LA Fitness

LA Fitness in Markham, Ontario, Canada

LA Fitness was founded in 1984 by founder Chinyol Yi and Louis Welch in Los Angeles, California.[1] Through the mid-1990s, the company expanded by acquiring under-performing fitness clubs in southern California, and by developing, opening and operating newly constructed properties.

In 2007, the company expanded outside of the United States by acquiring six fitness clubs in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, the company acquired ten locations in Phoenix from Pure Fitness Arizona.[2] Within a year, all but one of the former Pure Fitness clubs were closed.

In the 2009 Collier Township shooting, also referred to as the LA Fitness shooting because it took place in an LA Fitness health club in Collier Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, four people were killed.[3]

On November 30, 2011, the company completed the acquisition of 171 clubs, for $153M, from Bally Total Fitness. LA Fitness then began closing some former Bally Fitness clubs near existing LA Fitness facilities and remodeling others.[4][5]

On July 2, 2012, the company completed the acquisition of all 33 Lifestyle Family Fitness Clubs in Florida.[6] According to Lifestyle CEO, Stuart Lasher, "we evaluated our option to remain an independent company or to sell to a larger organization. After careful consideration, the board of directors has made the decision to sell all the Lifestyle Family Fitness clubs in Florida to LA Fitness."

On December 23, 2013, LA Fitness announced the acquisition of The Buffalo and Rochester Athletic Clubs in western New York.[7]

On December 30, 2013, they completed the acquisition of all 10 Vision Quest Sport and Fitness clubs in the greater Seattle area.[8]

Starting in 2018, LA Fitness offers high-intensity interval training classes at certain renovated clubs for a separate fee, incorporating heart rate monitors by Myzone.[9]

In early 2020, LA Fitness launched their new downmarket Esporta Fitness brand (intended to compete with high-volume, low-price gyms like Planet Fitness), and rebranded several former LA Fitness locations as Esporta Fitness, mostly based on the East coast.[10]

As of 2023, LA Fitness operates locations in twenty-three US states (Arizona, Delaware, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Washington) and two Canadian provinces (Alberta and Ontario).[11]

In addition to the above states, LA Fitness operates Esporta Fitness locations in Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Tennessee and Ohio.[12]

LA Fitness, the prominent American gym chain with over 550 clubs across the United States and Canada, offers a straightforward approach to membership cancellation. Notably, LA Fitness does not charge a cancellation fee for its members.

However, while it is possible to sign up and pay online, it is impossible to cancel online or via phone. Cancellation process requires members to manually print out a cancellation form and sending it via mail.

Furthermore, while there is no cash refund provided upon cancellation, members have the benefit of continuing to access the gym facilities until the expiration of their membership. [13]

• PureGym, which bought all LA Fitness-branded gyms in the United Kingdom in 2015

Wikimedia Commons has media related to LA Fitness.

• Official website