LA Fitness Sauna: Rules, Temperature & Safety Guide (2026)

The LA Fitness sauna is included in your standard membership, so you don’t have to pay anything, unlike other LA Fitness amenities.

You’ll find a sauna in 79% of their locations, so it’s not available at 100%; therefore, I recommend you call your club before counting on it.

Now, here are more details about how the sauna works, the rules you’ll have to follow, temperature, and two high-profile safety cases that every member must know.

Dry Sauna, Steam Room, or Infrared: Which One LA Fitness Has

In most LA Fitness clubs, you’ll get a traditional dry sauna.

In those saunas, electric heating elements raise the air temperature to between 160 and 185°F, humidity stays low at 10 to 20%, and no water gets poured on the rocks.

On the other hand, steam rooms are much rarer, and you’ll only find them in 3% of locations, and that too, in older builds and some Signature Club facilities.

They fill with hot vapor rather than dry heat, run at lower temperatures (around 110 to 120°F), and feel completely different when you to sit in.

Besides this, infrared saunas are not available at LA Fitness; if you want infrared access, you can find that in a boutique wellness studio.

Is the LA Fitness Sauna Coed?

At most standard clubs, the sauna has a gendered locker room area, so men access it from the men’s side and women from the women’s side, which makes it gender-separated by default without any posted coed policy.

Some locations, especially those where the sauna is positioned adjacent to the pool deck rather than inside a locker room, have a unisex or coed sauna that anyone can access.

To know more about your specific sauna, I recommend you contact your local club where you want to go; they’ll provide accurate information.

Temperature and Bench Placement

A dry sauna at LA Fitness has a temperature between 160 and 185°F at bench level.

Upper benches are hotter compared to the lower ones because heat rises and concentrates near the ceiling.

If you’re new to saunas or haven’t been in a while, I suggest you start on a lower bench and move up once your body adjusts.

Also, the temperature is set by club staff, and members cannot adjust it. If you feel it’s too hot or cool, you can ask the staff at the front desk.

What to Wear at the LA Fitness Sauna?

I’ve seen most members wearing athletic shorts or swimwear and sitting on a towel.

And they use a towel for two reasons: wooden benches get hot, and it’s standard hygiene practice in any shared sauna. Plus, they bring their own stuff, since LA Fitness standard clubs don’t provide towels (you can get one if you have a Signature Clubs Membership).

Keep in mind that synthetic workout fabrics like polyester and spandex trap heat and can release chemical odors at high temperatures, and heavy cotton holds moisture, which will make you feel uncomfortable, so you can avoid them.

Overall, swimwear and other lightweight athletic shorts are a good choice for you, and flip-flops or sandals are fine from the locker room to the sauna entrance, but you’ll want to leave them outside the door.

LA Fitness Sauna Rules

Rules are posted at every sauna entrance and apply across all locations, though individual clubs also add their own, so the ones that I’m mentioning below are consistent regardless of which club you visit.

• Shower before entering, especially after pool use
• No food inside the sauna; water is allowed, no glass containers
• No shaving, grooming, or applying products of any kind
• No cell phones (enforcement varies by club, but it’s official policy)
• No nudity, regardless of whether the sauna is gender-separated or coed
• Don’t pour water on the rocks, since the dry sauna design doesn’t support it and doing so can damage the heating elements.
• Time limits posted at some clubs run 15 to 20 minutes per session.

How Long You Should Stay in a Sauna

For a first session or after a long gap, you can stay for 10 to 15 minutes; that’s enough.

Regular users stay for 15 to 20 minutes, and going beyond 20 minutes adds heat stress without additional benefit for most people.

Safety Tip:

You should exit immediately if you feel any of the following regardless of how long you’ve been in:

• Dizziness
• Lightheadedness
• Headache starting while inside
• Nausea
• Unusual weakness
• Racing heart.

These are signs of heat exhaustion, which you shouldn’t ignore; that’s why you should step outside, sit down, and drink water.

Two Lawsuits That Changed How Members Should Think About Sauna Safety

If you use the sauna alone, these two cases affect how you should approach it.

