Lady of America Fitness Center

This club used to be great when it was under the original owners. Now it is run by middle eastern men that really are not supportive of women. They pay the instructors poorly and classes get changed or canceled regularly. And don’t get me started if you try to cancel your membership. They are so smug about how you have to send in a certified letter to cancel in 30 days. Poorly run and manged from the top of the corporate ladder to the bottom.

It is an all female gym yet there are two males that run the gym and constantly pass the locker room with the door open. The equipment (the little there is) is old. The TVs are old. The area for classes is open so you must have the TV on mute if you workout during the class. There is a big giant pillar in the middle of the small class area which cuts the usable space. I used to listen to internet radio as I worked out but my new cell phone does not get service down there because it’s in the BASEMENT. I have been going there for almost 3 years now because of the convenient location even though the hours were horrible. However, now they will be closing 8:30 M-​Th not to mention hardly any weekend hours. What public membership gym closes at 8:30?

I would not recommend this gym to anyone. They are closed Sundays and all holidays. The can not keep an instructor for their classes. Extremely limited classes.
They don’t answer the phone when you too!

This is the worst ran gym ever! I had a problem exactly like the ones written here. They lie to get you to sign on and tell you everything you want to hear, when you try and cancel you can not. They fill in the spaces after you sign your name, they bill through a third party, and before you know it, your paying for 3 yrs. The only way I was able to get out was because I took the case to fairfax county consumer protection. BBB did nothing to help. The place is a scam, a small pit full of old equipment, with a terrible daycare ran by complete unprofessional people. My son always left with red marks or tears. Stay far away from this place!

I have never had a bad experience while at Lady of America. However, dealing with their corporate headquarters is another story. I am, pregnant and will no longer be using the gym, so I went in person to cancel. I did my three years with them so I was paying from month to month. I was told that I needed to contact National Fitness to cancel… ummm didn’t I open my membership in person? Why should I have to contact these people?
Ok, fine. I call them and what do they tell me? You need to send a letter stating that you would like cancel your membership. That will be your 30 days notice (didn’t know this was a job) and you will be billed for one more month.
FINE. I write the letter and send it. One week later I get a phone call from them. They received my letter but they can not cancel my membership because my letter was not sent via certified mail. NO WHERE IN MY INITIAL PHONE CALL WAS I TOLD TO SEND MY CANCELLATION LETTER VIA CERTIFIED MAIL. I would have distinctively remembered that piece of information. I argued with this woman as to what the god damn difference was between what I sent her and receiving it by certified mail, and she said «We can not cancel a membership without receiving the letter through certified mail»… WHY NOT?! I said «You still got my letter obviously so what is the fucking difference?» She could not tell me why there was a difference she just said I did tell you, but in fact, she did not. All she said was that she couldn’t cancel it. Does that make sense?
They are so eager to take your money but give you the run around when its time to leave. I think they are incompetent. If you would like a clear answer you will not get it. I say steer clear cause if you don’t have problems in the beginning, you will in the end. If you like getting screwed over then join this piece of crap gym. Forty dollars a month is forty dollars a month (you really do get what you pay for). The equipment is old, the space is small, it smells like mold and you WILL have a problem cancelling your account.

Marti and Gemii are correct. Beware contract shenanigans attempting to add charges on after the fact or at the end of the contract.

