Lucille Roberts: Better Off Co-Ed! RipOff...Of Course! the business that doesnt give a dam Brooklyn New York

Where can I start when it comes to Lucille Roberts? The company has a near-stranglehold on women-only gyms in the NYC region; and if you're a woman who doesn't want to be part of the "meat market" that most meatheads at co-ed gyms graze in, or you're looking for a non-intimidating atmosphere in the company of other women who are there to work out and not be harrassed, ogled, discussed, etc.

THEN YOU'RE SCREWED!

What is up with Lucille Roberts? I'm cancelling my membership ASAP, because for a all-women's facility, it is the most disgusting, foul, decrepit, unsanitary gym I've ever been to!

Where do I even start? Should I start at the front door--where all the instructors and gym managers are sitting behind the counter, inattentive to anyone who isn't a close personal friend or fully-paid-up member, whose main jobs seem to be hawking Lucille Roberts' products and making "urgent" membership renewal announcements?

Should I start with the sign-up lists that no one pays attention to--but which you have to use because there aren't nearly HALF as many treadmills, elliptical trainers, weight stations, etc. as there are members who want to use them? Should I start with the fact that the gym is constantly "in a state of repair" -- the steps leading to the second level have been marked for "renovation" for the entire month I've been there?

That no matter when you go to the gym, out of two pieces of equipment, at least one will be broken and therefore limit the already-limited supply of exercise equipment even more? That what equipment is in use must've been new back in 1980? That equipment is strewn about the facility, and it doesn't seem to occur to the staff that it's their job to put things back when members are too lazy to do so?

That's there ONE aerobics studio (in the gyms that even bother to separate them from the main workout floor) that holds one instructor, 60 participants, and the instructor runs through the exercises so fast that people start walking out because they can neither hear nor follow along with LR's "crack-addict's aerobics" structure? That is, if the classes even start and end on time. Because woe unto you if you don't leave the class and get on the treadmill or trainer when you're supposed to...It'll be another 2 hours before you can use them!

I'll keep going, 'cause it gets better... In the month I've been at the facility, there have been at least 8 thefts--an average of two per week. Not that members stupid enough to leave their valuables in an unlocked locker aren't to blame...but as (over)crowded as that gym is, you'd think that would cut down on thieves' activities.

When you're not worrying about someone stealing everything you have, or about equipment breaking down on you, or about tripping over barbells all over the floor, or how to drown out the nearly-incessant "in-store advertisements", this gym -- again, WOMEN ONLY -- leaves the three exits not watched by the already inattentive staff open. I mean, open. The doors are propped open, which would allow anyone (male/female) to walk in from the street into this gym. But hell, why worry about someone from the outside making things possibly dangerous, when you can worry about the WHOLLY UNSANITARY CONDITIONS INSIDE THE GYM.

The bathroom/shower stalls must get cleaned ONCE a week--which, in a gym open seven days a week, seems rather ... *sigh*. Thus, if you've avoided tripping over the barbells, blocked out the "ads", managed to get one of 11 computerized treadmills in a gym that normally sees 200 women a day, or one of 4 elliptical trainers, not been ripped off while working out, and no one's come through the open exits to kill you, you are then free to catch whatever communicable disease might spread due to the place being absolutely, disgustingly filthy (which, unfortunately, I did... and the reason why I can't work out for the next 3 days).

Between the sauna and the bathroom stall toilet seats, you won't know what the hell you're sitting on, even if you wipe the seats down. And don't EVER forget flip-flops or some other protective shoe--there's no telling what liquid you'll find on the bathroom floors (I mean that). The bathrooms smell before you even get near a stall! And the shower floors are so slippery that you can't wear shoes--thus exposing your feet to things you'd find only in a contagion lab.

In fact, don't bother showering until you get home; just bring a deodorant stick and fresh shirt, and good luck. And sauna? WHAT SAUNA? The room where everyone dries their clothing? The sauna holds two people, tops--you'd have a better chance taking a really hot shower in a closed up bathroom for a relaxing sweat.

I've never experienced such a downright filthy workout facility like this; and I've never experienced such a culture of "crampedness" where you have to take turns just to work out at a d**n circuit training station--or, just to use the floor in front of the bench mirrors. And where, when you're not fighting with other gym members for the right to use even the crappy manual treadmills, you can't even enjoy the other "amenities" of the "health sauna" because the smells of the spaces tell you right away that it's utterly horrid.

How can Lucille Roberts be this bloody bad and yet be "for women"? Lucille Roberts is obviously for herself, and thank God NYC offers so many alternatives to this lousy gym (even if they're mostly co-ed) that I have no qualms giving up on a supposedly "woman-friendly" product. I thought I was being too harsh...until I visited three other LR sites in Brooklyn and realized that "shabby-chic" is very much in at these sites. It shouldn't cost a fortune to go a facility that promises you good health, nutrition guides and other well-body things--yet Lucille Roberts proves that, once again (and sadly so) you get what you pay for.

P
Brooklyn, New York
U.S.A.

Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Lucille Roberts Fitness