The Charmaine Johnson case (2015):

Johnson finished her workout at an LA Fitness in Stone Mountain, Georgia, and entered the sauna.

After that, she lost consciousness, and staff didn’t find her for around two hours; by the time she was discovered, she had suffered severe burns, and doctors later amputated all ten of her toes and portions of both feet.

Her lawsuit alleged LA Fitness had no standard protocol for checking on sauna users at intervals, while LA Fitness denied the negligence claims.

The Tekashi 6ix9ine case (filed January 2025):

The rapper Daniel Hernandez was beaten and robbed inside the sauna at an LA Fitness in Boynton Beach, Florida, by three men connected to the Latin Kings gang.

His lawsuit, exceeding $1 million, alleged the club lacked adequate security, but those three men were arrested and charged.

Both cases point to the same thing: the sauna is an enclosed, unsupervised space.

If possible, then go with at least one other person; it’ll reduce risk.

If someone nearby is behaving unusually or making you uncomfortable, report it to staff before entering the room.

LA Fitness Sauna Hours

Like the pool, the sauna closes before the rest of the gym. On weekdays, it’s open until 11 PM; the sauna stops admitting members around 10:00 to 10:30 PM.

On weekends, the main floor closes at 8 PM, so the sauna may close by 7:00 PM.

During holiday schedules like Christmas Eve, July 4th, and New Year’s Eve, the sauna closes an extra 30 minutes earlier.

LA Fitness didn’t list exact sauna hours anywhere; that’s why you should contact your local club via phone call. They’ll give the correct information and will answer all your queries.

Besides this, they’ll also tell you about the temporary closures for cleaning or maintenance, because they’re also common.

If you want general club hours across different days, you should see this LA Fitness Hours article.

Etiquette the Regular Users Follow

Users on a regular basis follow these etiquettes because it makes the space work better for everyone.

• Enter and exit quickly to minimize heat loss through the door
• Sit on your own towel, not directly on the bench, both for your comfort and for the next person
• Keep conversation low; most people use the sauna to decompress in quiet
• If the room is at capacity, wait outside rather than crowding in
• Even where phone use isn’t explicitly banned, keeping the screen off is the norm.

Is There a Jacuzzi at LA Fitness?

Some locations have a whirlpool spa, which you can find near the pool.

Whirlpools are less consistent than saunas across the chain and also depend on the facility layout.

Signature Clubs tend to have more reliable whirlpool access than standard locations; your club’s amenity list on lafitness.com will show you whether a hot tub or whirlpool is listed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I go to the gym just for the sauna?

Yes, as long as you’re an active member or hold a valid day pass, you can go in and use the sauna without doing any workout beforehand.

Day passes include sauna access at clubs that have one. The 3-day free trial pass also covers sauna use at the club where you activate it; see this LA Fitness Free Trial guide for full details on pass access.

How hot does the LA Fitness sauna get?

Dry saunas at LA Fitness are between 160 and 185°F at bench level; the upper benches are hotter than lower benches in the same room.

And the temperature is controlled by staff, so you can’t do anything with it; if you want to decrease or increase it, you should talk to the staff members.

Is the LA Fitness sauna infrared?

No, LA Fitness saunas are traditional dry saunas that heat air and surfaces through convection.

Infrared saunas use light panels to penetrate tissue directly and run at lower temperatures.

As of 2026, LA Fitness doesn’t offer infrared saunas at any location.

Does LA Fitness have a sauna and steam room?

Some clubs have both, but it’s not common at standard locations; you can find dry saunas at around 79% of LA Fitness clubs.

Steam rooms are available at around 3%, mostly at older facilities and Signature Club locations.

Which LA Fitness locations have a sauna?

There’s no master list published by LA Fitness, so you should open the club finder at lafitness.com, search by zip code, and click into each club’s individual page.

The amenity icons on that page show whether a sauna is listed.

Signature Club locations have a higher rate of sauna availability and have larger sauna rooms.

What should I bring to the LA Fitness sauna?

A clean towel is the one thing you need that you must bring yourself, because standard clubs won’t provide towels.

Water is allowed inside; glass containers aren’t, and you’ll have to wear swimwear or athletic shorts and avoid heavy gym clothes.