What would you all have to say about your memberships? 130 dollar joining fee no doubt hurts, but after that it’s pretty reasonable. Any insider tips?
All of the clubs (at least that are built new) have SCM pools, which is awesome. My personal favorite distance - a bit longer than SCY, but not as daunting on those days when you’re wrecked as LCM. And the pools are not overly warm. And most places have both indoor and outdoor pools.
Every club I’ve ever used has been great. Wish they had one near me.
Thanks Jordan! I think the one in Centennial is a 50m outdoor pool and a scm pool indoors. Which honestly should be great. It’s a little bit more of a drive but it beats where I have been swimming. 3 lanes, one with a wicked current, that is used more often for water aerobics than for actual swimming.
Couple things i worked or LTF in the past now i am a paying member… As for the joining fees you can easily get the advisors to drop them or lower them siginificantly… I personally find it very worthy. I enjoy the scm pool as well as spin class, run club and i rock climb as a hobby so te rock wall is a great selling point for me as well… The extra classes like personal training swim lesson are really over priced if you ask me… Also they give discounts to the memebrs for their triathlons , i live in chicago so its nice to get couple bucks off that event… The tri community is also pretty big in there…
The club quality varies from location to location. Sound like you are looking at a diamond or onyx club. Those really are quite nice.
Is it worth the money? Who knows. I pay $12 per month and can go to any 24 hour fitness in the world. I pay Lifetime $130 per month and go there all the time. For me both are worth the money.
IN the off chance you are looking at the citicentre location? That is my home pool. Free masters swim workouts if it matters.
Negotiate the join in fees. If you can’t seem to make them budge, walk away and come back another day. It is a great fitness center.
How do you pay 24 $12 a month?
I thought lifetime was only 60 for one person per month?
How do you pay 24 $12 a month?
I thought lifetime was only 60 for one person per month?
Paid 3 years up front with a $12 option fee about 10 years ago. I am not the only one.
All of the clubs (at least that are built new) have SCM pools, which is awesome. My personal favorite distance - a bit longer than SCY, but not as daunting on those days when you’re wrecked as LCM. And the pools are not overly warm. And most places have both indoor and outdoor pools.
Every club I’ve ever used has been great. Wish they had one near me.
X2 I love swimming scm and that they purposely keep the lap pool on the cooler side. It’s always chilly at first but great for lap swimming; I never overheat. The older folks and small women complain about it but they don’t change it. They also have additional indoor lap lanes in the “leisure” pool but these are only like 20yd, if that. I rarely use them but it’s a nice back up on days when it’s really crowded.
The weights / cardio areas are also pretty nice more than enough treadmills; have never had to wait on the rare occasion that I’ve needed to use on when it’s too icy outside.
Will join in with a thumbs up for the Lifetime locations in the Chicago area. The facilities seem to be well maintained and clean. Having the indoor and outdoor pool options is excellent - it has been great getting in the AM swim in outdoor pool. The group class studios are always open so you have a quiet space off the main exercise floor to do core or stretching. If you have or are planning to have kids extending your membership to cover your family is an extra $6/month and comes with 2 hours free child care a day. My wife is an educator and is an absolutely stickler on even the smallest details for child care - the child care at LTF was to her liking. You can definitely find a cheaper facility, but you definitely get what you pay for.
You’ve got everything there to swim, spin, and run on treadmill and plus weights.
I love it and use it extensively.
I’ve belonged for 11 years. Indispensable.
In addition to spin / run, I’ll put in a plug for the LTF yoga program. They’re really, really focused on yoga as a company, and you’ll find the quality of instruction fantastic, along with the posh yoga studios they have in most clubs…
x2 on what everyone else said…negotiate the one-time fees, and that will be easier if it’s during the last week of the month. You can also negotiate for some additional services / credits (e.g., massage, pilates). And as others have shared, the remainder of the services (swim lessons, spa, cafe) are slightly-to-pretty overpriced.
One last tip: if you do join, and you’ve got an interesting story (as a person), share it with the member services department. Each club is allotted one all-expenses-paid trip to Leadman Tri for a member of their choosing. Obviously doesn’t guarantee you’ll get it, but it’s not a bad (and not-well-publicized) benefit.
I’m not racing long anytime soon. Thanks though. I do think however maybe they’d like to send me to Dallas? 
worth a shot.
How would you comment on the quality of the master’s programs.
My 2 cents. For rainy, snowy days outside great for the kids. Rock walls too. Pools are usually clean. However, what annoys me most are the things you are supposed to get. Example, in the summer they run out of towels, sometimes the workout area is a mess because the cleaning crew didn’t show up. For some reason they feel to redo the gym floors every year. They close a locker room without any notification ( but that’s getting better). For those that go in the early am , change then grab a train sometimes frustrating. So, for 100 to 130 it’s good, but it’s like a lot if things these days. You don’t always feel like your getting what you paid for. Perfect example, in May ish they put tvs on all the treadmills. Today I was there and a bunch were already broken. In fact I hadn’t been there for a month, and same ones were broken. Just stuff like that.
Depression today as the outdoor lanes closed as of Monday and back to indoor swimming.
Lots of kids programs and studio classes that make it perfect place for my whole family.
They better not close em in centennial! It’s going to be 80 for the next month probably.
Not worth it for me. I’ve been meaning to quit but haven’t. I’ve been a member for about 7 years. It was worth it when I was lifting a lot of weights but now I really just use the pools. They are always crowded and lot of youth swimming going on. So it’s about 100 bucks a month to pool use that I have to usually wait for. Their facility is really nice though.
I am curious if LTF takes various forms of payment.
Another popular chain near me (similar to Life Time) will only allow membership through EFT (bank routing number). Though the monthly payment is low it is very difficult to get the parasite out of your account if you want to switch to another gym or stop. I had this experience with a different chain many years ago and had to shut down my checking account after I followed the directions of the gym to close my account. Oddly the bank said that I needed a letter from the gym and they could not stop the EFT without the letter so I closed the account. They kept making me jump through more hoops. It took many months of fighting with them before it was settled and they left me alone. Maybe not all are the same, but after that experience I will not do that type of contract again. Lesson learned!
I am at a less popular chain now that accepts various forms, but the one I chose is a low lump sum yearly cash payment. That allows me to quit at anytime I want and since my lump sum payment is less than $400 a year I don’t feel too great of a loss if they happen to close the doors even a few months after payment.
I’m set up on debit card.
I’m not racing long anytime soon. Thanks though. I do think however maybe they’d like to send me to Dallas? worth a shot.
How would you comment on the quality of the master’s programs.
My experience is n=6 - I regularly go to about 6 different LTF’s - and the masters vary in quality, ranging from very slim to OK. Just like all masters’, the quality of the coach-on-deck can vary, you’ll have to find one that suits you. The workouts are solid, but in general, there aren’t too many fast folks. Best thing to do is talk to the member advisor when you visit and ask to drop by during a workout.
One benefit, though, is that they’re pretty flexible on payment for masters swim (it’s extra)…there’s some fee for the month for masters. I explained that I traveled a lot and used different clubs, and they gave the equivalent of a ‘punch pass’ - I could use it when I needed to. I think it worked out to about $4/workout.
Last - I’ve found that most serious swimmers belong their local masters’ instead, as they have the added benefit of being able to compete as part of a team (I don’t think LTF masters competes, at least at any of the clubs I go to), plus they get to hang with similar-speed fish. 