Metuchen Edison YMCA

This is my daily gym. I start my day here. Friendly staff. The machines are always in good operating condition. I have been going here for four years and I am very happy with my experience.

The only reason why I’m a member at the Y is because of it’s location since I moved to NJ, otherwise, I don’t think I would be a member here.
I have few problems with this place and I actually hope the manager of this place would take my comments as feedback to improve their services (especially since I heard they are going to increase our fees!). And for all those users/​members, please read this and help improve the experience for others!
Check In — Like every gym, you need to swipe your card to go in. But what I don’t understand is why you need to swipe your card again when you go to the weight room?
Weight room — this is a lot smaller than what I am used to. They recently upgraded their treadmills and elliptical machines (YES!!!). However, their weights are very old… they need to be replaced ASAP. They have a small stretch area but since this place is very small, sometimes it’s odd to do certain stretch (you know when you need to bend down and your ass if exposed and everyone takes a glance at your booty?) I know this is not YMCA’s fault, but people who go to this gym need to use deodorant… there’s always BO lingering here and there.
Pool — Wow, I’ve never seen so many people use the pool all at once! I guess there’s a urge to learn how to swim (props to everyone who is doing it. it’s very important to learn how to swim). However, my problem is that there are lots of kids and I’m always seeing mucus floating on the water… which is why I never wanted to swim anymore… EW!
Gym Class — there are only two rooms at this Y location hence the large crowd for specific classes like Yoga, Zumba, Cycling, fitness. I have taken different classes and I have to say that I like the instructors! They are my only motivation why I keep going to take classes and stay away from the weight room. I really find it annoying since they don’t have a limit of how many people can take a class, there’s a large crowd. for example there’s like 40 people in 1 class. HOW DO YOU FOLLOW? I think the Y needs to monitor at the door or have a registration sheet. Here’s another tip for the users, if you can’t follow the instructor, please stay in the back and don’t block the others. especially when the instructor tells you to go left and you go right!
Staff — Often I see them advertising special classes like DANCE. I’ve asked twice and in both occasions when I asked how much it cost, the staff can’t answer this! They don’t even bother to find out. they tell me that «they always post stuff and don’t tell us. sorry we don’t know» is quite unacceptable. But they still ask me to register for the class because they have the registration sheet.
Daycare — This is probably the best thing at the Y. This is great for busy parents who don’t have anyone to help them watch their kids, bring them here. They have a small play area. it could be a bit more sanitary but it’s something.
Court — My husband goes there early on the weekends to shoot hoops. There are few evenings that the Y arranges friendly games for volleyball, basketball, badminton, racquet ball, etc.

I became a member here after becoming a refugee from the city. It’s not bad, but it’s certainly not the kind of gym I’m used to.
As you’d expect for a suburban Y, it’s very family oriented. That has several implications: The pool is pretty shallow, no deep end. It’s closed for a lot of the day, because it isn’t staffed, and because it’s the locale for swim practice in the afternoons. And it has limited hours on weekends. (7a-​6p on Saturdays, 830a-​6p on Sundays).
It has a fair number of machines — about a dozen — but I’m not a big user of them. There are only two upright stationary bikes, but I’ve never had to wait. There’s a little more than a dozen treadmills, but I haven’t had to wait for them either. But they’re slow — many of them don’t go above 9 mph!
The free weight area isn’t huge, but seems sufficient. (I’m not a big user of them either.) The users are mostly high school kids and a handful of middle-​aged suburban guys. It’s pretty under control.
There’s a cafeteria, but it seems to be open only in the morning. I haven’t participated in the group exercise classes, but they seem a little limited. As befits the clientele, most are oriented towards the middle-​aged or the school-​aged — not the young adult demographic I’m used to in the city.
There’s a small rock wall, but it doesn’t look like it’s used often — or that we have access to it. My big issue is that there’s hardly any stretching area.
All in all, not bad — pretty much what you’d expect for Edison. But given a choice, I’d much rather have my gym in the city!