Ray Meyer Fitness and Recreation Center

This review comes a few years after I graduated from DePaul, but I recently went back with a friend who still attends. I have always loved the gym. There is a ton of space, so you don’t feel like you are packed in like a sardine. Even though the equipment may be close together, being able to look outside and having a decent sized walkway between the rows of machine, don’t make it feel that way. There are a bunch of ellipticals, treadmills, and tons of room if you want to do free weights. They also have a huge basketball court that you can use if no teams are practicing. They even have a smoothie bar that may be expensive, but tasty. I also enjoyed all of their classes when I attended such as cardio kickbox. Recently, I went to their Zumba class and the instructor was tons of fun and very energetic. I miss going to DePaul and heading to the Ray Meyer Center on break. It was always tons of fun… and we are talking about exercise here so that is really saying something.

Well having checked in now about 75 times, I think I can finally write a 5-​star review for the Ray Meyer! I started going to the Ray 5 months ago on the recommendation of a colleague and I have not been disappointed.
The staff at the front desk are very friendly — and with your membership you get a free locker and towel. The locker rooms are in good condition and the showers are well kept and gives you plenty of room. The pool is really nice — and there are quite a few classes you can join.
I use their personal training services with Kizzie Mailander and she has truly changed my life! She’s a great trainer, but she is funny, direct and pushes you in the most positive way. I couldn’t recommend her enough.
The most important thing about the Ray is that they have a great selection of equipment and the place is kept in great shape. My membership may cost more than some of the chain gyms — but I feel it’s a great value for the money.
Highly recommended!

I have been a community member of the ray for a couple years now and have really enjoyed it!
Pros: Really clean and nice facility, helpful Staff, free classes and lockers, and indoor running track. Especially if you live in the area this is one of the nicest gyms around.
Cons: The only con is on the weekends and in the summer this gym has a TON of little kids. I love kids but If you are training or trying to get a serious workout in screaming kids throwing things at you can hinder it. To the Rays credit children are supposed to be supervised but that isn’t always the case in reality.
Overall the amenities more than make up for this, but if you are looking for a more serious adult centric training gym this might not be it.

I joined the DePaul gym purely because it was 2 blocks from my new apartment-​best decision I made all year.
It is a cleanly gym with great equipment and classes. Gets kind of busy at the start of the semesters when all the college kiddies are trying to get in shape, but other than that it’s usually not TOO packed.
Tip: if you are a community member, you can get the discounted «Blue» membership for $ 68 which gives you access to the facilities between 8 – 3 and 9 – 11 Monday thru Thursday, and all hours Friday thru Sunday. Pretty good deal if you are a non prime hour worker-​outer like me.

This is a nice facility with a lot to offer.
It has a small coffee shop, workout areas, bikes, track, basketball courts, probably everything you would need to be active. I was here for a dodgeball tournament on the third floor. They have four basketball courts with a track around the upper outer edge. I believe I also saw some treadmills, workout machines, and even a treadmill like rock climbing wall.
The DePaul student staff treated us well and the facilities were nice and clean.

Really nice gym with fun classes. The staff are mainly students, which can sometimes be a bad thing (they get distracted, don’t really care about their job, etc.). I recently signed up for a personal trainer and had to pay for the first time up front, which I was fine with. They said a personal trainer would call me within a week, but that never happened, which is why I’m giving the gym only 4 stars. I’m going to call tomorrow to see what’s the hold up and I’ll update my review after that session.

I knew about this gym the entire time I attended DePaul, and finally joined as an Alum. My loss, but I am quickly making up for lost time. Gave up my swank down town gym membership, and feel like I’ve lost nothing in the exchange, except the very hefty expense.
The pool is great, lanes spacious, plenty of swim classes for all ages and skill levels, and there is actually a lifeguard on duty — something that did NOT happen at the clubs I’ve paid 4x as much for. (Would love to understand the liability loopholes that make that possible.) Have taken a Boot camp class, it was fantastic, and expect to make good use of the indoor track in inclement weather, and perhaps personal training and some of the other paid instructional classes, all of which are also reasonably priced.
Locker rooms are clean, you can rent a permanent locker inexpensively, and I like the general vibe here, which is a mix of college students, alum, staff, and neighborhood folk. They also have programs for kids, a very nice touch.
Thank you DePaul, for making this available to us!

