Fitness First!

Yes, it’s basic, but it’s perfect. It’s close to home, it always has treadmills and ellipticals available and free weights as well as many weight machines that each have a tv attached. There is also a track upstairs that you do not need to be a member to use. They have lockers and towels and an older but totally functional and clean sauna and whirlpool. The staff is always super nice!
My only complaint is I wish they had extended hours! Later at night and evening hours on the weekend would be awesome!

Fitness First is located inside the Weber Leisure Center, and offers a fully-​equipped community center health club that has treadmills, stair climbers, bikes, strength equipment, elliptical trainers, a sauna/​whirlpool, and even group exercise classes (such as pilates and Zumba). They even have babysitting services, making it convenient for parents. While you can sign up for their membership (fees for in– and out-​of-​district), I am a fan of their indoor track that is totally free and open to the public. When you enter, you just go around and go up the stairs, pass through some of the studios, and then walk/​run on the track. Just keep in mind that lockers are limited, and there are specific days in regards to the track traffic. While the track is only open during the center’s normal operating hours, it’s a great place to walk/​run without the worry of inclement weather. There’s plenty of parking in the big lot as well!
+free indoor track to the public: D
+plenty of parking

If this was review on just the establishment then it would be a complete 5 stars. I love the classes, equipment, locker room, and sauna. I think you get exactly what you pay.
My main issue is the staff and the manager Jenny Bever. There needs to be some sort of training that should be required before she throws them into registering new people. I had an individual membership for about a month before my husband decided to join. Stopped by the front desk and ask how to switch to a couple. The girl couldn’t answer my questions but gave me Ms. Bever number so I could get them answered. After speaking to her I thought everything was fine. Fast forward a couple of days. I show up late in the evening (around 8) to do the switch. The guy had no clue what he was doing. He kept asking another guy for help but he was training a new employee and was totally ignoring him. Most of the questions I had asked Ms. Bever and not told him this and gave him the answers she gave. There’s was only one regarding me giving my card info again which I refused because I figured they had it from last month when I initial joined. Well today I get a rude call from Ms Bever that he and her first sentence is «Hi this is Jenny Bever and I had a message from my employee saying you spoke to me and I’ve never spoken to you.» After reminding her of not only the day I spoke to her but what out conversation was about she apologized but not after to discredit the conversation I had with her employee the previous night. This situation could have been handled a complete different and more professional way if there was more communication between her and her staff.

Okay who here doesn’t like free? Because I sure as heck do, and when I started looking for a place to start training for a run I was elated to find this place so close by and ecstatic to find the indoor track FREE to use for both residents and non-​residents alike.
I have only used the free indoor track, so this review really can really only cover that. They have a coat rack and some lockers where you can store your things. I have never had any issues with leaving my coat or outside shoes there, but if you bring a lock you can use the lockers, just don’t leave it there overnight or they will cut it off.
The track itself is not bad, 11 laps to a mile and it goes around the basketball courts but on the 2^nd level. It can get a bit crowded at times, but hey it’s free and beats running out in the snow or rain. There are runners and walkers of all levels.
To get to the track you have to go upstairs and pass one if the fitness classrooms which I have peeked into before. The music is always bumping and there seem to be a mix of younger and older in the classes.

The facility itself is fine, I suppose. They have a good amount of stuff, and are chill with you doing what you want where you want with the equipment if you’re respectful. The price is reasonable and straightforward — no upcharges or sales pitches. Nothing fancy, but it will get the job done for a workout.
The reason I wanted to review is to pass along a little information so others are forewarned. Their billing is strange, and they are absolutely inflexible with it — they bill at the beginning of the month for the previous month, regardless of when you join. So, say you join on the last day of August. A couple of days later you will be billed for August in full. They don’t really explain this when you join, so my advice is, if you want to sign up, do it at the beginning of the month.

Great service, decent machines and facilities. Indoor track, sauna, jacuzzi but no pool.

I’ve been a member here on and off and I’ve had the luxury of being able to work out here during the day when it’s never been crowded. I played basketball here a lot when I was younger but after I got older and the level of play seemed to decline, I stopped playing here and only came here to exercise. The gym just got too crowded and it seemed too often that it would be closed down or in use for whatever reason. Nice gym though and nice workout room. Reasonably priced membership as well.

