YMCA of Greater Des Moines

Great new facility. Was opened in January 2015 so everything is new and clean. They have tons of space that you usually don’t see in a downtown location Y. 10 racquet/​hand ball courts, ¹⁄₈ mile indoor track, 2 indoor basketball courts, great locker rooms, FREE TOWELS, plenty of machines/​free weights, tons of cardio equipment.
The one draw back as for today, 11÷14÷15, the aquatics center is another year or so out from being completed. But through the windows it looks like it will be huge.
Great news for business travelers, 24 free visits per year for AWAY members to all Greater Des Moines YMCA facilities.

I miss the old Riverfront YMCA.
Yeah, it was old. Yeah, it was dirty. Yeah, the equipment and machines were on their last leg. Yeah, there were weird smells in the hallways. Yeah, the locker rooms were totally sketchy. But there was something so punk-​rock about it. Due to it’s dated look and old equipment, the faint of heart never used that location. If they wanted new and shiny, they went down Grand Avenue to Infinity/​Fitness World Downtown. The members that came to the Riverfront location WANTED to be there. It was like a secret club. You’d regularly see the same people working out and there was a real calm vibe there. I never ran in to rude or disrespectful members. This unique experience would go on to make me an 8 year member at the YMCA.
With the new «Wellmark» YMCA, that vibe has been turned on its head. It’s packed with all kinds of members attracted to the «new and shiny.» The parking is more horrendous than before. Everything you do is put on display for anyone to see — whether your weight lifting, using cardio equipment or playing basketball.
Since this new «Wellmark» YMCA, the management has been too generous with ‘financial assistance’ in their memberships. The trashy residents that dominate the North, South, and East sides of Des Moines have taken over what was once a lowkey gym.
As you would expect with trashy people, these «new» members are so rude and disrespectful. From the young kids to the adults who should know better. I had an adult man walk on my mat I just wiped off so I could use it. I had a guy comment on the weight I was deadlifting. He told his friend, «Look at that p*ssy weight!» Another time, I asked these two women if they were using a bench as they were standing by it and they just looked me up and down and literally scoffed at me (I’m assuming they thought I was hitting on them).
The worst encounter was with a man 40 – 45 years old and he was built like a brickhouse. I’m a lean guy standing at 5’10″ and 170lbs. He was using intimidation methods to get me away from the lateral pulldown bar. There are TWO of them and he wanted to use the same one I was using. He literally put his leg over mine as I was getting up from doing a set. I thought, «Whoa… okay, we’re sharing, I guess?»
After he was done with his set, I went back to the lat pulldown seat and the man put his hand up and told me, «No, I’m using this one.»
I was completely caught off guard. I was fuming at that point and went to the front desk and spoke with one of the longtime staff members. She knew who I was talking about and she went and discussed the incident with him.
That’s not all — I am not the only long time member to experience disrespect from these trashy members. There are two courts that can be used for basketball or volleyball. There are two nights out of the week that ONE of the two courts is used for volleyball. Well, the scumbag members who were using both courts refused to leave so other members could not play volleyball. It escalated to the point that management had to come and talk to the uncooperative, disrespectful members and make them leave one of the two courts.
I saw one teenage kid tell an employee to «F*ck off!» after the employee instructed him to go the correct direction of the track that circles the gym upstairs.
It gets even better: these members are thieves, too. There was an incident where a man left his bag opened on a bench in the locker-​room while he showered. Well, two young men decided to loot the bag. One set up outside and became the «lookout» while the other man rummaged through the bag. An employee noticed the lookout acting suspicious and went around the locker-​room and used the pool entrance to the locker-​room. Well, surprise, surprise! The employee caught the thief frantically rummaging through a bag and the employee stopped him. The thief went on to say he was «looking for a charger my friend said I could use…» The man bolted off like a bat out of hell and so did the lookout. They were never caught.
So, if you’ve read this far, I appreciate you hearing me out. If you insist on using this gym, go in the mornings as the members who attend in the morning are working, mature professionals who want to be there and know what they are doing. The problem members don’t arrive to the Wellmark YMCA until 4:15pm… it’s like clockwork!
Please understand, that not ALL the members are complete trash. However, out of the 7 years I used the old Riverfront YMCA, I never had one issue. In the 10 months the Wellmark YMCA has been open, I have consistently had issues with other members.
The staff is friendly enough, but I often question whether I want to remain a member. The Southside Y is too far and too small. And the Walnut Creek YMCA is full of teenagers and unsupervised children and the weightroom is too crammed/​small for all the equipment they have.
Out of convenience, I will stay a member as I live 4 blocks away and I am moving out of Des Moines in 6 months.

I love the YMCA! Everything here is extremely new and extremely clean. They have multiple weight machines tons of benches and free weights and tons of racquetball courts and even two squash courts.
They also have yoga rooms, group rooms, spinning, basketball and a bunch of other stuff.
Even the locker rooms are nice with their own dry saunas and separated shower stalls.

Wow. Damn, you did it right. The place is huge, enormous. Everything is brand new. It’s so nice in there. The staff is amazing… I can’t even… well done, YMCA.

Man this new YMCA downtown is nice! Great clean facilities that you can get to from the street or the Skywalk! We took a tour of the whole place and dang it’s nice! They gave us a free 1 week membership so we are trying it out!
Loving the track, 8 times around = a mile! Then I lifted some weights they have both free weights and machines with multiple uses! Lots of bikes, treadmills, and elliptical machines. the space is very open, other then the class rooms which are separate!
We then decided to play some racket ball, the courts are great and brand new! The basketball courts, 2 full size were packed so we will have to do that next time!
Most classes are free with membership, and they have regular locker rooms with Sauna, and showers, or they have VIP (cost extra) locker rooms with sauna, steam room, hot tub, showers and free laundry service, and private lockers. It cost more money but if you were going to go big or go home this might be a fun option!
I’m super excited about this facility and am strongly considering becoming a member! The member prices are based on income, so come one come all get healthy and have a ball!