South Loop Review: Gyms & Fitness Clubs: Formula Fitness Club

The first gym/fitness club that I tried out was Formula Fitness Club on 1151 S. State Street. In my eyes, the location is the biggest plus for this club. It is centrally located in the South Loop and is right next to the El (red, green and orange lines). Another great thing is that they have free 2 hour parking.

In terms of amenities, all the equipment looks to be new. There looks to be enough cardio equipment to support rush hours (5-7pm on weekdays), however there were a lot of people using the treadmills. All cardio equipment has individually mounted TVs, which I liiiiiike. The free weight area also had new equipment and wasn’t overly crowded when I went.

In terms of classes, there were two areas (however the club is expanding and said they would have more rooms to accommodate classes). There was also a Pilates studio, but if this is what you’re looking for, I have no idea if it’s a good setup. One disappointing thing about the actual workout floor, was that there wasn’t much room for stretching/abs/etc. There are places, but is seems like an afterthought.

The male locker room was pretty basic (lockers, showers and a steam room), but they do have a free towel service. There is also a spa (with tanning beds) and a small retail and food area.

The price seems a little higher then some of the other places we’re looking at, but as they say, sometimes you have to pay a little more for location (for 2 people it was about $60 per person per month and not including initiation fees).

Some of the things they don’t have that I would like:

• Racquetball Court
• Basketball Court
• Pool, whirlpool and Sauna
• Running track
  

All in all, it’s a nice, new and well kept fitness club, with all the basic amenities that are necessary for general fitness.

Yelp Reviews - Formula Fitness Club - South Loop
South Loop Review: Gyms & Fitness Clubs: Check it

South Loop Review: Gyms & Fitness Clubs

Despite this unusually beautiful November weather we’ve recently had, it’s going to get cold. Winter will be upon us soon and that means people stop going outside and stop being active. Or at least that’s what I do in the winter.

With that said, I’m thinking about joining a gym. So over the next month or so, I’m going to try all public gyms in the South Loop. As of now, I’ve identified 5 gyms:

• Fitness Formula Club - South Loop - website
• Bally’s Total Fitness - River City - website
• LA Fitness - South Loop - website
• X-Sport - South Loop - website
  
• Phenomenal Fitness - website
  

South Loop Review: Gyms & Fitness Clubs: XSport

It’s time to finally add a post about the newest gym in the South Loop, XSport (at 819 S. State Street). This brand spanking new gym opened up last winter and truly is gigantic. It encompasses three floors with the main workout area located on the second.

The first floor is on the street level and the entrance is on State street. On the first floor is a juice bar, computers, retail area and seating. Probably the most noticeable thing when you walk in is the gigantic rock climbing wall that the sales staff claims is the tallest in Illinois.

Downstairs are locker rooms, child care, an entrance to a full basketball court and the base of the rock climbing wall (which goes all the way up to the third floor). There is also a 4 lane lap pool and a cascading hot tub that looked like a grotto to us (however there are usually no attractive women in it).

The second floor is the main workout area and it’s massive. About half the floor is comprised of cardio machines and the other half is weights. It seems like they have every machine you could possibly want and everything is brand new. Every cardio machine has a TV screen that has about 30 channels. The third floor also has two “workout class rooms” and given the gyms size it seems like they should have a couple more. Also included is a spa with tanning, waxing, massages and even a hair salon.

However, all is not perfect as XSport. During the weeknights the gym was packed! There are usually enough machines, but if you have a strict routine you will have to be patient. The weekends are much more low key and usually less crowded. One of our other pet peeves is the amount of useless flat screen TVs on the walls. Although we concede that some our nice, most are useless and just plain stupid (they have pyramids of flat screen TVs mounted on the wall for some reason).

The crowd is probably the most diverse out of all the gyms we went to in the South Loop. There are college students, professionals, parents and retirees off every nationality. The price point at XSport is $35 a month which is relatively cheap for the quality and quantity of amenities you get at this gym. However, this obviously attracts a lot of people and as a result the gym is always crowded during the peak times.

So there it is…a beautiful brand new gym with tons of machines and amenities. However, if you’re sensitive about working out in a crowded place or don’t like busy a busy gym we suggest you stay away, it probably is only going to get busier.

South Loop Review: Gyms & Fitness Clubs: Bally’s Fitness Club

This is part two of our attempt to get a lay of the land for those of us trying to stay fit (or like me become fit) over the winter months.

I recently tried out the Bally's Total Fitness at River City - which is located at 800 S. Wells. My initial problem with this gym is that there is no free parking (besides street parking, which is hard to find). There are two parking lots - the River City Garage which costs $3 for two hours and a parking lot just outside the complex that is $2 for two hours. I don't have a car, but that's a bit of a pain in my mind.

The club is actually rather large and has most desired amenities that one would need: cardio, free weights, machine weights, numerous class rooms, racquetball, squash, pool, sauna and steam room. I'm probably missing a couple things, but the moral of the story is that they have a full fledged fitness club. When I went it wasn't busy and there were plenty open machines (both cardio and weights) to use.

The club looks to be a little dated and doesn't have a some of the bells and whistles that the newer clubs have (ie individual TV's on cardio equipment, towel service, the lockers require your own lock, etc.). However, you get what you pay for and Bally's is considerably less expensive then some of the other gyms.

In terms of price, for two people it was approximately $35-45 per month per person (not including the initiation fee). This also get you access to other Bally's locations throughout the county, which is nice since they have a lot of locations.

I like the price, but the location doesn't work for me (the fact that there isn't free parking is also a problem in my eyes). The El isn't very close and Wells isn't the easiest street to get to. If you live in Printer's Row or north of Roosevelt I would tell you to strongly consider this gym, but if not, don't bother.

Bally's River City - Yelp Review
Sloopin Fitness Club/Gym Review - Check it