Clean, affordable, spacious and rarely very busy, this is a convenient gym right off the red and brown lines. The staff and clientele are friendly — the crowd at this gym is more respectful than most and there’s a low meathead count. They updated their machines a year or two ago and everything is still in pretty good condition. The stadium style track upstairs is great for long distance training when it’s miserable outside. My one complaint is that they don’t provide a yearly allotment of free visitor passes that let me invite an out-​of-​town guest inside for a game of racquetball or basketball.

I’ve been a member of this gym since fall 2009. As a student, I pay about $ 86/​for 4 months. You won’t find a gym (especially in Lincoln Park) with excellent group fitness classes (e.g., Muscle Work, Zumba, Boxing, Yoga, Pilates, Spinning, Tabata, and even a pool workout class) that is this affordable.
I’ve never been a fan of the machines but that’s because I’m a little lazy and prefer a group workout setting where the instructor tells me what to do. For free classes that feel like a personal training session, it’s worth the entire membership fee in itself.
The treadmills and ellipticals all have TVs with cable and radio stations. The gym itself consists of 3 levels with the locker rooms, pool and racketball on the first floor (even Foosball and ping-​pong if you don’t want to break a sweat), the work out machines, group fitness class and spinning on second floor, and 3 basketball courts, indoor track, more cardio machines and a boxing/​fitness room on the the third.
I have never eaten at the juice bar because eating at the gym is not my cup of tea but it smells pretty damn good when I’m walking in and out. Like any gym (and especially in the winter), it’s pretty packed during the «rush hour» times but you can try to avoid that if it bugs you that much. Parking is a little crappy and you will get a parking ticket if your meter runs out. For that reason, I try to walk or bike to the gym because I’m forgetful.
Even when I graduate from DePaul, I plan to lock in the alumni rate because the workouts I’ve done have really helped me get in the best shape of my life. Thanks, Ray!

I love this gym as a grad student at DePaul. It’s only $ 82 for 4 months, for a poor grad student that’s a deal compared to most gyms. I’ve learned the afternoons are jam packed so I go in for early morning workouts. The weekends are pretty quiet too. Plenty of cardio equipment, could have a bigger weight area. But the indoor track, basketball courts and swimming pool make up for that all.

I’ve been a member of the Ray since I was an undergraduate at DePaul, starting in 2003. After graduating from college, I looked into a few other gyms in my area, but the Ray was really the best gym I could find, in terms of amenities and price ($ 44/​month for alumni). Not only does the Ray have a great pool and indoor track, but they also have a wide variety of equipment, weights, and group fitness classes (free for members) that keep me from getting bored, especially in the winters when I can’t run outside. Both the student and full-​time staff are friendly and helpful, and I really appreciate the fact that they limit the enrollment of new members and guests during the winter months when the gym is particularly packed. As long as I continue to live in the area, I can’t see myself joining another gym.

I have been a member of this gym on and off for about 10 years — since college. I finally cancelled the membership. I worked out here because it is close to my house and it is cheap.
Positives: big pool, many basketball courts, indoor track, place is pretty much empty unless it is 4 – 10 pm.
Negatives: machines are shaky, sticky, and handles are worn out on a lot of them. If you are using free weights, you can find then on the bars or on the floor — nobody takes their weights off after finishing an exercise. Overall vibe of the gym is crappy. I think they updated about 5 machines in the last decade.
Bottom line: if you are a student, enjoy your gym. If you live in the area, go somewhere else.