Listen to Gemmy and Laura — this place is the pits!
Even with regard to the gym alone — the equipment is old and the facility is small. Very small. If you go at peak hours be prepared to wait for cardio machines. Classes fill up quickly.
On to the scams — I signed up in the summer of 2007 because I wanted to work out after graduating from college. They had a free trial pass so I used that to check the place out. The first day I went they put a ton of pressure on me to sign up then and there. I objected a lot but for every objection they had an answer («What if someone else has a better price?» «-We’ll write it into your contract that we’ll match it.» «What if I move?» «-If you move you can cancel.» «I don’t want to deal with cancellation fees.» «-Ok, we’ll write it into your contract that you will never pay a cancellation fee.»)
So after I thought I had covered all of my bases, I somehow agreed to sign up for a 3-​year contract thinking that I could cancel it since I was moving within a few months.
Lo and behold, I moved and tried to cancel shortly after. But I had failed to read the small print that said in order for a move to qualify, I must move 25 miles or further from ANY Lady of America location. As things were, I only moved 21 miles away. Who in their right mind drives 25 miles to go to a gym??? That pissed me off so I called to say I didn’t care, I would just pay the cancellation fee and terminate my contract. However, apparently by writing into my contract that I would never pay a cancellation fee, I WAIVED MY RIGHT to pay a cancellation fee to terminate the contract.
The jerks at LoA were so smugly unhelpful about my problems. The moment you sign your soul/​credit card over to them, they instantly cease to care about pleasing you and laugh in the face of your woes.
I tried EVERYTHING I could think of to get out of it but to no avail. I am still currently paying that miserable cesspool of a gym my monthly membership and will be paying it til 2010. In the end they will have cost me over a thousand dollars as well as a heavy dosage of emotional trauma (I don’t even slightly mean that in jest).
There are many better gyms in the area. I would strongly recommend the YMCA as one of them. There is no way that I can recuperate my losses, so the next best thing is to make sure that LoA fails to screw over any other poor unwitting ladies.
Do your research like I failed to do and look the place up. Google «Lady of America» and «scams» or «rip off» and you will found UNTOLD amounts of stories just like mine. I am not an isolated instance by any means.
If you can’t bring yourself to read my sob story above, here’s the important take away message: DO NOT THROW YOUR MONEY AWAY HERE.

I didn’t have a membership here… BUT I was about to. I called and made an appointment to meet with the OWNER to kind of get the feel of the place; he wanted me to check it out and see if it would work for me before I signed up. At first he was super super nice to me, when we were on the phone, he told me that they currently had a special going on for only $ 29.95 per month, I told him that I am a military wife so I might have to be moving soon. He said it was okay that he would only give me a monthly contract.
Boy was I duped… when I got there, he showed me around; all the gym equipment was OLD, and some of the seats to the machines were ripped and patched with duck tape; he was in a rush to get me to sign up; then he told me it would be a 3 year contract!!!
When I told him I wasn’t interested anymore because what he told me on the phone was not the same as what he told me in person, he started giving me attitudes so I left.
Like the other reviewer said, don’t join this gym unless you wanna stay here FOREVER…

Beware! This place seems nice at first, the owners were very welcoming and it was a friendly environment. However, I joined under the impression that there was no contract because I was planning on staying in the area for less than a year.
When I left Reston to move back to NY I encountered all sorts of headaches in trying to cancel the auto-​payments. Despite the fact that I moved 2 states away, the owners of the Lady of America Reston, their 3^rd party billing service, and even Lady of America HQ don’t seem to really care. First the billing service continues to send me ‘late fees’ and bills weekly to my new NY address. Yet for some reason they will only accept 3 ridiculous proofs of relocation (one-​way plane ticket, new utility bill, newly issued license). This seems reasonable. except a) I drove back to NY b) I moved back with family so no new utility bills c) NY will not re-​issue my license until it’s time to renew — in 2008. To add further insult to injury I find out that somehow I ‘signed a 3-​year contract’ with the gym and yet no one will show me a copy of this supposed contract I signed.
Bottom line. only join this gym if you plan on staying with it for the REST of your LIFE.

A gym for just women? Yes, yes, yes! Now the workout can really begin.
No more being self-​concious about how this sports bra just isn’t cutting it… bounce, baby, bounce. No more primping before the gym to make sure you don’t look like complete shit… let that «natural beauty» shine.
This location is rather small, but I like it that way because it has that more intimate feel. You actually get to know the owners and the trainers and your fellow gym goers… you end up getting great advice when it comes to working out and nutrition, and perhaps even make a few new workout friends.
Treadmills… ellipticals… bikes… weights… resistance training… yoga balls… circuit training… stair master… and a plethora of classes. Shall I name a few? Sure, why not… they’ve got body sculpting, step aerobics, pilates, yoga, kik bo, and my all time favorite class — BELLY DANCING!
I currently pay $ 30/​month, but was cut a deal for $ 10/​month for the first six.
I love everything about this gym, except the fact that their hours aren’t longer and they’re closed on Sundays… really stupid, I know… and I don’t know why they do it.
It’s super clean & super friendly… simply perfect for all you super women out there!