work out, not pose at their elitist «health club» — that is actually kind of a dump for what they charge compared to LA Fitness.

Has everything you need under one roof, weights, cardio, classes… I was actually pretty impressed by this gym, I suspected a lot of size and no sustance, but everytime I leave I am excited to go back! The teachers are great and never leave you disapointed by the workout they give you, when looking for a new gym this is the place!

This place was OK.
I have a nice time and a good workout.
Large, clean,
People were nice enough. I was visiting MN and needed a place to workout. Paid for a few days and it was worth it. Will come again when I am in town.
Good amount of free weights and machines. Good cardio equipment and televisions if I remember right.
Theres a nice area for doing your own exercises. I remember the towels being small but thats my only small wee wee complaint.
Good enough… nothing better in the area

Because of location, this is the Lifetime that I find myself working out at more often than not. Sure, it’s not the prettiest of the Lifetime clubs and. gasp…it’s in a strip mall, but for me, it gets the job done. The folks who work here are all very friendly and the facility is always very clean in my experience. The one downside to this location compared to other Lifetime locations is that it’s quite small. For the most part this hasn’t really been to much of a problem for me. I’ve rarely, if ever had to wait to use equipment or anything like that, despite it being a smaller club and often quite crowded. However, the one area that I do find the smaller size to be an issue is the locker room. The men’s locker room (and probably the women’s as well, however I don’t have a firsthand report on that) is very, very small. This problem is often exacerbated by a large number of older gentlemen who seem to feel that it’s a good idea to use the locker room as a sort of social club to just hang around and chat in, rather than just doing their thing and getting the hell out of there.

This is *my* gym and I really like it. Sure, the other fancy-​schmancy Life Time Fitness locations *look* nicer, but for what I use it for, it’s fine.
Pros:
Location!
I want to get-​in/​get out. I come here in the mornings before work to do my hour of cardio. This is located in a strip mall off of busy Winnekta Avenue. Luckily, there isn’t a whole lot going on in the strip mall, so there is a big parking lot with lots of spaces (except for peak times) because there really aren’t many other tenants.
Staff members: So nice — every stinkin’ one of them. I’ve been going here for years, so I’ve seen some turnover, but it doesn’t matter; everyone they bring in is so friendly and nice. They all greet me by name.
Equipment: It’s not über-​modern (so no TV’s attached to the cardio machines), but it’s recent enough and it ALWAYS works. If something is broken, it’s repaired within DAYS. Not WEEKS like other LTF locations. They use the Life Fitness brand of cardio machines, which I love.
Cons? It’s still expensive. This is a bronze-​level club which is the cheapest membership tier in the chains. I’ve been a Lifetime member since 2000, and I have a pro-​rated membership fee, but it’s still more than any of the other chains.
CRAZY crowded during peak times (which from 4 – 6 M-​F and then about 8:30am-10am Saturdays). So crowded, you’re lucky to find a parking spot. Wanna go to a class? Better arrive 30 minutes early to stake out your spot. NO JOKE. Don’t even TRY to go to a class 5 minutes beforehand. It will be full. I don’t have time for that monkey business, so I have just given up completely on attending the classes.
Attitude in the classes: Another reason why I stopped going to classes on the weekends (Sat. AM especially) is not just because of the crowds, but because of the attitudes! There is an underlying «tone» to the classes — lots of snobby, cliquey, nose-​turned-​up ladies wearing pricey workout gear. Now, okay, I wear that stuff too, but they all gossip within their clique and generally make the class experience unwelcoming to those who drop in occasionally. I felt like I wasn’t supposed to be there since I am not a regular. I’m a regular at the gym, but not a regular to the class.
Not open 24 hours: As someone who works out before work, it would be nice if they could even open at 4:30 am! But no. This might have to do with their strip mall location though.
Annoying «group» personal training classes: They run these classes during peak hours and take up half the treadmills for their little class.
Locker rooms: They’re clean and all, but my one pet peeve about them is that half of the lockers in the women’s locker room are missing their keys! What gives? I am there at OPENING, so there’s no way these lockers are already in use. Also, some of the lockers get stuck when you put your key in, so you have to hunt down a staff member to open it for you.

