LA Fitness

I recently took advantage of a Groupon offer for ten passes to this gym, and used them all up over the six week period.

I've not used a gym in a few years, so have little to use as a comparison but it seems like a pretty well equipped gym. I always found it clean and it was never hugely busy, which as a larger girl was a big advantage for me.

I didn't attend any fitness classes, but had a nosey into the studio which looked clean and spacious.

The 'dry' changing room upstairs for the gym was really spacious and there were hair dryers and straighteners available to use in there too. However the pool changing room downstairs was a little more cramped with no straighteners.

The pool, spa, sauna and steam room were all lovely. It was really nice to follow up a session in the gym with some time in the pool and spa.

The staff all seemed pretty friendly, they just left me to get on with using the facilities (which is what I wanted) but I saw plenty of people chatting to staff and having sessions with personal trainers.

I didn't end up using it myself, but there is an outsourced creche / soft play area to put the kids in while you work out.

So what would I change about the place? Well as mentioned above I think the pool changing room could be better. The TVs dotted around the gym area could be a bit bigger, I found myself squinting to try and see what was going on sometimes. There are also different channels showing on different TVs but you can only hear the audio on one which makes some of it a bit pointless (I've been to gyms years back where you could plug your headphones into a jack on the machine and then choose an audio channel to listen to different TV channels and music streams). It's great to see creche facilities but I'm not sure how convenient the opening hours are as I never saw it open on any of my visits.

Having said all that I really enjoyed my visits over the last few weeks and I'm said that my passes have run out. If my other half didn't have to go back to his evening job at a college in September I'd be tempted to join up, but as he does, I'd only be able to go once a week so really wouldn't be able to justify the cost.

I recently took up a 3 day free membership offer. On day 1 staff were very friendly, they gave me a tour, handed me a padlock for the locker and off I went. Day 2 there was 2 different members of staff on reception - I asked for a padlock, "Oh no, we don't give padlocks out anymore. You will have to buy one for £9". (THAT'S NINE POUNDS - FOR A PADLOCK). Needless to say I didn't buy a £9 padlock, or hang around for a workout. As a potential new member I think the short sighted ways of making cash are staggering - at least wait until a potential new member joins and signs a contract before trying to fleece them for all they're worth.

This massive gym has also had the great money saving idea of closing at 4pm on Saturdays and Sundays - while most gyms are open until 8pm or 9pm on a weekend at the earliest - LA Fitness Yeadon would rather save a few bob. Needless to say I won't be joining the gym, possibly the worst for customer/members relations I have ever been to (and I've been to many!

The gym itself is alright but it does look a bit dated. There are also a few strange design features that could do with being changed. The mens changing room is very small for a gym of this size, also the jacuzzi is actually within the pool (uses the same water) - so basically it is not a hot jacuzzi (a non hot, hot tub) - after a few minutes of sitting in luke warm bubbling water you wonder what you are doing and get out.