YMCA of Metro Atlanta

I was a member here for a year. While it’s an OK gym, there are more than a few issues that I saw during my tenure here:
–Employees range from excellent to poor in re: to customer service
–Small-​ish weight room
–Can’t talk on your cell in the gym (?)
–Dues go up yearly. They jumped to $ 46/​mo this year (2016)
–The gym-​going crowd is mostly 50+
–Difficult location to turn into off of Claremont
–They’ll give you the run around when you try to cancel your membership. You do not need 30 days to cancel a recurring bill, YMCA. Srsly.
If you’re looking for an expensive local gym that’s moderately well equipped with an older crowd, hit the Y.
If you’re looking for a newer, cheaper, larger, nicer gm with a younger crowd, go to the Decatur LA Fitness. The Y was the best gym in Decatur before LA Fitness opened, but now pales in comparison. Bonus — the LÁ Fitness is between 25 – 30 bucks per month. There’s literally no reason to go to the Decatur Y now.

It’s funny, I go to review this, and find someone else saying Brianna is a great coach – and she is indeed. Very nice physical place, natural light, plenty of room, clean, and the Coach Approach program is evidence-​based super helpful. I feel good about supporting a place that does good things for poor kids – they have day care, high quality day care, subsidized.
I do not like the FitLinxx online fitness tracker, it is pathetically outdated, and limited. Hope whoever developed it will invest in an upgrade.

I am a YMCA member, but it took me all of two months, three different friends, two in-​person visits to a branch membership desk, and two virtual visits to membership online services to gain the membership referral rate. The very last time I spoke with the online services people, it took forever for the lady to respond back in online chat. I asked her why that was and she said she was helping other members at the same time… at 9am? Give me a break. The YMCA should fire everyone associated with the online services group. A member referral rate is a great concept but extremely poorly executed.

After an extended renovation the DDymca is completely finished. The cardio and weight room is well lit and open. Guys who want to lift heavy weights might not like being in a dedicated room. As an adult basketball player, I wish the gym was available more often for that. There are a good number of classes, like yoga, Pilates, and the teachers are great. Mamie just gave up her Sat afternoon class, which I’ll miss, but will still teach an early morning yoga on Tuesdays.

I am updating this to 4 stars. Why!!! Because they offer sports for 3 year olds and it is the cutest thing ever! Soccer and T-​Ball. It is not that much $ either to partake in these sports.

This location is under renovation, so be prepared if you’re going for the first time soon.
This is a great place to exercise in a clean, safe, comfortable environment with other people who are focused on getting fit.
The classes offered at this location are awesome. I’ve been very happy with the instruction and have felt that it was easy to walk into a class and just get going. (i.e. OK for beginners). The coaching program is really cool, too.
Currently the pool is out of operation for the renovations, so definitely look into that before going to swim.
Well-​run, convenient, and worth the cost for the amenities included. (especially if you can get a friend to join– you both save $)

I would just like to say that after almost 3 years of being a member here, I am still as delighted as I was the first week I joined. It’s one of those rare places that makes you feel welcome, at home, and yes, like they are all glad to see you. And it’s generally very genuine. I can’t thank them enough. I learned how to do yoga and pilates, got on the elliptical and used the exercise equipment following a custom program that a kind staff member designed for me. I solved my aching back problem by strengthening my core. The staff knew how to advise me and were happy for my success. They also gave me a discount on the fee since I’m unemployed. So happy with these folks!!!

The best Y in Atlanta.

Maybe my old gym just spoiled me, but I just wasn’t very impressed with this location. The cardio room is tiiinny and consistently packed. You’d think that would be reason to rethink the layout of the building a bit, but I guess there’s no better way to burn off calories than to be elbow distance away from the lady next to you who’s walking furiously while watching House Hunters. The equipment is a little outdated as well (kind of like the clientele).
Also, there was a man at the front desk who gave me such serious attitude that I was tempted to slap him across the face.
There is a pool, but I didn’t use it so I have no input on that front. Overall, I used my trial pass, but will not be visiting again.

Catherine’s Pilates class on Tuesday nights is a great workout with times to relax also. Lots of lap swim hours and a variety of classes. Best part of this branch is that members and employees are all so friendly, positive, and helpful.

On the eighth day God built this YMCA location. This is definitely an older YMCA, with a crowd that looks like they were there for the grand opening. Cardio and machine areas are cramped, but have all the requirements. The free weight area is an old school, iron gym located in what i think is the basement. With years of collecting equipment, there are several styles of plates, dumbbells, and bars. It feels like an old high school or a Gold’s Gym before Arnold was Governor. Staff is friendly. There is both steam and dry saunas, as well as a whirlpool in the men’s area. Not a lot of eye candy here, regardless of your orientation, and it isn’t the kind of place that will make you want to hang around. Overall a good place to come, work out, and leave.
«I saw a woman wearing a sweatshirt with GUESS on it. I said, Thyroid problem?»
Arnold Schwarzenegger

Ever since I’ve decided working out is great (mostly because my midsection has stopped jiggling when I walk around) my husband and I have been curious about this Y and how it differs from East Lake.
First thing we noticed is the staff is friendlier and more attentive. Nice. Next, we noticed that the weight part of the gym is bigger, cool, but I haven’t gotten to that point in my gym ratdom.
The cardio room. I have mixed emotions. When you walk in there are three tight rows of ellipticals and treadmills. The room is a bit dreary, and it felt like we were all in there pedaling/​running to fuel something evil. The signs on each machine that say limit your use to 30 minutes made me cringe because at East Lake 30 minutes is usually my short, minimum workout on a machine. But I do believe there are more machines here, which is a plus.
The facility seems a little old, but it’s kind of charming. I don’t think I’ll be back because even though this Y and the East Lake Y are the exact same miles apart from our house, it takes way less time to get to East Lake because of Ponce/​Scott traffic. I’m sure once the staff begins to recognize me and my winning smile they will warm up to me.