I love working out at the Ray. The pool is clean and very bright for being an indoor pool. Indoor pools can be dark and dingy at times, but the pool at the Ray is the exact opposite. I love all of their group classes and the price for renting a locker for the quarter is very reasonable ($ 33 per quarter). It’s nice to be able to keep some things there and workout before going to classes. I also love the towel service. It’s a small perk, but really nice to not have to worry about bringing/​washing towels constantly.

I wanted to add a gym workout to my marathon training and decided to go to my school’s gym. What a great student deal for 3 months during the summer — $ 44. I’m a morning gym rat and go in around 7:30 am. Not crowded at all. I typically spend 45 minutes on the bike, next lift weights, and then stretch. Also I decided to get a personal trainer and she’s great. Tricia is a fellow runner who is training for the Indianapolis marathon, so she knows what I need and has pushed me in strength and core training. If I’m extra motivated, I try to go to the pilates/​yoga class on Sundays as a light workout. However, I’m not sure if it was light since my stomach muscles were sore for a couple of days. :) I still need to visit the pool and the indoor track, which may come in handy during winter. DePaul students take advantage of the gym! Great facilities all around.

I enjoyed my old gym in Chicago. It’s DePaul’s gym and as an alumni I got a great rate for a great gym!
The gym is good for people who want to do focus on cardio, weights, play basketball, run on a cool indoor track… I can’t speak to the classes and trainers, but that is available as well.
It’s a great value for what you get and near transit. My only dislike were the showers. Sometimes those curtains and tiles looked like they need a cleaning or need to be replaced. Other than that it’s a great gym if you live in the neighborhood.

The Ray is a pretty good gym. You can learn more about it via other reviews. Mine is more about the personal training staff.
It’s a very long story, but I’ll try to shorten it for readers (this will be a long review, but is much shorter than the whole story, believe me). Basically, a few months ago, we decided to hire a trainer to critique our routine and make sure our form was correct on the exercises we were doing. Before you can train with them, they issue an online health assessment. I figured, you know, I should be honest on my form, so I admitted I have scoliosis and non associated back pain. Because of this, the health & wellness coordinator refused to let us train until she’d received medical clearance from my doctor.
Now, I don’t have a doctor because insurance won’t cover any specialists other than my OB/​GYN without me paying the $ 500 deductible. Needless to say, it’s been a while since I’ve seen my Physiatrist. So of course I told the coordinator that, and explained my OB is the only doctor I’m currently seeing. What does she say? That my OB can totally sign off on my abilities, no problem.
So you’ve read this far and now you wonder why I take issue with that. Well, I’ll explain. As I said above, it’s been a while since I’ve seen my Physiatrist. A Physiatrist is a back doctor, and technically the ONLY one who can make any sort of comment on my back and spine (makes sense, no?). Of course I just asked my OB to do it because I just wanted one easy training session, but after spending 4.5 years working in Medical Education at a major hospital, it was really hard for me not to correct her.
Basically, the coordinator wanted me to just give her my OB’s fax number so she could fax over a form. I got the feeling she didn’t want me involved at all (normally, the form would be given to me to send, and thus would be my responsibility), but when you’re asking someone who doesn’t quite have the qualifications to comment on your spine to do just that, well, you need to talk to her. So it took a very long time before I got a chance to explain this all to my OB, who was uncertain because she didn’t want to be held responsible if I injured myself. You see, OB’s don’t have the training to judge whether or not they think you’ll damage your spine with exercise. However, my OB rocks, and I assured her that the coordinator just wanted a statement that I was in fine enough shape to work out, so she agreed.
Once that was all set, it was time to assign us a trainer. Now, we thought our request for someone with knowledge of our exercises was understood, but it wasn’t. At all. it was a simple request, but the person we were assigned was not right for us. Seems he’s morally against us doing squats because he’s seen too much injury (and actually injured himself doing them). He wanted to teach us his own routine, which if you’ve read this far, you know that wasn’t what we asked or paid for. I also HATE when trainers yell, which he did. A lot. The context doesn’t matter (i.e. he wasn’t being mean really), but I can’t stand it anyway. You aren’t going to get me to do what you want if you yell at me. It’s a wholly unnecessary part of personal training that a lot of people have adapted, and I just don’t understand that. Moving on.
I understand where the coordinator & personal trainer are coming from. However, if you look, you will see tons of people doing squats every single day. In fact, we usually have to wait for someone to give up a bar before we can start our routine. My advice to them, is to HIRE SOMEONE WHO KNOWS HOW TO DO SQUATS PROPERLY. Rather than say «Sorry Cate. I’m afraid I can’t do that,» (bonus points if you get the reference) have someone on your team who CAN do that.
Face it, there are thousands of people who do squats everywhere, every day. It’s in your best interest, as a company, to hire someone who knows how to do them safely, so that they may go forth and teach people the right form so they can avoid injury. Keep the person who refuses to help on moral grounds because I’m sure he can help others. However, it would make total sense to have someone on your team who *can* help those who do squats. Our whole point was to try to avoid injury. That’s why we hired a trainer-​to help us make sure our form was correct so that we were not hurting ourselves (also getting the most out of our workout).
Needless to say, I haven’t been this glad to get away from something in a very long time. We start at our new gym in a few weeks.
/​End rant.

