South Loop Review: Gyms & Fitness Clubs: XSport

It’s time to finally add a post about the newest gym in the South Loop, XSport (at 819 S. State Street). This brand spanking new gym opened up last winter and truly is gigantic. It encompasses three floors with the main workout area located on the second.

The first floor is on the street level and the entrance is on State street. On the first floor is a juice bar, computers, retail area and seating. Probably the most noticeable thing when you walk in is the gigantic rock climbing wall that the sales staff claims is the tallest in Illinois.

Downstairs are locker rooms, child care, an entrance to a full basketball court and the base of the rock climbing wall (which goes all the way up to the third floor). There is also a 4 lane lap pool and a cascading hot tub that looked like a grotto to us (however there are usually no attractive women in it).

The second floor is the main workout area and it’s massive. About half the floor is comprised of cardio machines and the other half is weights. It seems like they have every machine you could possibly want and everything is brand new. Every cardio machine has a TV screen that has about 30 channels. The third floor also has two “workout class rooms” and given the gyms size it seems like they should have a couple more. Also included is a spa with tanning, waxing, massages and even a hair salon.

However, all is not perfect as XSport. During the weeknights the gym was packed! There are usually enough machines, but if you have a strict routine you will have to be patient. The weekends are much more low key and usually less crowded. One of our other pet peeves is the amount of useless flat screen TVs on the walls. Although we concede that some our nice, most are useless and just plain stupid (they have pyramids of flat screen TVs mounted on the wall for some reason).

The crowd is probably the most diverse out of all the gyms we went to in the South Loop. There are college students, professionals, parents and retirees off every nationality. The price point at XSport is $35 a month which is relatively cheap for the quality and quantity of amenities you get at this gym. However, this obviously attracts a lot of people and as a result the gym is always crowded during the peak times.

So there it is…a beautiful brand new gym with tons of machines and amenities. However, if you’re sensitive about working out in a crowded place or don’t like busy a busy gym we suggest you stay away, it probably is only going to get busier.