Easy in, easy out. That’s the biggest pro to this location. And quite frankly, that’s a really big pro.
The parking lot isn’t any busier than other locations and there’s no long hallways here. The main floor, locker rooms, and childcare are all literally within a few feet of each other. The only downside to the size is the indoor track is sort of small and oddly shaped. Also, there’s no leisure pool and the staff doesn’t care to enforce the lap pool rules.
The machines are mostly in good condition and it’s rare to have to wait (other than during January, natch) but they are a generation older than other Lifetime locations. Not a big deal to me.
I’ve always found the locker room to be clean enough and big enough. There was a long stretch of time a while back when they couldn’t keep clean towels on the shelves. There used to be a few cranky people on staff, but I haven’t seen them around much lately. I stopped using the childcare when my kid was about 18 months bc they won’t keep the little kids away from the inappropriate tv shows for older kids. My kids are generally happy to play with any new to them toy, but turn on a tv and it is like moths to a light.
Still, this is my go to gym. If they had just slightly better hours (like later on weekend nights) I probably wouldn’t even visit other Lifetimes.

Ive worked out with trainers in the past. I work out wit them, get into decent shape, then decide I can do it on my own. A few months later, I get back out of shape and realize I cant do it on my own. Unfortunately, working out with trainers gets pretty expensive.
Since October, Ive been doing the boot camp offered at the New Hope location. The boot camp is with one of the personal trainers but it’s a small group of people. It’s 3 times a week (morning or afternoon times are available) and about $ 13/​hour. It’s a still an extra cost but a small price to pay to get myself in shape. And it’s much more affordable than a personal trainer.
I also love how the staff is so friendly. The majority of them know me by name and the ones that don’t always ask me how to say my first name.

I like it for it being small however when Jan 1 comes around it’s tough to find parking and equipment. I wish they would do a better job of monitoring class capacity — sometimes you rush to get to the gym to not have room in the class you went for.

This Lifetime has the nicest staff. They know your name, are friendly and helpful and are not like their cross town cousins who seem obsessed with selling you everything that’s not nailed down. If you’re interested in walking in, working out, and being treated nicely in the process this is the gym for you.
Located in a strip mall, this location isn’t the nicest, but the staff (especially Allen) is. The parking is crowded and the facilities are out of date. Still, they’re no-​frills and functional.
Be sure to bring your own towel. I do. I have worked out at lots of gyms, and this one has the nastiest towels I have ever seen. The towels this gym dispenses are like the ones you keep in your closet to clean your car with. They’re thin, riddled with holes and rough. If the corporate office can’t improve the physical plant of this always crowded gym, one would hope they’d consider taking the towels up a notch.

Easy to get in an out of. Parking is easy. Only con is that the after work crowd hits and it is impossible to get on a cardio machine :(
Class schedule is a little strange to, seems to cater to housewife’s, however the club is primary working professionals.

A ton easier to get in and out quick compared to the other clubs. It’s smaller, quieter, and doesn’t offer as many amenities as the other clubs but it does the job.

I’m not going to lie, this place is a dump, especially compared to it’s nicer siblings across town. It’s in a strip mall which means it’s only one story, so when on the stair machine you just about bump your head on the ceiling, which for a while was sporting some suspicious water stains (fixed now.) The carpeting is also in need of replacing and I find the fake plants to be terribly odd — like you’re working out in a dentist’s office.
But they have all of the standard equipment, including a pool and two studios and it’s close to work so I go. The people (staff and members) are friendly and unpretentious and if the focus of your workout is just to workout and not to see and/​or be seen, this will get the job done.