The main problem with Fitness First is that when the Weber Center was built in the 90s, the fitness area was made WAY WAY WAY too small. Just 5 years later the facility was renovated and expanded, and is still too small to meet demand. Just because Fitness First’s standards for cleanliness and amenities are far above Ballys/​LA Fitness doesn’t earn Fitness First 4 or 5 stars. There is no swimming pool, and there is also a constant shortage of cardio equipment during peak hours. Fitness First deals with this situation by having a sign up sheet on each piece of equipment, and imposing a strict 30 minute limit. The only way to extend the workout is to get off the equipment and sign up for another 30 minutes, or find another machine that is available. Very awkward for those who like a long workout on a single machine, without really making access to equipment any easier during peak hours. Many of the strength machines are from when Fitness First opened, and are showing their age.

Great facility! It is a basic workout center with no frills that other way more expensive gyms have. The staff is awesome and super nice, and it’s kind of an experience where you feel like you’re in a home-​type environment. Easy to make friends with either staff or other people working out. Great place to go! Always clean, I’ve never seen «POO» in the hot tub. I’ve always seen a cleaning lady in the women’s locker room, either in the AM or the PM… there is always one there. I love it!

Like a previous Unilocaler said, I’m a Skokie resident who began my quest for a new gym after LA Fitness took over Bally’s. (They wouldn’t honor my Lifetime membership!) My daughter and I are already active with other offerings of our park district, so this made sense to also go on our house account. It’s close to home, decent hours, and everyone is very nice and accommodating. I love that it has members of all ages, and doesn’t feel like a meat market. (That’s the total vibe I got at Lifetime Fitness, which totally turned me off.)
The pros for me:
1) Free towel and lock as a lot of people have mentioned
2) A variety of classes, even though the hours are hit or miss for me
3) A lot of machines, with individual TV screens, which is much better than Bally’s was!
4) The kids room… even though at Bally’s it was free; you can have an account or punch card there too and not have to pay every time
5) A nice track for walking or jogging
And my all time favorite: A jacuzzi and sauna which look like they’re barely ever used. I can definitely see solitude there, in the near future.
I don’t use public showers, but I can honestly say I see a cleaning lady in the locker room almost every time I’m there, which I like.
The only con I’d say is the lack of a pool, but there is one at Devonshire (an outdoor one) a few minutes away, which is also part of the park district.
Overall it’s a very nice gym that suits my purpose, and I’m very happy there.

I almost don’t want to write a review because then more people will join :) I am so selfish.
We moved to Skokie 2 years ago, but already had Bally’s memberships. We stopped those when LA Fitness took them over and needed to find a new gym. There are some big fancy places in Skokie, but Unilocalers kept talking about how they were crowded and pretentious (definitely not my style).
I went and took a look at Fitness First in the Skokie Leisure Center and immediately signed up. The price is great for residents and the accommodations are perfect. So here’s my take:
1. I love that the aerobic machines all have tvs attached. I never experienced this with Bally’s, and since I don’t have cable at home — that’s almost motivation to go work out. Mob Wives Chicago while I elliptical? Yes, please.
2. The exercise classes are hit or miss. When they’re being taught by women in their 60s they can either be too slow or too 1980s Jane Fonda technical. I hate griping because some of them are really great, but I was used to having instructors in their 20s with bodies that I could never achieve… but that I still could aspire to. In many ways it’s nice to have more normal people teaching the classes… but I think I might get a better work out from a video. It’s also a little odd that to get to the classes you go through door in the gym, but you can’t get back to the gym through the same door and have to go the long way around.
3. I’ve never been here during peak hours, but I hear it gets pretty busy (I’ll find out when school is back in session). During non-​peak hours everything is available.
4. The people who work here are ALL very nice.
5. I love love love love love love that they give me a key to a locker and a towel when I go to work out. No more having to remember a combo lock! Hooray!
6. They have an indoor track, but because it’s a community establishment you have to share it with anyone using it and sometimes that’s rough when groups aren’t paying attention to lanes (runners cannot just bust through a pack) or there are other community groups together on it.
Overall, I’m very pleased with this place and wouldn’t change to a new place even with the minor flaws.

Nice indoor track open to the public. Locker room too. Banked turns help a lot, but watch out for the walkers. They don’t understand what the «No Walking» signs mean for the running lane.