The Ray Meyer Fitness & Recreation Center is your nearby fitness haven. Conveniently located near public transportation (redline) and in the middle of the DePaul Lincoln Park campus, it isn’t hard to get to.
This place has everything you need in a fitness center. Multiple separate rooms for classes (aerobics, pilates, karate, etc.), 4 basketball courts (that are used very often, easy to get in a few games), racquetball courts, full-​size swimming pools, a track on the very top floor, and a floor with brand new weights and cardio equipment.
As another user stated, it may get crowded during the school year between certain hours, but this can be expect of any great gym.
They also have a station on the main floor where you can order food after your workouts (sandwiches, typically) as well as supplements like protein shakes and energy drinks.
With all of the equipment you need, convenient location, and plenty of classes to keep kicking your butt into shape on a daily basis, the Ray Meyer is the perfect fitness center.

5 stars explained in the next five sentences… 1,2,3, goooo!!!
Four full sized b-​ball courts. You can always find a game +1 star
2.5lb incremental dumbells up to 60lbs +1 star
College hotties +1 star
Plenty of Cardio machines +1 star
Close to public transportation +1 star
Throw it up for the Ray everybody

This is a great gym. The group fitness class schedule is AWESOME (they have 3 studios for classes and a separate spin studio) and the facility is really clean. There are a lot of cardio machines, most of which have their own TVs, and the cable weight and free weight areas are pretty robust. On top of that they have 3(?) racquetball courts, basketball courts, and indoor track with a stellar view and they have an indoor pool!
I can’t give the full 5 stars for a couple of reasons:
1) during the summer the gym is empty bc all of the students are on break (bliss — there’s never competition for machines or class space), BUT that means that the Ray generates revenue by having all kinds of kiddie camps and ballet classes throughout the summer. The gym becomes inundated with kids and camp counselors which can be kind of annoying when you’re trying to get your gym on
2) the staff is not friendly nor do they really care. mostly student workers, there is no sense of customer service or friendliness. every time you call with a question no one really knows how to answer it and overall you get an answer with a side of attitude.
It’s a great gym, and as a DePaul Alum, it’s been a great place to workout at a great price!

This place has everything. A track with an amazing view, a large pool, an ample locker room, racquetball courts, basketball courts and enough equipment, machines and freeweights to keep a lot of people busy for a long time. The whole setup looks new, clean, bright and sleek.
I agree that the café is a waste, but since I don’t go there to eat or drink, I didnt dock the Ray a star because of it. I went here as a student, so I cant comment on price (although the fee was an inseparable part of the tuition bill), but I would say it’s worth it!