Preface by saying: I am somewhat biased, as I work for Life Time with the Endurance/Training division. In fact, I am the race director for my club's upcoming Jan 4th Indoor Tri (6th time).

But Life Time is not like other "gyms". Visit one and you will see. The clubs are beautiful, strategically-placed, well-equipped, and have professionally trained staff. Life Time will never be a proliferate club like the other big boxes, it has always targeted a specific segment of the population that (as our CEO says) "gets it". You will not see LTFs on every street corner, nor see us mark down memberships to $19 in January to pack the club -- it's not in our business model. Yet we still average 15,000+ members per club nationally. Must be doing something right.

Life Time is a successful billion dollar publicly traded corporation (over 20 yrs in business) that has an excellent reputation in this industry. Bally's and Gold's shouldn't even be included in the same conversation.

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"Whether you believe you can or you can't, you are right."

They are actually really nice gyms (most of them anyways) that are located in MN. But, you have to pay a premium though for it but several locations are 24 hours, have nice facilities with newer equipment (these upgrades almost bankrupted the owners for all those remodels and new equipment). They offer towels and other stuff most other gyms don't included in the dues. I used to be a member with Lifetime but couldn't justify the prices (I was paying $60/mth for myself for a Gold level pass...highest was Onyx which was $110-120/mth for 1 person). But, their gyms are very crowded as the locations they are in don't have any competition very close by (like say within a 5 mile radius) combine that with the high prices is why I left to LA Fitness for $30/month. They have raised their rates a couple of times since I was a member too, which is most likely in response to the losses they took upgrading their facilities in the Twin Cities metro area.

Plus, Bally's and Gold's are out of business (at least in MN) with LAF taking over Bally's and some of the Gold's bought out and converted to Lifetime gyms (they were hit with just old facilities and equipment with many legacy members only paying $5/month dues...some of my friends were members for years despite never setting foot in one for years and it was hard to cancel the membership when it was practically being given away). The rest of the old Gold's locations in MN were taken over by an "Xperience" or was it "Experience" fitness which has dirt cheap prices (something like $10-20/month dues with a pool but no fitness classes included....but those locations nearset to me are in more sketchy areas so my safety isn't worth saving a few bucks a month).

Sorry, I wasn't too clear. I wasn't comparing Life Time to other gyms, I was comparing gyms in general to the Ironman brand.

To a certain extent, your gym membership options are limited by your location. I'm in Pennsylvania and I had never heard of Life Time other than the triathlons. There are no Life Time facilities in Pennsylvania. If you live in a location where there are Bally's but no Life Time, you will be joining Bally's. Obviously that is different if you live in a large city with multiple national gyms.

OTOH, you go into any Walmart in any small town in America and you can find Ironman watches. You cannot find Life Time (or any other named gym) branded tie-ins with that market penetration (with the small exception of fitness equipment).

The Lifetime triathlon that I participated in was a disappointment.

"Swimmers" were allowed to walk as much as they wanted. Need I say more.

Cycling favored those with a high cadence rate. Enough said.

Finally, on the treadmill, "runners" could use the rails to support their weight while running.

Lifetime does look good, especially for families. Better pool arrangement. The spin bikes are so-so.

LA Fitness is OK and usually has the superior spin bike, Keiser, IMO. YMCA and universities also have workable facilities for indoor training.

Ironman seems to co-brand with anyone that doesn't have negatives. I wonder how much revenue they receive from co-branding.

I would not seek out a Lifetime triathlon if you're bothered by someone beating you who walks their swim, spins like crazy on the bike and then lifts themselves up on the rails to run ten mile per hour for twenty minutes. If you question it, you're told to run your own race.

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Indoor Triathlete - I thought I was right, until I realized I was wrong.

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience at a LTF Indoor Tri.

The Indoor Tri was designed for everyone interested in SBR, and traditionally has been a great test for newer participants in triathlon, which is the reason walking is allowed in the swim. Walking on the bottom is allowed in outdoor tri swims, too, so this isn't inconsistent with outdoor races.

Indeed the cycles were a problem for clubs that had not been upgraded to the new bikes with power monitors and full consoles. The new bikes are far more effective for creating a more fair indoor cycling experience, and LTF is gradually phasing out all the old bikes in the clubs. As we average 60+ spin bikes for each club, this is not a quick fix.

As far as the run, there is no current rules restriction on participants supporting themselves on the rails, I expect it will be addressed soon. There are obvious safety reasons for allowing participants to hold the rails, but it can certainly be an advantage for some. As race director for our tri, I do not allow what you describe.

In the end, the LTF Indoor Tri was designed to be a fun, low-stress event for anyone seeking to test their fitness in a safe environment. There aren't any awards given out, so it's not like you're really losing anything if somebody else has an advantage over you. Even with the WC slots, these are not based on performance, but chance. Everyone has an equal opportunity to win a slot.

BTW I have had many athletes start with the IT and "graduate" to outdoor races, including IM. So if it's not your cup of tea, I understand, but not everyone is ready, willing or able to SBR outside.

Cheers.

If

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"Whether you believe you can or you can't, you are right."