Love working out there with my friend. Nice, clean, great equipment.
No frills but has all i’m looking for in a gym.
Love the Fitlinxx on the machines, keeping track of my workout.

Great children’s programming for swimming and summer day camp! The cardio workout area is too small and cramped for my taste, but the weight lifting section is SLIGHTLY larger. There is a more intimate feel than the large box store type L.A. Fitness gyms, so it may be helpful for people that are intimated by gyms as a whole.
I’m a gym rat and also a gym snob sooooooo I wasn’t impressed. I missed getting a towel handed to me upon checking in. I wasn’t a huge fan of their locker rooms. They looked very old-​school JHS-​locker-​room-​esque and I kinda got scared. I also didn’t enjoy being around so many children in the locker room. I felt old and arthritic. I don’t like feeling like that.
I’ve taken several yoga classes here, and they were not challenging and quite boring. The instructor wasn’t helpful [in terms of coming over and correcting people’s positions or helping them with alignment or posture] and a lot of people looked lost and needed help. I wasn’t very impressed, but I can see why people would frequent this place… if it’s their thing.
I’ve decided that I cannot gym at this YMCA any longer, but it’s ok if you want a place where your children can be entertained while you workout, and if work-​out/​yoga class ambience doesn’t matter. It just felt like the public school of gyms. I’m a prep school girl, sorry!

Maybe it is the euphoria of exercising again after a four year lull, but I love this YMCA. the wellness coaches, the computerized fitness stats, the general niceness of the staff… I really feel I can get back to my old self again, now that I have joined and am committed to coming back to the gym. There is nothing like positive re-​enforcement, and with the fitlinx program, I really feel someone other than me is paying attention, and I want to do them proud. I feel I will stick with it, and isn’t that what you really want from your gym?

I got a seven day pass online to go here, my lady has a membership, so I went with her for the week to check it out and decide if I wanted to buy into it.
Big parking lot, which is nice, but in the evenings it’s pretty full, daytime is better to go and not fight the crowd. It’s a big place, plenty of equipment and machines and all are in top condition, nothing second hand or broken down. The basketball court is typical size but I got the feeling to skip by it, I’m white and can’t shoot anyway but it looked like the players in here have a «this is MY court» vibe. The locker rooms from what everyone else says are pretty naked, I however don’t like the sight of other men’s satchels so I refrained from going in, I just wore my clothes there and showered at home. I think locker rooms are pretty nasty in most places anyway and wasn’t going to check this one out.
Overall though, a really good vibe. Everyone seems polite and focused on doing their own thing, no one gets in your way and typically won’t hog machines or weights if they see there’s other people around. Definitely none of that LA Fitness/Crunch/Balley’s judgmental death stare, the one where they’re clearly saying «you don’t belong in here, you’re not a roid head, leave now», that BS is completely uncalled for and reason why I would never try anywhere else besides the Y.

This Y is really good is you are just looking to work out or take some exercise classes.
The staff is mostly very nice and helpful. Hours are pretty good but they do close early on the weekends, which is a little annoying.
Cardio machines have mostly been upgraded recently and have TV’s on them for you to plug your headphones into. The room can get full, especially after work hours during the week. Monday is the busiest day by far.
Machines in the gym area have also been upgraded recently and are all connected to the FitLinxx program, which is an automated program that tracks your workouts and provides you with a monthly email detailing your workouts.
Weight room downstairs is real old-​school. It has a little bit of a Rocky feel to it. There is everything that you need down there though and I personally like the feel of it. Guys are usually real nice and there is hardly ever any attitude down there.
The pool here is small and almost exclusively used for swimming laps or taking water exercise classes. Not really a pool for just lounging around in.
Locker rooms are pretty typical for a Y. Lots of old dudes with their wangs hanging out everywhere. I’ve never seen so many towels be so disconnected to bodies. There are plenty of clean towels lying around, but most people here choose to walk around in the buff. I’ve seen people shaving in the nude (junk all up on the counter), watching TV in the nude, and even having long conversations in the nude. So, just to prepare you, lots of naked dudes that could be covered up or clothed, but choose not to.
Also, whirlpool and sauna is a sausage factory. Lots of naked dudes even though this Y has a policy against it. I’m all for appreciating the naked body, but I don’t want to sit around in the soup next to freeball Frank here.
Overall, pretty good place. Some of the things that I’ve seen in the locker room cannot be unseen unfortunately though.

This Y has a separate workout room for the ladies, which I’m a fan of. Also, they have separate dressing rooms for ppl w/​kids. At the Eastlake Y I was annoyed by the number of women who brought their 7 year old boys into the women’s dressing room, so that doesn’t happen here. However, many women use the whirlpool and sauna in the nude at this Y because they are located in the dressing room, which freaks me out, personally.
I use the pool and whirlpool/​saunas at the Eastlake Y and love to workout at the Decatur Y because of the above attributes. I don’t do any of the classes yet, but perhaps in the future I’ll try them out due to the first review!

This is probably the worst facility in the metro in terms of the actual space, but there are some AMAZING teachers. The building is aging, they don’t keep up maintenance very well and the dressing rooms can get crusty and downright disgusting. I won’t even go in the steam room and I love steam. East Lake is way better, but farther from my house, so oh well…
Sandy is inspiring and I adore her as a person. Her Zumba and Nia classes are amazing. I also love Susan, who has a fab mix of music in her HiLo dance class. Kim has great energy for both yoga and body pump. I have an absolute fave teacher, but her class is too full, so not spilling that secret.
It’s too bad they don’t have more variety in the classes. Other Y’s have more types and numbers of classes offered.
Cheers~