Fitness First/​Weber as everyone refers to it is great. Yes it’s no frills. You have to keep that in mind. The fact that they give you a locker (that locks with a key) and a towel is more than some other «no frills» gyms. The staff has always been friendly to me.
Biggest con: the weight area gets crowded really fast. It’s pretty small, so if there’s more than five people over there (I’m being generous), things can get pretty claustrophobic. In my experience, ellipticals get taken up pretty quickly and then during peak hours it may be difficult to get a treadmill. Other minor con: some of the treadmills are pretty old. They’ve switched some out with newer ones, but I got on one once and was pretty convinced it couldnt go faster than 8 mph. Despite these cons, the gym really doesn’t get very crowded and you get what you pay for/​even a little more.
Not quite sure when peak morning hours are, but I try to avoid the gym from 5 – 7 on weeknights. I’ve stopped going here regularly, but I also wanted to note that the gym seemed more populated Monday through Wednesday. It would taper off Thursday and on Fridays there were very few people. On weekends it’s also pretty dead. I can’t speak on the hot tub/​showers because I don’t use them.

This place is pretty great for the price. It’s only 50 dollars a month for resident or non-​resident which is unique in the area. It has good machines, and its never been that crowded when I go — but I don’t go in the early morning or just after work either. The people are nice at the desk and the jacuzzi works and seems fine. It is a fully-​featured facility and though it is certainly «no frills» it’s just right for someone who’s not interested in being part of a scene. It reminds me a little of the McGaw Y but with a much better locker room. I kinda hate to recommend it — it’s my little secret but I want it to stay up to par!

APPALLING!
I’d joined this gym because it was reasonable and had a nice hot tub (I THOUGHT) and sauna, plus its almost never crowded. The ‘no frill’s’ décor and community sets it far apart from the glitzier/​more expensive/​more social Evanston gyms around. I’d had a good experience so far… but
One day last week after nearly a year of adequate membership I get to the hot tub after a yoga class to find POO, yes FLOATING POO in the hot tub. I went to the front desk and their response was this «Oh that happens. I guess I should expect it by now. We find all kinds of stuff in there»! and she laughed. I waited, expecting some sort of alert or sign to be put up or at the very least the hot tub to be drained and cleaned. Nope. She came back, stared at me and said «Well I told the cleaner person. She’ll pick it out».
PICK IT OUT?
I am so outta there. So be warned; whatever is floating or lurking in their equipment is far from sanitary.

The reason I love this place is that I’m not committed
enough to pick up a full gym membership at someplace like X –Sport
when I know full well that I’m too busy at least several months out of
the year to even consider working out anywhere other than home. So, if
I have a month I know is going to be really chilled out and I want to
hit the gym, this place is easily accessible (minus parking is an
ass), they have a free running/​walking track indoors, and a
considerably cheap gym membership which you can pay for month by month and cancel anytime. They also offer exercise classes too but since I’m not versed in those I don’t want to praise or downsize them.
Unfortunately if you work late or you’re a night owl this isn’t the
gym for you. They close at 10 during the week which isn’t bad, but
close at 8 on the weekend. If you have kids there is a babysitting
center for them so you can get some work out time in. Surprisingly
they even have basketball courts. From outside it doesn’t look like a
big area but when you explore it you may find it’s a lot more advanced
of a gym than you were expecting for «some park district thing». The
staff is friendly, younger. As a Skokie resident you have a lower fee
whether you have a yearly membership, a 6 month membership, 3
month…1 month… OR DAILY PASS for $ 10. If you ask me that’s really
awesome for the people who have hectic lives and no time, or who can’t
make up their minds! They also have different rates if you’re a
senior, a younger person, an individual or coming in as couples! Check
it out.

I’ve been coming to this place, on and off, for several years.
Each station has its own tv. Elipticals and treadmills have a 30 minute limit. You can, however, get off and there’s no one after you, put your name down again.
99% of classes are included in your monthly/​annual fee. For a resident, the fees are $ 29/​month for 12 months. If you choose to pay monthly, I think it’s $ 50 for resident/​non-​resident.
You get lockers, showers, all the regular amenities. You also get a use of a (fitness) trainer. First meeting is free.
I like this place because no one goes there to show off. People go there, do their workout, and leave. Nothing is expected. You aren’t pressured to buy anything, there’s really nothing to buy.
I’d definitely choose this place over Bally’s or Lifetime.
The reason for 4 stars, not 5 is because their hours They close at 10 Sunday-​Thursday. And at 7 or 8 on Friday and Saturdays. I wish they stayed open.later.