Cheetah Gym

I've been a member of Cheetah for several years and enjoy going (when I can force myself into leggings). The trainers are knowledgeable and there's plenty of equipment. The yoga and Werq classes are fantastic. Their hours accommodate early birds and night owls alike. The part that gets frustrating is that there are lots of classes, but many of them cost extra (sometimes up to 25$) on top of what is already a not particularly cheap monthly payment. There are cheaper gyms around, but Cheetah is so welcoming and such a good community neighbor that I do love being a member. However, not being able to take strength training or pilates or boot camp or whatever because I don't have an extra $$$ in my budget makes annual renewal a much more difficult choice than it should be. Still, the staff are lovely and it's a nice place to workout.

The free weights, strength machines, and cardio machines are all adequate but the locker room facilities are sub par. The towels are smelly and the soap in the showers is really cheap, plus they have disgusting shower curtains. Location is excellent (1 block from my home)

I'm incredibly pleased to have this as my neighborhood gym. There's plenty of options for machines and equipment to use. I've been looking for better structure for my workouts and got a personal trainer from Cheetah. It took a little time to find the trainer that was right for me, but along the way, staff has been incredibly accommodating to my needs. I am much more confident about my fitness journey since starting here and my current trainer has been great about improving my form and addressing questions/concerns. Thank you Angie and Josh!

I toured Cheetah recently being new to Chicago looking for a gym that checks all my boxes (which Cheetah does). However, the person that conducted my tour didn't make me feel welcome at all. As a person of color this was disheartening because I was so hopeful for this place given the area it's in. Towards the end of my tour I asked some questions about rates, and when they responded it felt like they were intentionally telling me that I wouldn't qualify, instead of just letting me know what the qualifications are or how I could learn more about specifics. I was debating writing this, but I thought it would be something important to call out for both the business and potential members.

I gotta be honest. I really wanted to like this gym. They have a really cool interior and local neighborhood vibes. The trainers are friendly and the space is big. But there are a few reasons I left once my 1-year contract was up. I came here wanting to take classes. I previously worked out at FFC, and would have stayed there forever for their stellar classes and instructors if I had not moved too far away from any of their facilities. I was hoping Cheetah could offer comparable class options. Unfortunately, there were not enough class options for my schedule and I was disappointed by all the classes I took except the Wednesday night cycling with Kathy. I didn’t feel I got a good workout at any of the other spin classes nor the few conditioning/hiit-type classes I took. The only yoga instructor available for evening classes made the class (which was supposed to be for all skill levels) way too advanced, with students doing headstands for most of the class and me sitting in child’s pose most of the time because *shocker* I can’t do a headstand. This particular instructor would come over and touch my body to adjust me without asking, which I hated, and when I asked her to stop touching me, she ignored me. Red flag. Aside from those issues, the locker rooms often smelled like sewage and it was frequently way too hot in the summer months. To cap off my experience, my annual contract ended July 31. I emailed the gym to terminate my membership and they informed me I would be charged for August because they had sent me an email warning me my membership was up 2 weeks ago. I never received this supposed email. Not only that, they charged me $99 for August when my previous bills were $75 per month, because they considered my roll over into August to be at the monthly rate. The whole process was not transparent and clearly set up to squeeze more money out of me when I was not satisfied with the product. When I emailed to ask for some help with this I was met with immediate and strong rejection, almost as if they had dealt with this before. Hmmm… I am disappointed that this process ended up being as impersonal as you would expect from a big corporate chain gym. Not the friendly customer service I hoped for.